Closed Captions for Broadcast TV

ripupthehwy

ripupthehwy

Well-known member
Does ANYONE on here know anything about captioning? (FOR BROADCAST TV) I've done this at a TV station with the CPC software ($10k) hooked up to hardware ($5K) and then printed to videotape, but I'm looking for a way to author it right into the .mpeg file for TV. AND DO IT MUCH CHEAPER THAN $15,000

I cannot find any info on doing this via software in an NLE without using the expensive CPC software/hardware setup. Apparently CPC software (thats about $10,000) is the ONLY company in the entire world that makes closed captioning software for broadcast? This is very hard to believe, especially since the FCC now mandates captioning for everything. (has to be encoded on line 21 of NTSC video). I see plenty of stuff online about subtitles, even for Premeire and FCP, but nothing about Broadcast Video.

Rumor has it that Premeire will support this in CS 6 ?? Can anyone help? What about Magpie software, it looks like creates the titles but you would still have to have some type of ENCODER.

Thanks
 
ripupthehwy said:
Does ANYONE on here know anything about captioning? (FOR BROADCAST TV) I've done this at a TV station with the CPC software ($10k) hooked up to hardware ($5K) and then printed to videotape, but I'm looking for a way to author it right into the .mpeg file for TV. AND DO IT MUCH CHEAPER THAN $15,000

I cannot find any info on doing this via software in an NLE without using the expensive CPC software/hardware setup. Apparently CPC software (thats about $10,000) is the ONLY company in the entire world that makes closed captioning software for broadcast? This is very hard to believe, especially since the FCC now mandates captioning for everything. (has to be encoded on line 21 of NTSC video). I see plenty of stuff online about subtitles, even for Premeire and FCP, but nothing about Broadcast Video.

Rumor has it that Premeire will support this in CS 6 ?? Can anyone help? What about Magpie software, it looks like creates the titles but you would still have to have some type of ENCODER.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Here's a URL for a application that purports to do captioning, and at a price much lower than CPC, like $99... Whether it 'works' or not... that's a different question... CPC won't even give prices online... but requires that you request a quote... which means expensive...

http://www.synchrimedia.com/

The market is small, and the one vendor that 'worked' pretty much got the market.

Since I don't worry about broadcast, there are mechanisms for importing a caption file to Encore, and having Encore 'do the right thing' to generate DVD and BD captioned media. I've not tested, that's one of the things for 'this year'...

But a long time ago, I did experiment with simple text files, time code, text and importing that into Quicktime... at the time it 'worked' but I've not needed to get back to that as of yet. I think these days an XML file in appropriate format is used to import into Encore... but again, I've not had time to experiment as yet.
 
Thanks for the info. Yeah that $99 software sounds pretty much like the MAGpie one I was looking at thats free. This is my experience with the captioning and .mpeg files.
Not all .mpeg files with captioning embedded will work at all broadcast TV stations. The local station I send shows too has a media server from which they air all their shows. I've seen that some of the files they get in that are supposedly captioned will not read the captions on screen.

As far as captioning and printing to videotape. You MUST have an encoder that cost about 3-5 thousand $ and somehow have the captioning software hook to it so that it will "play back" the captions in real time as you record or print the video to the recorder.

SMALL MARKET?? How is thousands of TV stations nationwide a small market. CPC must have some kind of patend on the process is all I can think of.
 
ripupthehwy said:
Thanks for the info. Yeah that $99 software sounds pretty much like the MAGpie one I was looking at thats free. This is my experience with the captioning and .mpeg files.
Not all .mpeg files with captioning embedded will work at all broadcast TV stations. The local station I send shows too has a media server from which they air all their shows. I've seen that some of the files they get in that are supposedly captioned will not read the captions on screen.

As far as captioning and printing to videotape. You MUST have an encoder that cost about 3-5 thousand $ and somehow have the captioning software hook to it so that it will "play back" the captions in real time as you record or print the video to the recorder.

SMALL MARKET?? How is thousands of TV stations nationwide a small market. CPC must have some kind of patend on the process is all I can think of.
Click to expand...

In terms of 'millions' that is a pretty small market... having done the 'entrepreneurial trip', getting venture capital on any product that only has a 'few thousand' buyers... is impossible... I don't know what CPC's 'ancestry' is, so it could be it was some guys who had 'a product' at the right time, right place, and were able to take advantage of the situation to become the defacto standard... I suspect that is the case, since they also make 'telepromting' devices/software...

But here's an Adobe forum entry on this topic and what CS5.5 may have to support outputting captioned material.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3893102#3893102
 
I work for a CC company in Jacksonville, PM me the specifics and maybe i can cut you a deal. Be prepared to provide transcipts, as this will make it cheaper on your end. We can do transcripts, but it adds to the cost.
 
In terms of 'millions' that is a pretty small market...
Click to expand...

TV Stations, yes. but when you include all the producers nationwide that provide programming to these stations (all the infomercials, religious programming- which is pretty substantial in itself, and any other independent type program that has to be closed captioned) Then it's a whole lot more. All these indies don't have the tv stations closed caption their shows, they do it in house or use a captioning service, like BLahey listed above does.

Premiere supports it already http://tv.adobe.com/watch/short-and-...iere-pro-cs55/
Click to expand...

Supporting and actually creating the caption files that can be imbedded is two different things. But I hope Adobe, Apple, or somebody develops something cheaper than CPC's $7-9 thousand sofware.
 
BLahey thanks but ive already got captioning services bugging me all the time for my business. I want to do it myself. faster, cheaper, better control. It's just that I don't need it often enough to justify the expense that CPC requires right now. :) Hence the whole purpose of my post.
 
no Prob, as far as a cheap DIY solution that meets broadcast specs, i have yet to hear of anything that a station will accept. Good Luck!
 
Postmaster said:
Maybe that: http://subtitlecreator.sourceforge.net/SubtitleCreatorHomepage.html
Click to expand...

In the US, Line 21 of the NTSC standard video signal, was used to encode 'caption' text. This requires that the text be encoded, then placed on the 'video signal'. I had to check, but PAL and SECAM places used teletext mechanisms, which uses the vertical blanking interval period to 'broadcast' text information. Not in PAL land so, I just have a basic idea of the method...

The problem with captioning and getting a 'broadcast approved' video signal, is producing the correct line 21 signal.

There is the issue of creating the text, getting the text timewise tagged, etc. But that goes for any current format of media, Online with a MOV, AVI, MP4, etc. DVD or BD media.

There seems to be a growing number of tools that are cheap that can generate something, an app like Encore can use to generate the required files on the media, (or embedded in the media stream for online media).

But for broadcast... still stuck in the dark ages... in some sense... there is still a problem for SD and 'backward compatible' ATSC, despite being 'digital' and having sufficient bandwith to accomodate a low bit rate text stream...

I think DVB-T uses the teletext method... but again that is a terra incognita...
 
Thanks for all the input. I did go back and download the software demo at http://www.synchrimedia.com/. I was able to create a simple .scc caption file and bring it into adobe premiere. Then i was able to crash record on a DVCPRO vtr via firewire and it worked. But as far as exporting/encoding a qt, .avi or .mpeg video file with the captions retained, Adobe will not do that function. So if I need an SD broadcast program, I can at least create one on videotape. I hope Adobe makes in possible in CS 6. I've heard Sony Vegas will do it but not sure and don't work with that software.
 
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