Closed Captioning for File Servers
and Digital Delivery

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We are often asked "How do I deliver a video file with closed captions?" The answer depends on what kind of system or software will be used to play or process the file on the receiving side. CPC software supports many different kinds of workflows for delivering files with closed captions to be used on file-based video servers and digital asset management (DAM).

When confirming your delivery specs with your facility or client, here are some good questions to ask:

• What kind of server or software process they will be using to ingest (import) the file that you send them. (e.g. “We will be ingesting the file into our Omneon playback server”, or “We are going to put the file in our FCP system and output to a tape”, or “We use Rhozet Carbon Coder to transcode the file to XYZ format”, etc. – The more specific details, the better!)
• The detailed specs of file type(s) they can accept with closed captions (wrapper/stream type, codec, resolution, frame rate, bit rate)

Transcoding software

Many facilities use popular transcoder solutions such as Rhozet Carbon Coder, Telestream Agility and Flip Factory, Digital Rapids, etc. in order to accept a wide variety of file formats and convert them to the facility's preferred format. Unless they are used to dealing with closed captioning, these transcoders often are not configured to preserve the closed captions embedded into a video file. In many cases, they can accept a .SCC or .MCC file with closed captions as a separate file. Or, you may need to find out what is the "final destination" format used by the facility, and provide that file type with embedded closed captions.

Omneon

Omneon servers support different kinds of media files, depending on the options installed on the server:

• XDCAM HD-type MXF files with SMPTE 436M Closed Captions (MacCaption/CaptionMaker HD Enterprise)
• XDCAM HD codec MOV files with internal MPEG-2 Closed Captions (MacCaption HD Enterprise)
• DVCPRO-HD codec MOV files with internal DVCPRO-HD VANC Closed Captions (MacCaption HD Enterprise)
• DV/DVCPRO (DV25/50) codec MOV files with internal VAUX Closed Captions (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DV)

Harris Nexio

Harris Nexio servers with the latest software updates (5.71) can use the MCC file format generated by CPC software for HD closed captioning. (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DTV or higher)

Seachange

Seachange servers can use XDCAM HD-type MXF files with SMPTE 436M Closed Captions (MacCaption/CaptionMaker HD Enterprise), or DV25 (standard def) video with DV VAUX closed captions (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DV).

DG Fast

Depending on your specific drop box for DG Fast, they may require either MPEG-2 Program or Transport streams with embedded closed captions for HD (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DTV). For SD, they use the 720x512 MPEG-2 format also supported by CPC software using the MainConcept plugin (MacCaption/CaptionMaker + versions).

MPEG-2 Files for CableLabs VOD

Many VOD providers such as Comcast require MPEG-2 Transport Streams using the CableLabs spec (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DTV or higher + Manzanita plug-in).

MPEG-2 for generic/unknown servers

Many file servers support MPEG-2 Program Streams or Transport Streams with embedded closed captioning (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DTV or higher).

Other File-based Closed Captioning Workflows

• QuickTime:
  • QuickTime DTV 608/708 HD Closed Captions (MacCaption DTV-Lite, DTV or higher)
  • QuickTime 608 SD Closed Captions (MacCaption WebPlus or higher)
  • Line 21 onto any 720x486 QuickTime video (MacCaption/CaptionMaker NLE or higher)
  • DV VAUX CC onto a 720x480 DV25/DV50 video (MacCaption/CaptionMaker DV or higher)
• MPEG-2 Elementary, Program, and Transport Streams (MacCaption DTV or HD Enterprise)
• MXF Files for XDCAM, Omneon and SeaChange servers (MacCaption/CaptionMaker HD Enterprise)
• DVCPRO-HD QuickTime files for Omneon servers and more (MacCaption HD Enterprise)
• Common closed caption formatted files such as Cheetah .CAP, SCC, MCC, etc. (MacCaption/CaptionMaker WebPlus or higher)

Closed Captioning for Web and Mobile Devices

MacCaption & CaptionMaker (WebPlus and higher) can add closed captions to any kind of web video format: QuickTime (including for iPod/iPhone/iPad/etc.), iTunes, YouTube, Flash, Windows Media.

Please see our Closed Captioning solutions for Web and Mobile Devices page for more information.

Closed Captioning & Subtitling for DVD and Blu-ray

MacCaption & CaptionMaker (WebPlus and higher) can add closed captions and subtitles to DVDs for most professional authoring programs, including DVD Studio Pro. It can also create HD subtitles for Blu-ray authoring programs.

Please see our Closed Captioning and Subtitling solutions for DVD and Blu-ray page for more information.

Media Asset Management (MAM): Extract, Edit, Convert, and Re-embed Closed Captions

MacCaption can extract closed captions from an already captioned video and re-export them to a huge variety of formats. It can automatically conform the closed captions to match an edit decision list, or manually edit the existing closed captions in an easy-to-use non-linear interface. And it even supports batch conversion and CLI scripting for automation workflows.