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At times, you may find yourself in a situation that will require a captioned video program to be put onto a DVD. Do you know that you cannot record a captioned video signal onto a DVD and have the program captioned? There is no line 21 in MPEG 2. So, how do we get captions onto a DVD if the product has been captioned before?

Video captions can be extracted. This extracted file contains the caption verbiage, placement and time code numbers. Once the file is extracted, it can be exported to accommodate the DVD authoring system being used to produce a DVD product. For example, an .scc, .cc, or .txt file can be exported. The specific caption file you need will depend on the requirements of your DVD authoring system. Just as video captions are recorded on line 21 of the vertical interval, the file for DVD captions is embedded in the data stream.

Furthermore, this caption file can be reformatted to accommodate DVD subtitles. Subtitles are laid out differently than caption files. For example, you can choose a specific font and dictate its size. This allows for more than 32 characters per line, as is the requirement for captions. The extracted file will be a scroll-up or pop-on style of captions and may need to be reformatted to accommodate a subtitle layout.

Many clients will use this service since it saves them a lot of money. Let’s say that you have a captioned video product and clients are asking for it on DVD. You can still offer it to them with captions or subtitles while investing a minimal amount to accommodate this request. For example, to caption or subtitle a 60-minute program you can expect to pay $7 - $10 per finished minute, or $420 - $600. The cost to extract a caption signal is about $100 an hour plus any reformatting charges, if applicable. As a result, a 60-minute video could cost about $150 to produce a caption file for DVD. If the file needs reformatting for subtitles, that cost would be determined based on the specific project.

In my next article, I’ll talk about what your options are to caption or subtitle your media products. Do you need an outside vendor? Can you do it in-house? Or, can you work together to accomplish this task?