Captions vs subtitles???

[Goonch]

Are captions and subtitles the same thing?

I would like to create my own subtitles/captions. How can I do that?

Thanks!

[Tommyknocker]

Pretty much. Try using my guide.

[dphirschler]

If by "captions" you mean "closed captions", then they are most certainly different from subtitles.

The most obvious difference is their apperance. Closed captions appear largely as mono-spaced all caps text within a black solid box. Subtitles are variably-spaced, capitalized properly, and have no background.

There are other differences such as their intent and how they are encoded into the stream, but that is where I will leave you to research it on your own. Good luck.


Darryl

[Goonch]

I don't think that I am talking about "closed captions".

What I would like to add to my home made DVDs is some text describing the event name and time/date of the event which you are watching on the DVD.

As an example, I would like to add this line, "Wedding reception July 31st 1993", to my wedding reception DVD which I captured from my original VHS tape.

This is going to be a gift for my wife as an anniversary present.

[andkiich]

You can use something like Video Studio or Windows Movie Maker to place the text directly on the video.

If you want selectable subtitles, you will need an authoring program that supports subtitle streams(DVD-Lab, IFOEDIT).
There are guides for both of these on this site under AUTHOR.

[Goonch]

You can use something like Video Studio or Windows Movie Maker to place the text directly on the video.

That is exactly what I want to do!

Thanks!

[DereX888]

Closed captions appear largely as mono-spaced all caps text within a black solid box. Subtitles are variably-spaced, capitalized properly, and have no background.

correction:
Closed Captions may appear with capital and small letters same as subtitles, and *better*. I have never seen multicolor subtitles on DVDs, while very often CC have each letter or word different. You can spot those colourful ones on some commercials if you turn on CC on your tv.
Also displaying letters in black solid box depends on the complexity of your CC decoder inside your tv. My previous RCA tv had CC display in "see-through" boxes, which I could swap into solid black background as well. My newer RCA nor Sony can't do this, but certainly it could have been added had they been better designed.
Unfortunately I cant do screencap since CC appears as overlay on tv itself and it is not passed with video feed from tv to my comp, but I'll try to catch any colorful Closed Caption on camera and post here.

[SLK001]

Closed captions appear largely as mono-spaced all caps text within a black solid box. Subtitles are variably-spaced, capitalized properly, and have no background.

correction:
Closed Captions may appear with capital and small letters same as subtitles, and *better*. I have never seen multicolor subtitles on DVDs, while very often CC have each letter or word different. You can spot those colourful ones on some commercials if you turn on CC on your tv.
Also displaying letters in black solid box depends on the complexity of your CC decoder inside your tv. My previous RCA tv had CC display in "see-through" boxes, which I could swap into solid black background as well. My newer RCA nor Sony can't do this, but certainly it could have been added had they been better designed.
Unfortunately I cant do screencap since CC appears as overlay on tv itself and it is not passed with video feed from tv to my comp, but I'll try to catch any colorful Closed Caption on camera and post here.

Actually, subtitles have a wider range of available colors than do closed captions. The reson that you don't see them in different colors, is because the original author didn't bother with them. The CC standard calls for all capital letters, since there were no decenders in the original font. However, extentions of the standard allow for both upper and lower case letters (and now with decenders).

And, subtitles allow for a wide array of fonts, while CCs have few.

Also, remember that CLOSED CAPTIONS were mainly for people with hearing problems, so every sound is displayed on the screen (ie, < TELEPHONE RINGING >, and < DISTANT GUNSHOTS >). Subtitles are mainly for people who can hear (but need a language translated), so these items are usually left out of subtitles.

[DereX888]

SLK001 - if subtitles can have more than 16 colors (I think thats what CC has, unless again it is limited by my tv's decoder) and each letter can be of different color - then its great, I didnt knew about it. I knew font and color (of all fonts in one subtitle set) can be changed, but if it is possible to do more than that - then more power to subts!

I didnt try to prove CC to be superior to subts LOL, I only tried to 'debunk' what many ppl say about CC, which isn't that bad - it isn't just utilized enough IMO. My newer tv i.e. can swap between 8 different CC languages or feeds, but I never seen more than 2 broadcasted at once, and it happened only on stinky CPAC :/

so every sound is displayed on the screen (ie, < TELEPHONE RINGING >, and < DISTANT GUNSHOTS >).

This is what actually is *missing* in subtitles. Ask any person with hearing problems - they all will tell you DVD subts sux big time just because of lack of those sounds description.

[SLK001]

so every sound is displayed on the screen (ie, < TELEPHONE RINGING >, and < DISTANT GUNSHOTS >).

This is what actually is *missing* in subtitles. Ask any person with hearing problems - they all will tell you DVD subts sux big time just because of lack of those sounds description.

Well, these can easily be added. I often do both for my videos, and I leave the "sounds" out from my subtitles. There are now "subtitles for the hearing impaired" which are very close to CCs.

Closed captions are available only in the following colors:
White
Blue
Cyan
Red
Yellow
Magenta

[DereX888]

Im not sure, but I think I saw a "rainbow" colored CCs on one of the commercials - M&Ms "Where is blue" I think, but Im not 100% sure - which was made up of 12 colors, not 6.