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Broadcast quality subtitles plugin for FCP X that will pass Netflix qc
I’m looking for a 100% transparent, no compromise in quality burned in subtitles plugin.
I tried Sugar FX and unfortunately there are too many color banding noise. I couldn’t figure out why it was rejected. But after 5 attempts, the culprit was the subtitles plug in that caused video artifacts.It was rejected by Netflix’s qc. And after many tests, there are indeed color noise added.
When I click on and off, I can see the subtle dithering and banding noises it added for darker, low light scenes.It looks like this $200 plug-in from Sugar FX is not suitable for high end mastering. Any recommendations to the high quality burn-in subtitles for FCP or other apps that will pass Netflix’s qc for burned in subtitles to the content?
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27 Replies
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Is there a reason why you’re not just turning it over to a subtitling service. I’m sure Netflix has a ton of vendors that are pre-approved.
Noah
FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops
XinTwo – FCPX Training -
I have very high quantity of content and want full flexbility in changes and revisions. Massive amount of hours. If it was only a few, no problem. The costs will get out of control when a small change is needed as well. Prefer to keep in house for full control.
The only other way is a separate subtitles file. That seems to be the preferred method for Netflix, Amazon and many others. This way the video will not be subjected to more unwanted noise.
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OK. Thanks. Will check these out soon.
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I don’t get why you would want burned-in subtitles. I’m also not sure what 100% transparent, burned-in means. It’s a bit of an oxymoron. If it’s 100% transparent it’s not burned-in. Maybe you mean no background box. Of course if it’s burned-in you can just use Apple’s built-in title tool.
There are many services that make subtitle files, like rev.com. But it sounds like it’s translation for a limited part of the video. In that case you might want to use something like “Subtitle Edit Pro” in the App Store and make your own.
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Brett Sherman
One Man Band (If it\’s video related I\’ll do it!)
I work for an institution that probably does not want to be associated with my babblings here. -
I chime in cause Noah mentioned my X-Title tools (spherico/filmtools).
Few things worth to mention here:
1) SugarFX Subtitle is 99 USD.
2) Burned-In subtitles shouldn’t cause a problem anywhere.
3) 3rd Party companies – even if approved – normally don’t deliver rendered movies.So what to do? It’s a bit trial and error:
Change subtitle color/saturation/brightness.
Try the same with the outline.
Try a blured and/or more or less transparent outline.
Try a combination of the above.Some of the “Try … ” are easier to handle with Motion “Title” templates.
Deliver a separate subtitle file.While this kind of self-promotion ☺ give X-Titles a try
Hope that helps.
– Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil -
he wants the process to be transparent, with no artefacts.
nick
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Burned in subtitles are primarily for costs reason. Audio dubbing is much more costly to produce than subtitles when it’s done in high quantity.
Come to the subject of subtitles, I don’t see Netflix, Amazon have burned in subtitles. They’re all separate on/off options and provided with a separate subtitles file. By using this, there should not be added encoder noise to the video and will pass qc.
I also tried Sugar FX subtitles for Pr CC 2015. The transcoding took about 5-8x longer than in FCPX. The color banding still exists, but dramatically much smaller. I suspect something is not done right with the SugarFX subtitles plugin in handling this.
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Okay…So, Sam. I’m WAY late to the game here, but I just came across this thread because I’m literally having the exact same problem. I’m trying to upload my feature film to Netflix, and literally subtitled the entire feature manually myself – only to find out after I was finished with it and tried to upload an entire new movie file w/the subtitles in them that Netflix wouldn’t accept them. Now I’m searching around to try to find out how to be able to do this on my own w/o having to go to some post house that charges a pretty penny.
Did you ever resolve how to get your captions/subtitles going in FCPX and then accepted on Netflix?
Much appreciated.
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If you want to submit an additional subtitle file ask Netflix for the supported formats and format specs.
Here what I’ve found:
https://backlothelp.netflix.com/hc/en-us/articles/215758617-Timed-Text-Style-Guide-General-Requirements– Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
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