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Freebird0202
Known Participant
August 7, 2018
Question

Converting open captions to closed or exporting as .stl

  • August 7, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 5152 views

Hi all,

I've captioned a 1-hr film with English open captions, originally thinking we would create one file and burn them in. Now we're creating a Spanish version of the captions and I'm trying to figure out a way to export the open captions so they can be utilized in Apple DVD Studio Pro as .stl files (where we have a file where the English or Spanish captions can be selected in the DVD). We've tried converting the .srt files to .stl files and the timing drifts over the course of the film. Any ideas for whether there is a way to deal with the drift - or convert open to closed captions so they export correctly - in Premiere? Or can we just not use open captions for this purpose? I'm concerned we'll have to redo the work in closed captions, so any workaround would be greatly appreciated!

Using....

Premiere Pro CC 2018 v12.1.1

Mac Pro Late 2013

Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.1

3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5

32GB RAM

AMD FirePro D300 2 GB Graphics Card

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

F
Freebird0202Author
Known Participant
August 13, 2018

Thanks Stan.

Yes we've tried Subtitle Edit along with some other programs. The problem is that the timecode Premiere is exporting and the timecode in the converted .stl files are different - I've attached a screenshot to demonstrate.

Unfortunately there's no option to change the timecode on the .stl so that's an issue....

Not sure what else I can do. If any other thoughts come to mind do let me know.

Thanks!

T

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Stan JonesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 14, 2018

That difference should not affect placement. PR is using and exporting milliseconds, and the Apple .stl is using frames. I wouldn't think that the conversion could vary by much if any - as long as you are using the correct fps rates. How much are the variations you are seeing? You used the phrase "drifts over the course of the film," which makes me wonder if that is a framerate issue. 23.976 vs 24 for example.

You might check those in conversion in Subtitle Edit.

Let us know.

F
Freebird0202Author
Known Participant
August 14, 2018

Thanks Stan. I definitely think it could be related to frame-rate, but I have all my settings on 23.976 (captions, the sequence, indeterminate timebase).


As an example, the captions (with a 4sec offset) line up fine at the start of the film. 30mins into the film, they are probably 2.5-3sec late. So that also makes me think there's a framerate issue, I just can't figure out where the discrepancy is. Also, the two subtitle conversion tools I've used don't have frame rate settings ( 3Play and Subtitle Edit).

Sparking any other ideas?

F
Freebird0202Author
Known Participant
August 13, 2018

Any ideas for this one?

We're struggling to find a solve here.....

Thanks,

T

Stan Jones
Community Expert
Stan JonesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 13, 2018

It is true you can't convert the open captions in Premiere to anything else. I tried to see if there was a way to export an SRT and then convert in Subtitle Edit or similar. It didn't appear to carry the information you would want.

I still think that's your best option. Export the SRT, and look for some way to convert to a format that will carry the information you want with correct timing.

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