FCP 7 Digital Delivery with Closed Captioning in HD

[Jason Livingston]

Hello Kevin,
First, a couple of technical clarifications: MPEG-2 Program and Transport streams most definitely do support HD closed captioning (both 708 and 608), in fact that’s how DTV broadcasts deliver captions, and we have many customers using this workflow to caption their commercial spots and programs now. Second, MacCaption does offer digital (tapeless) solutions not only for HD MPEG-2 streams but also for QuickTime 708 & 608 caption tracks, XDCAM .MXF files (tapeless), DVCPRO-HD (tapeless), and playout servers like the Harris Nexio (with more server support on the way).

As you’ve probably discovered, .SCC files are easier to generate, however even in the new Final Cut Pro, they can only be used to caption DV exports by FireWire. SCC files do not contain the EIA-708 data necessary to caption HD formats.

I’m sorry if you think MacCaption is too expensive. If you saw our R&D expenses, or compare our prices to the fees typically charged by caption service companies, you probably wouldn’t think so. Our interface was designed by captioners for captioners and FCP users, drastically reducing the time and costs for preparing captions. We also offer the best support in the industry, which is why companies like Apple, Sony, NBC Universal, Fox, etc. rely on CPC’s expertise for their closed captioning needs. If you look in the new Final Cut Pro manuals under closed captioning, the only name you’ll see mentioned is MacCaption by CPC.

To be honest, closed captioning has always been an expensive and time consuming process, but it is something that almost everyone has to do if they want to broadcast. CPC has worked with Matrox, AJA, and Apple to make closed captioning much cheaper, easier, and more accessible to a market that previously had no other options.

Until this year, an HD closed captioning system would easily cost over $10,000 for a hardware encoder, not counting the software to run it or the cost of the 2 HD decks you would need to make use of it (tapeless simply wasn’t an option). Our new software such as MacCaption DTV-M for Matrox MXO2 users, or DTV-A for AJA Kona users, brings down the cost of a HD closed captioning solution by over 75% and finally makes HD tapeless workflows a reality.

Feel free to call or e-mail us if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Jason Livingston
CPC

[Kevin Hamm]

[Jason Livingston] ” If you saw our R&D expenses, or compare our prices to the fees typically charged by caption service companies, you probably wouldn’t think so. Our interface was designed by captioners for captioners and FCP users, drastically reducing the time and costs for preparing captions. We also offer the best support in the industry, which is why companies like Apple, Sony, NBC Universal, Fox, etc. rely on CPC’s expertise for their closed captioning needs. If you look in the new Final Cut Pro manuals under closed captioning, the only name you’ll see mentioned is MacCaption by CPC. “

I’ve seen the interface, it appears to have been designed for OS 9 and not updated with anything but pinstripes for OSX. And while looks isn’t really an issue, the fact that a system like yours, which appears to be built by buying up the competition and eliminating it to artificially keep your prices high on a tool used to make video entertainment accessible to those who are hard of hearing or deaf, causes me to feel less than trusting of you and your company.

As the information in the Closed Captioning track is, as you well know, text with timecode (608) or text with timecode and a stylesheet (708) there is no reason that it can’t be built digitally, without a separate box at all.

I’m not happy with the results of my research. I’m less happy with your attempt to defend your truly untenable position. It’s required because it’s the right thing to do; it should therefore be cheap and relatively easy because everyone, I repeat everyone should be using it. Your costs are proof that something is wrong, and I’m willing to bet it’s tied up in your propaganda.

But please, if you can prove me wrong, do so.

Kevin Hamm
Video, Web, Print and coloring books.

[Jason Livingston]

[Kevin Hamm] […]the fact that a system like yours, which appears to be built by buying up the competition and eliminating it[…]

I’m sorry if you feel this way Kevin, but your information is not correct. CPC has never bought out or eliminated any of our competition. Our main competitors are companies which make hardware closed caption encoders for linear tape-to-tape captioning, which are significantly more expensive than our software.

[Kevin Hamm] “As the information in the Closed Captioning track is, as you well know, text with timecode (608) or text with timecode and a stylesheet (708) there is no reason that it can’t be built digitally, without a separate box at all.”

You are correct that the 608 and 708 data can be built digitally without dedicated hardware, this is how MacCaption works after all. However, the encoded data is much more complex than simple “text with timecode and a stylesheet,” and the software encoding process is not at all trivial as you make it sound.

I don’t want to go too off topic for this FCP forum, so I suggest you call or e-mail us if you are interested in continuing this discussion privately.

Thanks,

Jason Livingston
CPC

[Bouke Vahl]

[Kevin Hamm] “CP can now attach Closed Captions when you Print to Tape, and that seems to work golden for DV.”

Kevin,
Could you please tell me how exactly did you get this working on DV?
I’m trying as well, but my attempts have failed.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Bouke Vahl]

Never mind, got it working.
For the archives, the timecode in the .SCC file is relative to the running length, not the timeline TC.
Thus, if your timeline starts at 01:00:00:00, and your first caption is after two seconds, that should be 00:00:02:00 in the .SCC file.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Kevin Hamm]

Aha, thank you for the insight. I was both stuck and befuddled. I also wonder, what deck/cards are you using? I’m just using a Sony DVCAM deck and firewire connection, so I’m still going to test this shortly, but whatever you used would be helpful to know.

Thanks for filling this in. Thanks a bunch!

Kevin Hamm
Video, Web, Print and coloring books.

[Bouke Vahl]

Kevin,
I’m using the same as you, FW out of FCP into a Sony HVR 1500 (in SD though).
Output from there into a CC capable monitor, and it simply works.
(But again, the scc must be zero based)

hth

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s

[Kevin Hamm]

I’m still having issues with this. I’m using a Sony DSR-45 via Firewire, and it’s not getting the line21 captioning at all. I’ve reset my .scc to be 00 based, rather than 1 based, and still it’s not showing up in output.

Any thoughts? I’m also testing the 00-based .scc file to see if it can still add the caption track to the Quicktime files, as we are going to do downloads and I want them captioned as well, but the timecode change may bunk it up, as that was working fine with the 01-based .scc file.

I’ll keep you informed, and if you have any other ideas, please let me know.

kev~!

Kevin Hamm
Video, Web, Print and coloring books.

[Kevin Hamm]

So I called Jason Livingston, and while I’m still not happy, most of my anger is not focused at CPC anymore. I’m looking at the FCC and some other companies that see “required by law” and think “I can rape and pillage without ramifications”. I’m still not happy with the costs, but I do understand that we all have to do business, and without seeing their balance sheet, I’m not going to continue to say that CPC is flat out evil. Jason is quite thoughtful and very well-informed, and, most shocking of all, he’s helpful. We don’t have a solution, but we’ve marked out someone who is not part of the problem.

And I guess that’s the situation we are in now. More soon, as I need to get the answers immediately.

Kevin Hamm
Video, Web, Print and coloring books.

[Jason Livingston]

Hi Kevin,
If you are using a DSR-45 then this note may be of interest:
https://www.cpcweb.com/dv/Sony-DSR-Notes.htm

Jason Livingston
CPC