[Matt Townley]

Kenny,

I have never tried passing video through to DVD that already has the CC info on line 21. I’m not sure if this workflow should work or not.

Anytime I go to DVD with Closed Captions I embed the .scc file with the video track. The .scc file has to be synced with the timecode of the video track and then it works perfectly.

I have never used it and don’t know anyone that has, but you might look at CCExtractor (https://ccextractor.sourceforge.net) as it might be able to help you separate the video and CC.

If you find a way to make this work, I’d love to hear what you find to make it work!

Matt

[Matt Townley]

Paul,

The caption company I use is a “brick-n-mortar” place, but I conduct almost all of my business with them electronically. I upload low-res copies of what I need captioned (with timecode overlay) and they email me back the caption file in the format I need.

I have also seen more “web-only” type places showing up that advertise VERY low prices, but I have never tried any of them. Let us know how it goes if you decide to try one. I would be curious to know how they do.

Bill is primarily right that Closed Captions, in the traditional use of the term, are only available through broadcast video and not electronic files played on a computer. However, there have been some adaptations to this that make it possible. The latest version of Quicktime can toggle Closed-Captions on/off. Compressor can encode the .scc file into a handful of file types that work with this. I’m not sure if there is other software capable of decoding them during playback.

YouTube can also toggle “closed captions” on/off now. They are actually subtitles, but they work like closed captions. To quote YouTube’s help page “We currently support a simple subtitle format that is compatible with the formats known as SubViewer (*.SUB) and SubRip (*.SRT). (https://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=100077)” Most caption services can output to these formats for you, as can MovCaptioner.

Hope this helps.

[Matt Townley]

I use MediaTemple (https://mediatemple.net/) and absolutely love them. Compared to some of the cheaper/bargain hosts out there, they are a bit more expensive – but I love them. I have great up time, 24/7 live support and great speeds. They also have great tools for managing your servers and accounts. I also like the ability to have one grid server and host multiple domains on it.

I still buy my domains at GoDaddy, but host them all at mediatemple.

[Matt Townley]

Bruce,

I think there is an important distinction that needs to be made between an Internship and “working for free.”

An Internship is a scenario where someone works for little/no pay in return for the company investing into that individual with their knowledge and experiences. The Intern in this scenario should not be the most experienced person and who be interning somewhere they will be taught new skills and gain experience to help them in their respective field.

On the other hand, “free work,” as I think Rob is referring to, is what more and more companies (especially on places like craigslist) want to hire people for. As he said, they often want people already quite skilled and with significant prior experience, demo reels and professional references. The trend I often see is companies wanting “interns” for positions where I highly doubt there is anyone in the company who would know more or have more experience than the “intern” they want to hire. How then is the intern going to learn anything new from this experience?

I completely agree that internships are incredibly valuable and should not be looked lightly at; however, this is VERY different than working for free and being taken advantage of and getting nothing in return.

[Matt Townley]

Do you charge tax for services rendered? I’m not sure where you are, but most places you do not have to charge tax for intellectual and professional services where there is no sale or exchange of tangible goods. Of course, I am not an accountant, so consult your financial professional!

In most cases, I try to advocate selling a product and not time. We do a lot of specialized transfers and conversions, which often don’t take a lot of time on our part, but we are still providing a valuable service and using very expensive equipment and acquired skills that took us a lot of trial end error to master. The time we spend on something should not necessarily dictate the value of the end product.

Of course, we do have some clients where we bill them just like your example for time spent at our hourly rate. That’s just my thoughts. I’m sure there are people with much better arguments for one way or another than me!

[Matt Townley]

The latest version of iChat has Screen Sharing built in. You can share your screen live, not just sending videos. I have not used it for this purpose, so I’m not sure how well it would work, but in theory it could.

At the bottom of your Buddy List it is the button to the far right that looks like two squares connected together.

[Matt Townley]

I thought I would share this interesting article about the trial regarding CSS and Fair Use, etc. It’s a few days old, but seemed of relevance to this discussion.

https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/press-removed-from-dvd-copying-trial/

[Matt Townley]

Steve,

I can send you a sample disc that is RVP protected. Feel free to email me your address and I’ll get a sample in the mail this afternoon.

I’m fairly new to COW so I’m not sure what the best-practice is concerning posting prices and advertising for oneself in the forums….so I will email you some information on Closed Captions and the copy-protection.

If anyone is interested in pricing I can email a rate sheet to anyone interested.

Thanks!

[Matt Townley]

Bruce –

Adding CSS to a DVD is a two part process. As you mentioned, it must first be added to the DVD when it is authored. The encryption is then activated during the replication process by the manufacturer, who pays fees the fees to license it.

Typically speaking for most authoring software, adding the CSS feature requires that you output to a DLT and supply that to your replicator. There are a few different work arounds to this, but generally speaking, this is still the case. I would make sure that anyone that tells you they can add CSS to a DVD master REALLY knows that they are doing.

Matt

[Matt Townley]

I agree. The threatening sticker seems like a GREAT idea! I may have to try that or some variation on that. Love it.