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jgrau
Known Participant
April 10, 2020
Question

Captions have disappeared in Premiere Pro 2020

  • April 10, 2020
  • 7 replies
  • 3245 views

Last week, I spent hours translating captions that I had imported into my project from a transcribing service. The file is .stl format, the captions were in German, and I translated (in Premiere Pro) into English. Then exported a clip to show the client. Upon re-opening the file today, ALL of the English translations are missing, the text (of the German language captions) is suddenly formatted differently--everything seems lost. Where did it go? How do I get it back?

I've tried to re-open earlier saved versions (from the day I was working on it), but they are all producing the same result. It's as if the original .stl file is being re-loaded and the changes I made in Premiere Pro weren't saved anywhere.

I would appreciate help because I need to get this project done soon!

Thanks in advance!

JG

This topic has been closed for replies.

7 replies

M
Michael Grenadier
Legend
April 24, 2020

just a heads up.  Many people post what seem like definitive posts here but you can't always tell if they're really qualified to speak with authority.  Andreas is the creator of Title Exchange Pro and he knows what he's talking about.  Thanks Andreas for contributing here.   

    J
    jgrauAuthor
    Known Participant
    April 25, 2020
    Thank you !!

    Sent using the 1&1 mail app
    Stan Jones
    Community Expert
    Stan JonesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 23, 2020

    Andreas, Thanks for that info. Yes, the devil is in the details - and the intended purpose.

     

    Adobe has provided updates in the last few cycles that include EBU STL support. If you have a chance, please look at the Captions Tab, Export Settings button. There are a number of settings for EBU STL, but I don't know if they are really any different. 

     

    Stan

    A
    Andreas Kiel
    Inspiring
    April 24, 2020

    Things are getting better and those settings per se are totally okay - but I wouldn't use the EBU export for broadcast since it looses color support and therefore it's useless.

    The problem is the import, editing (handling) and somehow the documentation.

    Import leaves the user with some random results. You can import a file 2 times with 2 results.

    I'm not working with scc - may it works better - but with EBU STL or EBU TTML it won't work.

    Even Open Captions with SRT are pretty poor implemented in regards of import.

     

     

    Stan Jones
    Community Expert
    Stan JonesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 24, 2020

    Thanks for the input.

     

    Stan

    M
    Michael Grenadier
    Legend
    April 10, 2020

    you might find doing the translation in another program safer...  

    This program is free and should allow you to convert your caption file to something you can edit and the convert it back

    http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/TitleExchange/

    I paid for it years ago and it saved my life a few times.  Luckily I don't have to deal with subtitles or captions very often.

     

    And a word to the wise,  when you're attempting a new workflow, test it before diving too deep.  the voice of experience speaks...

      J
      jgrauAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 23, 2020

      Thanks, I'll try that.

      A
      Andreas Kiel
      Inspiring
      April 23, 2020

      Unfortunately TitleExchange is EOLed.

      From my experience PPro has some problems with EBU STL  - which is the broadcast CC standard outside US/CDN and parts of Mexico. Japan has a special kind of scc.

       

      To export the Caption file select it in the Project Browser -> File: Export: Captions... -> then choose type.

      It's important to understand that any caption file has 'nothing to do with the sequence' it lives in.

       

      It depends how you want to use the 'Captions'. So it might be a good idea to export as SRT first and do the translation from there even though you will lose eventually all 'speaker color' and styles.

      Stan Jones
      Community Expert
      Stan JonesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 10, 2020

      That's good news that you are able to get the workspace again!

       

      The sequence must be selected in the Project Panel (not the timeline) and it must be the sequence that has the caption stream you want. You're running PR 2020, so this should work.

       

      Stan

      Stan Jones
      Community Expert
      Stan JonesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 10, 2020

      No, I don't understand it either! But, as happens with the rest of us, probably some kind of user error. I am very happy you have your work!

       

      I was looking at the project file (unzipped) in a text editor. Here's what part of your English stream looks like, ending with the first caption text!

