[Fixed] Captions burning into video even when not selected to

[JTW Jr]

When I export a video ( h.264 ) I am selecting to create a sidecar file ( SRT ) on the captions tab , when I export, it does create the SRT file, but it also burns the closed captions into the video. When I select NONE for Caption Export options when exporting, it is still burning the closed captions into the MP4 file.

This is happening on all 23 sequences inside my project file. The only way I can get the captions to not burn in, is to turn off the eyeball on the Subtitle track. Which then requires me to re-render the entire timeline.

This is using Premiere v15.4.1 build 6 . Any thoughts ?

[CaSMITH22]

I miss cs6 - especially being able to use encore. You're so fortunate to have your very own copy of it. Those were the days when you learned it, it usually worked the way you expected, and if it didn't, you just restarted and it reset and all was good again. 

I was lamenting with colleagues the very same thing, how much time is spent learning new workflows, counteracting bugs - and we noticed that oftentimes when a new feature is rolled out - the new way is prioritized, so the old way that you're used to doesn't work anymore - you think it's just a bug, restart, doesn't fix it - beat your head against the keyboard, and then you have that moment of realization that it must have changed, you go down the tutorial rabbit hole, and find out in order to do something the old way that you did so much you can do in your sleep now needs you to reprogram a keyboard shortcut or some other workaround... or you have to learn the new way.... but there are so many new ways that pop up that you spend more time learning than actually creating. 

Rant over. I don't have a solution, but if an official Adobe person sees this - please figure out a way to make updates less intrusive to long-time user workflows. 

[ghuff]

Such as?

[CaSMITH22]

Heya Ghuff! How's about.... let's see.... two things come to mind. Considering Adobe says they release about 6 updates of premiere per year - 

1. Cut down the amount of update releases - spend more time in between releases to catch bugs before they release it to the public.

2. When there are substantial changes that will cause workflow disruptions, utilize that dialogue box that pops up to "see what's new" to have a video tutorial that shows the old way/ways people used to do it - and the new improved way that they have developed. 

In truth, a lot of times the "new" way is better - it's just when you know the old way so well, and then it suddenly doesn't work, and you have to go find tutorials on youtube (with varying degrees of accuracy), it's a bit frustrating. Especially on deadline. 

@ghuff did you have any ideas?

[ghuff]

Given that making a bug-free release on multiple platforms and systems is an impossible task, I would prefer they don't cut down the amount of updates.

When you say "substantial changes that cause workflow disruptions", I don't know what you mean by that. What is your best example of this?

I haven't had to find a tutorial on YouTube to find the "new" way of doing things in a Premiere update, even when it's been substantially changed, such as the Export tab (which is trying to be more Resolve-like), I was able to easily figure it out because it's basically the same, just arranged slightly differently and as a tab now, so I really don't know what else you could be referring to that caused you such trouble.

[Wylie_702]

To keep up with the new features/changes, you simply only have to follow one or two of the Adobe Premiere Avengelists on YouTube to see how to use the new features. They are always pretty accurate.
And of course, there is always : https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/tutorials.html

Another thing is to change your settings so it doesnt auto update when working on a deadline. I never update software in the middle of a project. 

[pwmiller]

I've never had this issue until I accidentally upgrade MAC OS to Ventura. I can't say for sure that's the reason why this is happening, but now, I disable captions before rendering.

[Robert2910242162yy]

Been pulling my hair out on the same problem for a half an hour... Found out my issue. 
Make sure your player (in my case VLC Media Player) has subtitles turned off. It was reading the sidecar file.

[James5FC9]

I just started having this same problem in 23.3 in a project that was fine before. 

[Courtnoski5]

I started having this same problem today, and I found a solution. Important, the problem was not with adobe premiere. Another user posted that the problem was with the vlc media player. So I turned off subtitles with the vlc media player, and the problem with captions went away.

Mod note: Please do not past in all capital letters. It is considered "shouting." We adjusted the text for you. I hope that's OK.

[pwmiller]

VLC will display CC if they exist in the same folder of the video. It fooled me at one time, but the issue was editing a video from a previous version of premiere and or from a different platform (MacOS). 

[M1Storyteller]

This just happened to me in the middle of a project. I'd previously exported two video files from this project before PP started ignoring my export preset caption settings.

macOS Ventura 13.3.1(a)
Adobe Premiere Pro 24.0.3 (Build 2)
Macbook Pro 16-inch, 2019
2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9
64GB 2667 MHz DDR4
AMD Radeon Pro 5600M 8GB
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536MB

For now, I will hide the captions track and export the video files and captions independently.

*This is not a VLC issue, as others have referenced.

[CaSMITH22]

OP here - so crazy this issue is still popping up. Thanks for adding this workaround. Happy creating! 

[johnpix]

That's what I do. I block the CC line and export it as a video only. CC SRT file works great when I upload it independently. But this situation is annoying.

[johnpix]

I know it is a pain in the... Until we solve this problem (2024 still), I deactivate the toggle caption track on my timeline. Previously, I save the cc as srt file and I add it after uploading the video and it works fine.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @johnpix,

Thanks for the comment. Another user says that this issue is fixed in 22.4. That isn't the case? Let me know what's going on. A bug is closed on this matter, but I'd love to get your feedback for the team. It's possible for bugs to arise even after they are fixed, so let the team know. I'm happy to advocate for another fix.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Community,

This bug has been marked as fixed in Premiere Pro 22.1 and later. If this fix is still not working for you, please let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Wylie_702]

Happy to report that even though this issue drove me crazy for what seemed like forever, I have not ran into the issue again in many months. 

[JTW Jr]

Oops, no idea how it keeps logging me into my old account. 🙂

[Kevin-Monahan]

Cheers, @Wylie_702. Thanks for letting the community know.

Kevin

[digital.nomad624]

Hi @Kevin-Monahan We are still having this issue with Premiere 24.2.1

[Stan Jones]

@digital.nomad624,

As you can see, this thread is long (and mostly old), and there was confusion regarding whether the captions were actually burned in. I have never been able to replicate the problem once those issues were ruled out. But it is marked as fixed, so some bug was identified in an earlier version. Thanks for reporting you are in 24.2.1.

So first, just report your testing method.

I recommend reimporting the file to PR - are the captions burned in?

Or, in PR export settings with the Captions setting as None or Sidecar, before exporting, look at the preview window. Are the captions visible? If so, they will burn in.

Also, disable the captions (turn off visibility with the eyeball in the caption track header), and confirm that they do not burn in.

If they are indeed burning in, then let us know the caption format (Subtitle/608/etc), the export format (H.264/mxf/etc), and and what export settings (Other than burn-in) result in the captions burning in (embed/sidecar/none).

Edit to add:

Reading through this thread, I'd also like to know Mac (version?) vs PC and whether you have linked AE comps.

Stan