Thanks,

it doesn't work and i think it's because of this comment from the help section:

Please note that encoding line 21 captions for DVD is not supported. MPEG-2 video for DVD cannot exceed 480 lines of resolution. DVD line 21 captions are embedded as metadata in the MPEG-2 video stream and are not supported.

This is a PAL DVD which I neglected to mention and it's not 29fps, it would be 25 or so.

when i 'promote ccs' it doesn't show anything up at all.

i think i'll need a third party program to extract them?

Sorry, I changed my post while you were typing. Are these SUBTITLES or CLOSED CAPTIONS.

Whatever DVDA thinks they are..... so it calls them subtitles.

Well, it is important to know for sure. They are totally different beasts. A CC file is data stored either as metadata or line 21, it is easy to extract. Subtitles are graphics. They are converted into graphics by the DVD authoring software. As such, you cannot extract data from them. They exist as graphics and although there is software that will extract it, you then need to use OCR software to turn it back into data. Not a lot of fun to do and from what I have read, iffy results.

THanks, then yes, they are the latter.

I would rather have iffy results with 1.5 hours of text in there, than have to start again from scratch. so I guess my question now is where to start. I think the subtitles are housed in the transport stream, but my knowledge cuts out about there.

I need to extract them, preferably with timings in tact.

See if this discussion is useful.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/360205-Extract-subtitle-with-handbrake

Thanks musicvid, I had tinkered with these programs mentioned but couldn’t quite get it happening. Will try again.

The link that musicvid provided is the same information I was going to give. Good luck!

thanks everyone.

This might be a different thread needed, but essentially I have the following issues and would like to know the best workflow:

I have SVP13 and DVDA6 (Pro package). I am an off-line captioner. The system was set up here many years ago when everyone used DVD's, therefore making captioned DVD's was the way to go and DVDA was fantastic at the time. Now, however, (a) I find DVDA burns to a really poor (and large) quality, (b) I much prefer the SVP in terms of choosing other render settings and also the fact that it can read mp4's better than DVDA (sometimes it can import them at all), (c) no-one has dvd players in their laptops any more.

The end result I need 'these days': A piece of footage with captions (coloured and moved as needed) burned-in to footage i.e. I need open-captions as the end result because I provide the footage to teachers all over (often in remote regional areas) where I cannot guarantee what computer knowledge or computer facilities they have. Therefore burned-in captions means that my Deaf students receive the equity they need and I don't have people 'giving up' on the captions because they can't figure out how to turn them on or whether they do or don't have vlc etc.

+ves of DVDA: I need it for moving my captions around and colouring them for different speakers and sound effects.

+ves of SVP13: it allows me to render into whatever format I want.

My solution workflows (all of which work but none of which are perfect, and all seem like the wrong (too long) workflow):

If I want to keep colours and placings: I 'prepare dvd' using DVDA, then use handbrake to burn in, however the footage ends up not great quality after going via DVDA.

If I'm insisting on colours and placings, but want the 'crispness' of text from SVP13, then I import the DVDA subs, they come in looking like CC's, then I use Vegasaur to 'convert cc markers to titles & text', then I use those text boxes to move and colour, then I burn in.

If I'm not going to insist on colours and placings, then I import the SVP13, they come in as cc's, and once I check the synchronisation is fine, I use script 'export for you-tube' (i.e. srt's) and I burn in using handbrake with the video file and the .srt file.

So, essentially, I'd really like to go from DVDA with colours and placings, TO a good quality piece of footage that has those captions burned in. I can only export to Vegas without colours and placings as far as I can see.

As far as other programs go, like subtitle edit and aegisub, I have a really difficult time without the clear audio strip that Sony gives me. I find synchronising is so much easier on the architect view.

I do have Caption Assistant and it helps me with some of these issues, but all things feel like a bandaid fix.

Is there a script that will bring the DVDA subs into SVP13 and burn-in with the colours and placings - without so many steps in-between (that is, the conversion process to titles and text and then the recolouring and replacing)?

Needing a better workflow with the programs I have.

THanks everyone for your help.

DVD spec is 480 or 576 lines of resolution. If you are importing high resolution "anything" to a DVD project and expect better results, don't.

(Edited for relevancy)

Thanks, does the user at the other end need blu ray equipment though ? Oh do you mean prepare it all as blu Ray then when I’m using handbrake I’ll have a higher resolution footage aT the end?