      </ebuttm:documentEditorsName><ebuttm:documentEditorsContactDetails>                                </ebuttm:documentEditorsContactDetails><adobe:stlCodepage xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">437</adobe:stlCodepage><adobe:stlDiskFormatCode xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">STL25.01</adobe:stlDiskFormatCode><adobe:stlDisplayStandardCode xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">9</adobe:stlDisplayStandardCode><adobe:stlCharacterCodeTableNumber xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">0</adobe:stlCharacterCodeTableNumber><adobe:stlNumTTIBlocks xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">325</adobe:stlNumTTIBlocks><adobe:stlNumSubtitlesGroups xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">1</adobe:stlNumSubtitlesGroups><adobe:stlNumDisplayableRows xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">24</adobe:stlNumDisplayableRows><adobe:stlNumOfDisks xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">1</adobe:stlNumOfDisks><adobe:stlDiskSequenceNumber xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">1</adobe:stlDiskSequenceNumber><adobe:stlTCF xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata">00:00:09:21</adobe:stlTCF></ebuttm:documentMetadata></metadata><styling><style tts:color="white" tts:fontFamily="monospace" tts:fontWeight="normal" tts:textAlign="left" xml:id="basic"/></styling><layout><region tts:backgroundColor="transparent" xml:id="pop1"/><region tts:backgroundColor="transparent" xml:id="paint"/><region tts:backgroundColor="transparent" xml:id="rollup2"/><region tts:backgroundColor="transparent" xml:id="rollup3"/><region tts:backgroundColor="transparent" xml:id="rollup4"/></layout></head><body><div><p xmlns:adobe="urn:adobe:tt:metadata" adobe:lineWidth="508" begin="00:00:00:00" end="00:00:02:13" region="pop1" style="basic" tts:origin="34c 413c"><style tts:textAlign="center"/><span>The picture is in a horizontal format<style

      lol. Your original .stl, that you imported, is unchanged. The changed captions exist only in the project file, in the form I pasted. 

       

      In any event, one thing you can do to safeguard your changes is to export your edited captions as a sidecar file. In the Project Panel, select the SEQUENCE your changed captions are in. Then File -> Export -> Captions and export .srt. It will NOT save your formatting, but it will save the changed text. Exporting .stl might save your changes or not. I have not tested that scenario specifically.

       

      Stan

      J
      jgrauAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 10, 2020

      Thanks. Unfortunately, I can't get the option Export -> Captions to show up when I have the sequence selected. Otherwise, I've closed and re-opened the file, and so far, nothing has disappeared. I saved the workspace, so that when I'm working on other projects in-between (which I am and have done), I can hopefully return to this happy state of not having lost everything!

      Take care,

      JG

      Stan Jones
      Community Expert
      Stan JonesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 10, 2020

      I took a quick look at the project file. I see a caption stream that in the first or second captions says, "and in the middle there are like.." So I think the english is there. Actually, I can see the first caption - as in your second image.

       

      Whether you can access it or not is another matter.

       

      Your stream is "teletext." There is very little formatting you can do with it. So some of your issue is that you may not be seeing the stream you had before.

       

      Stan

       

       

      J
      jgrauAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 10, 2020

      I am looking at the same file I sent you, but I only see German, no English anymore, anywhere.

      Do I need to start all over again, and if so, how can I avoid this happening again?

      Thanks,

      JG

      Stan Jones
      Community Expert
      Stan JonesCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 10, 2020

      I don't recall anyone raising this particular issue before.

       

      To confirm your workflow: you imported an .stl file in German. I assume it imported as Open Caption, but you can set it to import in a variety of ways. And no, for this purpose, it shouldn't matter.

       

      You changed each caption (in the Caption Panel?) to translate from German to English. So you now had a timeline with the .stl caption stream, but with the captions in English. Or did you duplicate the caption stream? So there was both an English and German version? (Duplication in PR can cause problems, so the better practice is to copy to stl outside of PR and import a second, independent instance of the stream.) 

       

      You exported with the captions burned in? And now in the project, you see only one caption stream and it is German? And the sequence that had the English captions has only German?

       

      Can you provide the project file? (not the media) I'll send you a private message.

       

      Stan

       

       

      J
      jgrauAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 10, 2020

      Dear Stan Jones, thanks for taking the time to reply.

      I am doing this in Premiere Pro for the first time, and I've had to consult online help for a few things before (issues others have had, like not being able to see the captions, etc.).

      I imported the .stl file, but am not sure what settings it had when I imported it, to be honest. I had to fiddle around a bit until I saw the captions, but finally managed to see them in the timeline. Then, yes, I used the captions window to translate about 20 minutes worth--that is, I physically changed the text in each little caption box from German to English as I translated. The captions looked nice enough for my purposes(white text with black background).

      Yes, I exported with captions burned in. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6r2gmfgzolpzkav/e-froemder-bis-w-bruchwitz.mp4?dl=0)

      Upon re-opening the Premiere project file, I only saw the German in the captions window, the caption formatting is also gone. I changed settings in the program window (little wrench symbol), and then I noticed that the captions window has for Caption stream "Teletext level 2", which may be the way the .stl file was set up. I don't know, because I am new to this and learning!

      I'll post the project file in a minute, gotta change to other work station

       

      J
      jgrauAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 10, 2020

      Oh, forgot to answer this point: I did not duplicate the caption stream. Just imported my one and only .stl file, pulled it into the timeline and matched it with the video sequence, and started translating German to English in the Caption window.

      If I were to work on the .stl file outside of Premiere Pro, what would I use?

      Thanks,

      JG

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