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Black video for Closed Captions

Chupacabras

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Chupacabras
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
3,494
A brother of me produces a weekly TV program that is broadcasted through a local TV station. I help him with the transcripts which are latter converted to Closed Captions by someone else.

Now asked me to do the Closed Captions myself and for that I have already software to make a a caption file (text with time tags). Long, but simple. Then I can load this file into, say, Quicktime and make it work.

But!

He needs I put the captions in a .MOV file, which is nothing but a black video (you can see the white, flat captions line on the top) and no audio. This file is of course the same resolution and framerate than the actual show for proper synch.

Now, the TV station puts the show on tape for broadcasting, and *in this step* they encode (mix) the captions and the actual show.

My problem is, I can transcript and make a caption file with proper times, but I don't know about this .MOV file. ¿How do I produce it?

I told my brother that he could render the video himself with the CC already embedded, but he says no. He wants me to make this .MOV file.

Could anyone here please enlighten me?
 
".MOV" is the native container format for QuickTime™. You do not need to do anything else but to select the MOV format as a complete movie (¡ not hinted !) when you save the video file.
 
Beware family members who not only want you to do free stuff for them but also want you to learn how to do it on your own. That is a step too far.
 
Thank you for your responses. There's a story around this.

First, my brother is paying for this. Not very much, but heck, I don't have a job and recently he's throwing me more work (this time setting up social media for a company).

Also, leonAzul, this black Video is not really a "normal" QT movie. Its generated and encoded within certain strict parameters. It carries the Closed Caption data, and nothing else, specifically for the system you're using (NTSC, PAL, DVD, YouTube, etc...).

Anyway, about the Black Video, there's this software to which every search or full investigation leads to, made by CPC and which costs 4k. This software is very good and makes things easy, with Black Video being an internal function of the software, so its almost just one click. Its advanced; its made for *that* task.

Aside of that, there is no place - I repeat: NO PLACE, NOT ONE - no place on the Internets explaining how to do this in any way. Not even hinted by software that can actually do it. I tells you: I bought the whole Internet on CD from a man in Nigeria and there's nothing.

But you see, if I wanted those few extra bucks, I had to find a way, so I started reading, and compiling video and reading again until I got it. I found out how to produce Line 21 Black Video for Closed Caption encoding the long, sweaty way.

Its miles away from fancy, and making certain changes such as putting the CC atop, instead of bottom, is a real PITA. But. It. Damn. Works.

Why is there no information around? My only guess is that this is a big/booming business. A search for this kind of jobs yields a lot of results for transcriptionist, but Black Video is always generated by the employer in an undisclosed location. Only one single expensive software mentions the word. So maybe its a well-kept commercial secret, or there's a second CD in Nigeria that I still have to buy.

I may end up doing a YouTube tutorial, but I am not quite sure right now. CC is mandatory in the US, but not abroad. It may become required by Law later in MX and Latinamerica, but I doubt there's much interest at this point.

Well, thank you again. That's the story of it!
 
Are you sure it needs to be in .MOV? It might be OK in other formats you need to ask the people who know. Unless you already have the specs from them.
 
The quick and dirty way to do this is to import an SRT text file into a blank video. This is trivial with "QuickTime Pro", which is available for $29.99.

This creates a video stream which is independent of display formats like PAL and NTSC. If you need to specifically encode for one of these, I can recommend "Handbrake". Handbrake uses the MP4 container, so you would need to open and save the video again in QuickTime—that doesn't take long at all, it is merely a container translation, not a full-on transcription.

Please note that transcribing between the broadcast formats PAL and NTSC is a tricky business. Typically that encoding is done at the very end of the process, and raw video streams are preferred for editing and archival purposes.

Chupacabras said:
Thank you for your responses. There's a story around this.

First, my brother is paying for this. Not very much, but heck, I don't have a job and recently he's throwing me more work (this time setting up social media for a company).

Also, leonAzul, this black Video is not really a "normal" QT movie. Its generated and encoded within certain strict parameters. It carries the Closed Caption data, and nothing else, specifically for the system you're using (NTSC, PAL, DVD, YouTube, etc...).

Anyway, about the Black Video, there's this software to which every search or full investigation leads to, made by CPC and which costs 4k. This software is very good and makes things easy, with Black Video being an internal function of the software, so its almost just one click. Its advanced; its made for *that* task.

Aside of that, there is no place - I repeat: NO PLACE, NOT ONE - no place on the Internets explaining how to do this in any way. Not even hinted by software that can actually do it. I tells you: I bought the whole Internet on CD from a man in Nigeria and there's nothing.

But you see, if I wanted those few extra bucks, I had to find a way, so I started reading, and compiling video and reading again until I got it. I found out how to produce Line 21 Black Video for Closed Caption encoding the long, sweaty way.

Its miles away from fancy, and making certain changes such as putting the CC atop, instead of bottom, is a real PITA. But. It. Damn. Works.

Why is there no information around? My only guess is that this is a big/booming business. A search for this kind of jobs yields a lot of results for transcriptionist, but Black Video is always generated by the employer in an undisclosed location. Only one single expensive software mentions the word. So maybe its a well-kept commercial secret, or there's a second CD in Nigeria that I still have to buy.

I may end up doing a YouTube tutorial, but I am not quite sure right now. CC is mandatory in the US, but not abroad. It may become required by Law later in MX and Latinamerica, but I doubt there's much interest at this point.

Well, thank you again. That's the story of it!
Click to expand...
 
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