PremPro 15.4 Embedded Captions not working in VLC

[Micofmag7]

G'day Team, I have exported both xmf and QuickTime videos with CEA-608 Default settings. The xmf file shows with a paired caption file. The QuickTime file is alone. I can play both in VLC with subtiles set to display.... no captions are displayed. What newbie thing am I overlooking? What is the secret sauce?  "Help me Obiwan......  cheers Mico

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey there Micofmag7,

Great to hear from you. Sorry for your captions issues, though. I have not seen any other complaints about this in 15.4. My only suggestion is to try a newer version of Premiere Pro. I am aware of a shortcoming with 708 embedded captions and QuickTime files, but 608 should be available. I hope we can get to the bottom of this soon for you. I'll try to reproduce this error on my side if I can and will report back. Thanks again for alerting the community to this problem.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Micofmag7]

Hello Kevin, and thank you for your time.

I also have the same issue with the current version. I am locked into version 15.4 on my work pc but also have auto updated latest version on my home iMac system.  I have a client need for closed captions via VLC media player. I fear my issue may be with VLC and I appreciate it may not be an Adobe issue.  I have exported embedded versions of both 608 and 708 in both QuickTime and xmf files. I’m certain there’s a simple little answer somewhere. We just need to find it J

Regards

Michael

[Stan Jones]

Micofmag7,

Let me just ask, are you sure you need closed captions for VLC player? It will use sidecar files for the same purpose and does not need to have the captions embedded. I have not had consistent results with VLC and embeds or sidecars - except that a simple srt with the same name, in the same folder, almost always works.

Here's my understanding of the current PR embed status. PR will embed 608 to Quicktime and MXF OP1a files. It will embed 708 to only MXF. I believe that based on other threads and feature requests, PR has never embedded 708 captions to Quicktime. See this pre-2020 staff post:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/need-to-change-caption-stream-from-cea-608-t...

Prores does support 708, and there have been feature requests to add it to PR Prores export. But this has not happened.

PR will embed both tracks even though only one is "active" in the timeline. Some users have had other issues with embed exports, however, so test your full workflow. Part of the confusion has been that MediaInfo was not reporting the presence of embedded caption tracks accurately. Reimport to PR to see if they embedded.

Stan

[Micofmag7 · Accepted solution]

Hi Stan, the magic has worked. My error was in thinking if I exported a srt file and placed it in the same folder as the mxf file , VLC would pick it up. This morning I exported a sidecar file in srt format and BOOM.. The Magic happened. Thank you so much. Mico

[Stan Jones]

Excellent!

Be aware that the only styling information coming from PR in srt format is font color. And I think .stl is messed up at the moment. I need to do a new round of tests....

Stan