Open Captions - .SRT export file completely OFF on many levels ... suggestions?

[kareny79522856]

Hello! I just completed subtitling the rough cut of my feature doc (open captions).
I just tried to create an .srt file and it is ALL OFF. (have also attached screen grabs here to better explain the problem)
I have cut the caption track at some points during the edit and am aware that the captions are timed to the caption track and not the timeline - so although the in and out points did not match the timeline in the caption window after I cut the caption track (off by a few frames ...) they still appeared to play correctly with the timing of the film / re where they are placed in the timeline / track ...

BUT ... when I created an .srt file (tried both exporting and .srt from the CAPTION file AND exporting captions as an .srt from from the SEQUENCE file ...) - the captions were completely off in the following ways:

1. When I bring the .srt file into the timeline - it seems to start at the FIRST CAPTION, (even though the original caption track started at the first frame of the doc - is that normal?)
2. The timing is completely OFF for all captions AFTER the first spot where (in my original timeline ) I had cut the caption track
3. The font / size / placement of the caption is completely wrong and it seems like all the "metadata" has not transferred over at all (have exported many times .. always the same).

This is my first time using captions / .srt files - and it seems to me that the file would be critical for my online edit to be the correct timing, font, size and placement when dragged into a timeline - all of which this is not.

I have attached a link to some screen grabs to make this more understandable - and would love some input as to how to make sure that these subtitles will all work out once I get to an online (hopefully without having to redo all 500 of them ...).

p.s. when I export media and burn in subtitles it is 100% OK.
Many Thanks for any help with this ....

[Stan Jones]

I can look at this again later. Guests arriving momentarily... Sitting outside, distancing, etc. What a time!

I assume the method you used for exporting for the sequence is select the SEQUENCE in the project panel, then File -> Export -> Captions. Generally, this should work. Exporting the cpation stream itself will NOT work. All your caption stream must be on one layer. I think the only multi-layer you show is where you have put a re-imported track next to it.

The .srt (any caption file?) only knows where the first caption starts. What will ultimately matter is where you are playing the file: Youtube? or what? There, it may not matter. For some users, they have placed a space only caption at zero to work with this. But don't do that yet.

PR will NOT export styles for many functions. The timed text/XML export will carry more of it.

Stan

[Stan Jones]

I took another look.

The first several items in your list are related to the caption stream's first caption not being at zero and its position in the timeline not matching its timecode in the Caption Panel. With srt exports, you have to position the re-imported srt to address the non-zero point. But timeline/caption panel timing should be addressed by exporting from the sequence.

The last item in your list is the styling - both position and font. Did you shift the position of the caption stream via effect controls? I don't see any other reason the y position would be shifted so far.

I get insconsistent results when I test exporting and re-importing srt files, even when I select the "include styling" box. You must consider the "Import Settings" button in the Captions Panel, even when the options are not selected. For example, if I select the "Style Settings" and import they do appear to override the file. But if I deselect them, styling that is set in the file work, but style not set (e.g font family) are held over from the Export Settings.

I would look at your export in a text editor to see what PR is actually exporting and then compare to what is working (and not) in the import.

Stan