Closed-Captioning workflow for broadcast within FCP?

[Shane Ross]

[Mark Suszko] “What are you folks using within FCP to create closed-captioning for output to a broadcast SD and HD master? What’s your workflow like?”

Well, we output to HDCAM, then dub to HDCAM thru a machine that encodes the CC file…do the same with the Digibeta…different file as the frame rate is different. And…

[Mark Suszko] “Specifically within FCP, with no outboard hardware needed.”

Oh…Ah…I see. Well then. I don’t.

But you can look at this: https://www.cpcweb.com/choices/index.htm

Kinda spendy…and I don’t know how trustworthy it is. STILL have to do something about transcripts and all that.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Mark Suszko]

That looks like a good start, thanks Shane. But if I read the fine print right, they can’t really work in HD yet. Do you get that from reading their web page?

We’re not HD in our shop yet, except for a a few specific projects, but what happens when we say the final good night to NTSC? How are we to do this job after the digital switchover? There’s a federal mandate for it and I need a reasonable way to comply.

[Shane Ross]

I’ll confess that it has been a while since I read up on the site. I didn’t know they weren’t HD yet.

And the switch to DIGITAL doesn’t mean everyone is switching to broadcasting HD only…it means that the analog signal that is sent over the airwaves will be shut down and only digital signals will be sent. MANY networks are still SD and will be until mandated to change.

Anyway…I always do it at a post house via external hardware. I let them handle it…and pay for it. But, it is part of our budget.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Mark Suszko]

Wish I could just give it to somebody else, but we’re a very small shop with a big job and we have to do all that stuff internally.

I don’t mind so much as I am a control freak anyway, and most of the product is only 30- sec. spots or maybe 15-minute VNR’s, so hand-typing the words in is no big deal to me. I just want a work flow that doesn’t require AD/DA conversions or generational loss; I prefer a software-based solution within FCP. or at least, within the same mac that holds my FCP edits, so all I have are a few export-import steps.

I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more obvious resources for this, since the federal mandates came out. I know a lot of stations went scrambling around the end of last year or so to get gear to find a way to be compliant, but most solutions I’ve come across were specific to each installation.

[David Peralta]

Hey Man,

We do our own closed captioning for each episode we produce.

Our Workflow is simple

Finish final timeline – Export to Quicktime (Self-Contained)
Have Intern transcribe episode using txtedit.
Close caption using Maccaption
Export Caption File (depending on output)
Render Exported timeline and caption file on mastering timeline.
Print to tape.
send to stations

and this is for a weekly SD 30 minute show. we’ve done about 100+ Masters with this workflow and its worked nicely for us ever since we implemented it.

hope that helps out.

hmm… I wonder what this button does…

[Gordon Gurley]

Try Automatic Sync:

https://www.automaticsync.com/

You send them an audiofile with TC. They generate a file that you drop on your sequence that contains the line 21 data. Much like the CPC solution, but you don’t have to buy software.

The other way is to send your master to the National Captioning Institute. You lose a generation. Couple hundred bucks per master.

https://www.ncicap.org/

Gordon Gurley
Director of Operations
Stanford Video

[Terence Curren]

HD ain’t SD.

The CC is no longer contained in a line of active video. This is why the edit systems can’t handle it. Welcome to the world of…

….HANC and VANC!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE_291M

Terence Curren
http://www.alphadogs.tv
http://www.digitalservicestation.com
Burbank,Ca

[Steve Holmes]

I’m an account executive for Aberdeen Captioning. I have done some homework and found that the video card/box manufacturers are getting very close to having a solution for HD captioning right from your editing timeline.

Should be just around the corner, but in the meantime, there are a few different options available for captioning whatever kind of content you may be working on. The options may not be as streamlined as you may desire at this point, but they work.

For instance, you could send a hard drive to a caption company like ourselves or load your project to our FTP site if working with HD formats like XDCAM. We do the captioning and send back the project via those delivery options.

We’re muscling thru the DTV transition and HD issues together and we’re getting close to some very viable solutions. Check out our website at http://www.abercap.com for our NLEdirect options for SD projects and then call me and we can work out some solutions for your HD projects, as well.

All the best,

Steve Holmes
Aberdeen Captioning
800-688-6621 ext. 12
949-858-4463 ext. 12

[Joe Clark]

Keeping in mind that any homemade captions, especially captions “typed up” by an “intern,” will invariably suck. But any captioning is better than none, is it not?

[Chris Yigit]

Hello All,

I realise this is quite late to be chiming in on this thread, but technology seems to have caught up to this problem. The Matrox MXO2 will provide the ability to capture footage withh cc, edit without destroying it, and then you can print to tape all the while maintaining the cc data in the VANC. The solution works in HD.

Also, for this parrticular case, you can create/edit captions with Maccaption, and use the MXO2 to send them out.

For more info see here;
https://www.cpcweb.com/mxo2/

Regards,
Chris

Best Regards,
Chris