Comments

PeterWright wrote on 3/17/2007, 8:25 PM
This can definitely be done in DVDA - I'm trying to remember the exact steps, but it involves the Outline tool (the "O" next to the italic icon) and Color Set 4.

It was a while ago, but I did some nice semi-transparent backgrounds. Have a play with these tools.
Per1 wrote on 3/18/2007, 4:40 AM
Peter,

Great, it worked. CS4 controls the colour of the stripes.

Thanks
MPM wrote on 3/18/2007, 2:00 PM
"Any possibility of having black "stripes" behind the white subtitles in DVDA?
Do I have to add black area to the video in Vegas to get this? It does not seem to be the optimal solution. (Most TV-networks have black stripes.)"

There was another thread that might interest you discussing various options. When you talk about broadcast you're talking about Closed Captioning in NA, Teletext I believe in Europe. The black background AFAIK is done that way in hardware because of the crude text rendering -- really isn't necessary with subs IMHO because each letter can be effectively shadowed when rendered to a sub track on your PC.

As someone who's often reliant on CC, my personal experience is that I find the black backgrounds much more distracting; they do not make it easier to read.
Per1 wrote on 3/18/2007, 4:46 PM
Thanks for input. Perhaps I can stick to "default".
I will make trials with both "striped" and default subtitles. The target group for this DVD is 55+ so I might have to select a very "crude" fontsize also. Also gotta make the US narrator to speed down his machine-gun talk... :) Lots of stuff to think of (in addition to the translation to 4 langs. and dubbing in 2 langs...)
MPM wrote on 3/19/2007, 2:39 PM
If it helps at all, I like Ariel Narrow Bold a LOT. As you increase font sizes, you run into width problems, & it seems to compensate Very well.