Closed Captioning

[Collene]

Is there a way to add closed captioning to my timeline in the Platinum 10 version of VMS?
I’m working on a piece with little kids answering questions, and they are outrageously cute, but some of the little tykes lisp and I want to somehow add text so the viewers will be able to understand what the kids are saying. Any ideas or help would be much appreciated!

[Peru]

I don't use VMS, but couldn't you add titles as a lower third to do that?

[Collene]

You know, that thought had occurred to me. I just didn't seem to have enough room for what the kids were saying. The text space seems very limited, possibly I am just not doing right. Thanks for the thought though!

[Steve Grisetti]

You can certainly change the font size and a lower third will work, Collene.

BTW, we are talking about subtitles, right? Technically, closed captioning means subtitles that can be turned on or off on a DVD or broadcast so that you have the option of seeing them or not seeing them. Movie Studio can not do this.

But you can certainly add subtitles in the lower third of your video frame. Just be sure to keep them within the text safe margins!

[Collene]

I originally wanted closed captioning.
But after reading the posts on the site, I realized this was a much bigger deal then I really needed for this particular project and decided subtitles would be just fine!
So I will experiment with those.
With regard to closed captioning; is there a particular program with that feature that would blend nicely with VMS?
Thanks for the help and input!

[Steve Grisetti]

With Pro versions of Vegas and DVD Architect, you can include alternate audio, commentary and optional closed captioning on your DVD and BluRay discs.

[Collene]

Thanks Steve, I'm sure this qualifies as the excellent reason I need to expend the funds for a program upgrade!

[Steve Grisetti]

Fortunately, Sony's Vegas and DVD Architect Pro are very good values, as professional software goes.

[RJ Johnston]

Just a note that you cannot at this time add Line 21 closed captions to a DVD in Vegas Pro 12. I was disappointed to learn that. Fortunately I have DVD Lab Pro 2.5 which does add line 21 closed captions to a DVD. There's a free utility that's needed to convert text to a special subtitle format that is imported to DVD Lab Pro. A lot of people have trouble converting the text because the text needs to be in ANSI format, not Unicode, when it's fed to the SCC subtitle converter.

Here is the guide: http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/2545 ... d-captions. I would not recommend joining that Videohelp forum. My antivirus software stopped something from being installed by that website after I joined the forum.

[Collene]

Thank you RJ for the heads up on Vegas Pro 12 not having Line 21 closed caption capabilities at this time. And I completely appreciate the caution about the forum. I really want to be able to figure out the closed caption thing, but I may be way out of my depth at this point. I am making note of the software you mentioned you use and will look it up and do some more research before jumping in to CC. When I first started taking video I just thought I would film some of the wildlife on the river behind my house and video my niece's wedding. Who knew I would need more gear, more software, a bigger brain!

[Chuck Engels]

When I first started taking video I just thought I would film some of the wildlife on the river behind my house and video my niece's wedding. Who knew I would need more gear, more software, a bigger brain!

I think we have all felt the exact same way, more than once