Question about extracting srt subtitles from mp4 video

[jimdagys]

I was told that I could extract the srt subtitle file from a PBS mp4 video. I was told to use the software My MP4Box GUI
link to software: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/My-MP4Box-GUI
and click on
the Demux Tab (see screenshot).
Here is link to PBS mp4 video (600mb):

http://ga.video.cdn.pbs.org/videos/frontline/bbd9939f-bb7e-445c-a900-f00ff6b74628/124263/hd-mezzanine-16x9/0003116v3-16x9-mp4-800k.mp4

If you download the video and input into My mp4Box GUI, the software seems to sense subtitles and then extracts a 84.7KB file.
However, when I open the file in Notepad, it seems gibberish. I have attached the file (608.txt) to the end of this post. Could you look at the file and tell me what to do. (I added the extension txt to the file name because the file originally had no extension.)

[smrpix]

EIA-608 is not srt. It is closed caption. (And in this case an Apple-specific flavor which may or may not make a difference.) Supposedly CCExtractor works, I have not used it personally.

[jimdagys]

I tried using CCExtractor on the above subtitle file (608.txt) but got error message. See screenshot. Any other ideas?

[poisondeathray]

I tried using CCExtractor on the above subtitle file

Use ccextractor directly on the video , not the text file

[smrpix]

Have you tried extracting it directly from the video file? It's not text.

edit: pdr got there first!

[jimdagys]

Same error message when inputing the video file into CCextrator. If you don't mind, download the above 600mb video file and try it yourself.

[jman98]

CCExtractor is a good tool, but it's not 100% guaranteed to work with every possible weird CC format there is. You got this video from the internet, NOT from recording a TV show. I remember your thread where you begged for help to get it. It doesn't have standard CCs. I tried an experiment recently and I can't extract CCs from anything I get from Uverse (my current TV provider) whereas I was easily able to use CCExtractor to get them when I got TV from Comcast. Maybe at this point you should just be glad you got the video at all as I think that is going to be the reality of your situation.

[poisondeathray]

Not sure if the version had anything to do with it, using 0.65 portable version of CCExtractor

Timing might be slightly off, in some sections, you might be able to shift in a subtitle program. Or there is an option to use PTS timing instead of GOP timing, that might give you slightly better results

[poisondeathray]

Interesting, I can verify that the program exception occurs in 0.7 as well


EDIT: I submitted a bug report to carlos

[cfsmp3]

Thanks pdr0 for pointing me to this thread. A few notes to reply to everything here.

1) CCExtractor 0.70 Windows binary doesn't work in Windows XP. This is not because of any change in CCExtractor, it's just that I finally switched to the last Visual Studio version and it doesn't generate XP compatible binaries by default. It's just a switch in the options but I wasn't aware of that so 0.70 was packaged without. 0.71 will work fine. If someone needs a XP compatible binary for 0.70 just drop me an email.
2) If the problem regarding the MP4 doesn't relate to the point above please let me know.
3) These days some work is being done on MP4, particularly to fix timing in MP4 files from iTunes. We think we are in the right track, but everyone is welcome to try.
4) "We" means myself (Carlos) but also Anshul, Ruslan and Willem. As many of you know CCExtractor was accepted to Google's Summer of Code this year and these 3 very talented students are working very hard on CCExtractor. There's no better time to submit problem samples than now. Really don't be lazy because once the summer is over CCExtractor development will happen as our personal time (and needs) allow. However for one more month they are working full time and I make my best to be available as much as possible.
5) We want CCExtractor to support all closed caption formats around. Some are high priority, some are not, but if the captions are there we'd love to be able to extract them.
6) I don't know what "portable CCExtractor" is. I mean it. Each time I see that I suspect someone is using it for less than legit purposes. There's one CCExtractor which can be downloaded from ccextractor.sourceforge.net or ccextractor.org. Those binaries I guarantee to be virus and malware free. Downloading binaries from any other page is a very bad idea.

and it's obvious but
7) No one takes offense for saying that CCExtractor crashes or has bugs etc We know that.

[jimdagys]

I have xp and used the older version you suggested on the above video file, (it start processing) but it stops processing at 95% ( and says "done") and yields a srt file with 0 kb. Can you please post the exe to the precise version that will work with above video and Windows xp.

[poisondeathray]

"portable" version just means without msi installer. Just the binary with GUI . AFAIK they are the same precompiled builds mirrored from the sourceforge page

You can download older versions archieved here
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/ccextractor/old-versions#download

I believe this is the one used on your sample
https://www.videohelp.com/download/ccextractor.0.65-windows.binaries.zip

[wforums]

Hello guys,

I'm Willem, one of the students working on CCExtractor this summer

I got a copy of the file, and I came to the next conclusion (using WIN7):

0.70 generates a valid and seemingly correctly timed .srt, using the GUI and the -in=mp4 (in the gui under tab "Input options", MP4) parameters (see attached file). I checked the timings by quickly skimming through the video, and the .srt seems to match what's being said.

For now, this won't solve your issue directly, but 0.71 is on it's way, and that release will be XP compatible again (as Carlos pointed out, it's due to migration from Visual C++ 2008 to VS2013) and will have some other MP4 bugfixes.

Anyway, I'd say the same as Carlos: don't hesitate to send in bug reports!

[cfsmp3]

The binary is not publicly available - please send me an email if you need it.

0.71 will be released very soon anyway with XP compatibility.

[jimdagys]

I am sending you a private message that contains my email. Please email me a version of CCExtractor that will work with above 600mb mp4 video file and Windows xp. Thank you.

[poisondeathray]

And quick responsive feedback guys - keep up the good work on the project!

[jimdagys]

Never mind, I got it to work using CCExtractorSetup.0.65.msi and it was necessary to on the GUI, tick the Input Options >mp4 (in the gui under tab "Input options", MP4. (As suggested above). See screenshot. Thank you for the rapid response.

[wforums]

Never mind, I got it to work using CCExtractorSetup.0.65.msi and it was necessary to using the GUI and tick the -in=mp4 (in the gui under tab "Input options", MP4. (As suggested above). See screenshot). Thank you for the rapid response.

The timings might be off though by anything from a few ms to a second (compared the 0.70 output with the version from poisondeathray's post from 14th Jul 2014 12:32), which you'll have (if you want timings correct) to correct manually.

[doctorm]

Old thread, but I wanted to say thanks for the solution. I ran into the same thing. I figured on using CCExtractor right away when I saw the EIA608 info (VLC couldn't decode it) and CCEXtractor kept churning through garbage activity and turning up nothing.

For some reason it wasn't Autodetecting MP4. Set that option and I'm gtg.