Broadcast quality subtitles plugin for FCP X that will pass Netflix qc

[Javier Calderon]

Thanks much.

Seems pretty darn complicated. : /

[Nick Meyers]

wow, good list.
i actually really appreciate the detail they go into.

20 frames minimum, seems pretty short to me.
i’ve been working off some BBC specs where they had a 1 & 1/2 second minimum. (or so i understood it anyway)
also a rather broad rule of 3 words per second.

so my subs have slowed down a bit on the last couple of films.
faster subs were ok, but did induce a mild panic, which seemed to work of those films !

nick

[Sam Lee]

The only way to get it accepted is providing a separate timed text file (TTML or .STL). This way, there’s no added processing to the video that will fail manual qc.

[Javier Calderon]

Thanks much for the response, Sam. I guess at this point I’m just trying to figure out how exactly to get the horde of captions that I already put on my feature to transfer from FCPX (where I made the captions in) to the TTML or .STL format so it passes Amazon’s qc.

[Sam Lee]

Amazon’s subtitles will need to be in .SRT format. Sugar FX subtitles plugin can export to SRT.

I’m shocked to find out the enormous cost for a critical evaluation video monitor. In order to Netflix qc requirements, you’ll need at least a $30K for Sony BVM X300, PVM X550 monitors in order to detect pretty much all of the video flaws. Not only that, it has to be calibrated on a regular basis as well. Holy Moses! I can buy a true 4K PL lens from Fujinon for $30K. No wonder why it’s virtually impossible to see any video flaws on a regular 27″ Retina display monitor from Apple and others. I just can’t see any subtle color banding from the subtitles plugin with these consumer level displays. This is an eye-opening experience. Just a decade a go, a decent HD Sony BVM broadcast monitor is about $10-12K. I thought that was high. But $30K is just way too much for most average indie post house.

Anybody owns or have extensive experience w/ the Sony BVM X300 and would like to comment whether it’s worth the extremely high cost?

[Javier Calderon]

“I’m shocked to find out the enormous cost for a critical evaluation video monitor.”

Exactly how I feel. When I found out, I was like “Welp. Guess I’m not subtitling using any outside source. Gonna have to figure out how to do this in house if I can.”

Seeming like it might be more and more difficult to do it in house, however. You just kind of spelled it out – discouragingly enough as it’s ultimately seeming at this point.

Wish there was some way to do it “on the cheap” kind of thing. : /

[Andreas Kiel]

[Sam Lee]Amazon’s subtitles will need to be in .SRT format.
Sugar FX subtitles plugin can export to SRT.[/Sam Lee]

Amazon accepts far more formats. Problems might be caused by “illegal characters”. Example ellipses character “…“ compared to 3-character “…”.
SugarFX by “default” acts to have burned in subtitles in the various hosts. So you need for example a .SRT (or fcpxml markers) to use SugarFX Subtitle. Editing of those inside the host starts be a bit more convenient starting by version 4.0.
Zeitanker Annotation Edit or my X-Title Extractor are the only apps available to work with standard Motion Templates.

[Sam Lee]I’m shocked to find out the enormous cost for a critical evaluation video monitor. In order to Netflix qc requirements, you’ll need at least a $30K for Sony BVM X300, PVM X550 monitors in order to detect pretty much all of the video flaws. Not only that, it has to be calibrated on a regular basis as well. Holy Moses! …[/Sam Lee]

While I don’t think “video flaws” are any kind of reason to reject a internet video one might to think about subtitles as graphics.

– 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

[Sybren Arnoldus]

Just to add my subtitling experience to the discussion. I use ‘Kolibri’ to make the subtitles. Kolibri is a standalone app and works a bit like those expensive professional subtitling solutions. It’s not perfect and needs an update but it’s quick. It’s about $40 in the App Store. Kolibri exports to a few subtitle formats, ready for youtube, vimeo etcetera. Unfortunately not ttml but you could use an online converter.

To burn the subs you can use SugarFX but imo it’s too expensive. Digital Heaven SubtitleX with X-importer do the trick as well.

[Javier Calderon]

Hey, Sybren. Thanks for the response. Yeah I thought the price for SugarFX was just a touch too steep for my current wallet…but $40 for Kolibri? Yeah. I can definitely do that. However, you said it doesn’t export to ttml? Darn. I think that’s actually the very format that’s needed in order for the subtitles to be accepted by Amazon. You mentioned being able to use an online converter w/Kolibri, however? How does that work? How would I go about doing that?

Thanks much for your response.

Cheers,

[Andreas Kiel]

Javier,

For Amazon you don’t need .dfxp/.ttml they do accept more formats. The Spruce Text List .stl would be the easiest.

Just out of curiosity:
If you have already have done the subs in FCP … I guess at this point I’m just trying to figure out how exactly to get the horde of captions that I already put on my feature to transfer from FCPX (where I made the captions in) … – why the hell do you want to do them in Kolibri again?

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