How to remove closed captions from mpg steam?

[picrade]

I have a mpg stream which has closed captions.
Can I remove closed captions without reencoding?

[tomlee59]

You didn't specify what kind of mpeg files these are, so that's why this answer is so general: It depends on whether the CCs are hard-burned into the image (in which case the answer is no), or whether the CCs are user-controllable subtitles (which is the common case in commercially-authored DVDs). If the latter, then simply turn off the subtitles. If the former, than you're SOL (sadly out of luck).

[picrade]

Closed captions (also called line 21) are not regular subtitles.
They are not burned into ithe mage and can be turned off and on, either thru DVD or the TV.
But I want to permanently remove them from the stream.

[Cornucopia]

You guys are mixing up CCs with Subtitles. True CCs are "closed". IOW they are hidden until you purposefully turn them on (on you TV/Monitor/Display, not your player). If they're hidden and you don't want to see them, just don't turn them on!

If they ARE Subs (as I would guess), you can just change/remove the UOPs with DVDDecrypter, etc., so that forced subs are no longer forced.

If subs are hardcoded into the movie, you'll have to use one of those "logo-removal" filters (none of which are perfect), and you WILL have to reencode.

Scott

[Cornucopia]

Was typing my reply when when you posted yours...

Why would you need to permanently LOSE the CCs?

No matter, ReStream can probably do it without re-encoding (part of User-data fields in the Video stream).

Scott

[tomlee59]

Was typing my reply when when you posted yours...

Why would you need to permanently LOSE the CCs?

No matter, ReStream can probably do it without re-encoding (part of User-data fields in the Video stream).

Scott

That's why I asked the question that I did. I know that CCs are not the same as subtitles, but it was not at all clear (until he responded) that the OP understood the distinction. Because, as you note, if they are true CCs, then why would anyone want/need to go to the extra trouble of removing them? It hardly makes sense, but maybe the OP has a particular reason that isn't obvious...

[picrade]

Well, I specifically said "closed captions."
To me the distinction with subtitles is quite clear.
But apparently some people use "closed captions" and "subtitles" interchangeably.
No matter...I'll be clearer next time.

As to why I want to remove them, let's just say that in this particular case I don't want the
intended audience to see the closed captions, even by accident.
Though not as obviously as subtitles, closed captions, if present, can still be turned on.

Anyway, ReStream did the trick.
Thanks.

[Midzuki]

picrade wrote:

let's just say that in this particular case I don't want the
intended audience to see the closed captions, even by accident.

Translation:

"old pets don't want to unlearn outdated tricks".

[tcio]

Unfortunately this respond is years after the original post but perhaps it can still help someone.

I myself like to remove the Closed Captions so my kids don’t turn them on and see the foul language I worked so hard to edit out of the subtitles and audio.

I have a technique I discovered after trying many things and failing. It works very well and is very simple.

1. Do everything you need to do to create and finish your DVD

2. Open the finished DVD up with an old version of DVD Shrink. It MUST be an older version

3. Shrink the DVD. I compress mine the least amount as possible to preserve the quality. It MUST be compressed to remove the CC. I don’t remember exactly which of the old versions work for this and which ones don't but I use DVD Shrink version 2.3. Works like a charm!

[SLK001]

Or, do what Cornucopia suggests and run the .M2V file through restream. Click on USER DATA and select REMOVE.

This will strip out all user data and give you a clean .M2V just like the original, but minus the CC data. Quick, painless and no quality loss.

[tcio]

The post by Cornucopia stated "probably" so I didn't know for sure if the program actually worked for this or not but I just tried it myself (ReStream) and it does indeed work and very easily. This is the best answer to the question and the best/easiest way to strip out the CC that I now know of too. Excellent info.

I will be doing it this way from now on but if you ever airhead out and forget (like I do sometimes lol) you can always take the DVD Shrink route without having to demux again. At 5% compression I cannot see the quality loss whatsoever but if its a super serious project I might just demux again. Thanks SLK001 for recapping on that post and also adding a "How to" as the program doesn't tell you how as far as I could tell. I just saw the two Cs ("CC") with a bunch of other jumbled code, chose the "remove" option and went for it. It worked great but you made it much clearer for everyone.

[tomlee59]

Well, I specifically said "closed captions."
To me the distinction with subtitles is quite clear.

You were indeed quite specific -- it's just that not everyone who posts here says what they mean, so we couldn't quite make the assumption that you knew what you were talking about. Since my imagination was too limited, it wasn't initially obvious why one would want to go to the trouble of eliminating something that was optional anyway, so that added to the mystery. But others have since provided good reasons, and all is clear.

And glad to hear that you were able to solve your problem in the end!