Oh no, not another Closed Caption request.

[MontananIceMan]

Before you think "Oh no not another Closed Caption request that has already been fixed" please read further before passing swift judgment.

I have been a fan of VideoLAN for years and years but theres one sore missed feature and that is Closed Captions. I found posts requesting this feature in this forum dating back to 2003. The developers say this feature has been implemented but I disagree. I read through the posts and there seems to be a major confusion on this feature causing it to not be implemented. Let me sum it up in one line.

Closed Captions do NOT equal subtitles.

Im reading posts that are saying that since VLC supports subtitles, thus closed captions are supported. I pored through VLC settings all those years and cannot find a single setting that turns on closed captions. Why is this important? For hearing impaired/deaf people who live in Region 1 DVD, often time the DVD maker forgoes English Subtitles and make English Closed Captions but include Spanish and French Subtitles. Closed Captions and subtitles use different outputs. Closed captions are included in Line 21 in the video feed itself not in a seperate subtitle file. This means everytime I come across one of those non-english-subtitled DVDs, I have to swap over to a different videoplayer. Below is a url linking to an hosted image showing what I mean since it've been 5 years since this feature has been 'added' and I still have yet to see it. This image is snapped from a different video player not VLC that supports Closed Captions. (Just to be clear I have tried the beta VLCs version 9.9 and this feature isnt there also). I also have dug through documentation for this program and Closed Captions comes up zilch.

I am not complaining since I got what I paid for with this program but please add this feature! Region 1 hearing-impaired/deaf people out there will love you for this!

http://img140.imagevenue.com/img.php?im ... _596lo.JPG

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Closed Captions do NOT equal subtitles.

Yes! Yes!

But people on this forum use CC when they mean subtitles.

The main issue is that ONLY DVD region 1 use CC codecs for subtitles and VLC developers are Region 2 for most of them...

So, if you want support, since, for once, there is someone that seems to understand what CC21 is, create an ISO of a DVD with CC and we will work on the support.

Best

[MontananIceMan]

Best, I'm glad we're on the same page! Where shall I send the DVD iso to for analyzing - upload it to one of your servers or to a third-party website somewhere?

[Dude23]

I would like to thank the author of this thread for the original post. It was informative and explained well the difference between CC and Subtitles. Of which, I knew there was a difference but never knew what those differences were. Very good post, thank you for the information...much appreciated.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Best, I'm glad we're on the same page! Where shall I send the DVD iso to for analyzing - upload it to one of your servers or to a third-party website somewhere?

ftp://streams.videolan.org/incoming.

Thanks in advance.

[MontananIceMan]

Give me a few days to figure out how to upload a ftp there and get the iso uploaded. I'll PM you when its done. Again, thanks for taking the time to look into this. My appreciation for VLC will go up an order of magnitude if this feature gets added!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

OK. I am waiting. You can put it anywhere else, I will fetch it.

[MontananIceMan]

Done, read your private message Jean-Baptiste.

[ksraj]

Can anyone please help me in getting started with MPEG4 closed captioning.

1. I need information about MPEG4 frame structure
2. where closed caption information information is inserted into MPEG4?
3. Is 708 standard is supported in MPEG4 for CC??

[tkernen]

Can anyone please help me in getting started with MPEG4 closed captioning.
1. I need information about MPEG4 frame structure
2. where closed caption information information is inserted into MPEG4?
3. Is 708 standard is supported in MPEG4 for CC??

1. You mean H.264/AVC or MPEG-4p10 I guess. What do you need to know?
2. It's part of the Picture User data
3. EIA 708 ATSC is supported on H.264/AVC encoders

I also guess that the Wikipedia entry will answer most of your questions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIA-708

[MontananIceMan]

One of my co-worker offered an idea. He said that theres an open-source project that has this feature already at http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/55

He said perhaps look at source code for some ideas?

[nperei]

Hi,
I did posted request CC back in 2003. 6 years sure it was way too long to wait. I have Mpeg-2 file that was record from TV. I would like to know any progress on this ?
thanks
Nelson

[nperei]

forgot to mention i'm using Mac OS X

[ksraj]

Can anyone please help me in getting started with MPEG4 closed captioning.
1. I need information about MPEG4 frame structure
2. where closed caption information information is inserted into MPEG4?
3. Is 708 standard is supported in MPEG4 for CC??

1. You mean H.264/AVC or MPEG-4p10 I guess. What do you need to know?
2. It's part of the Picture User data
3. EIA 708 ATSC is supported on H.264/AVC encoders

I also guess that the Wikipedia entry will answer most of your questions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIA-708

thanks for quick reply tkernen ,

i m looking for CC with MPEG4, currently Part17 supports streaming text media with TTxt for CC. i would like to know EIA-708 is supported for MPEG4

[dmaincrash]

I actually have implemented a crude version of eia-608 and eia-708 encoding over mpeg2 transport streams in the style of ffmpeg bitstream filters. Actually, the logic is somewhat embedded in a client's application, but I've learned a lot along way. I'm interested how this feature would be handled, whether it would be part of the vlc code base, or if there's cooperation with the ffmpeg crowd. I also need to do the same implementation except over h264. I'm having difficulty finding pointers as to the packet composition, since it doesn't seem to be the same as mpeg2 user data. Suggestions, pointers, and/or advice would be appreciated.

[The DJ]

Vlc supports 608 and basic 708 in at least MPEG2. I'm not sure about DVDs with CC, it's not really tested. samples are welcome at the upload server. http://streams.videolan.org/upload/

(note that this is late 0.9.* and 1.0.0 only btw)

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Vlc supports 608 and basic 708 in at least MPEG2. I'm not sure about DVDs with CC, it's not really tested. samples are welcome at the upload server. http://streams.videolan.org/upload/

(note that this is late 0.9.* and 1.0.0 only btw)

There is a DVD with CC on jones (9GB)

[The DJ]

Got it. We have 2 decoders that decode MPEG2. Both support closed captioning. But apparently there is a bug in the libmpeg2 decoder that misses closed captioning for DVDs. I will look into this. In the mean time, you can either remove the libmpeg2 module, or you can set ffmpeg as preferred decoder in the advanced preferences (Video section)

[The DJ]

Issue has been solved. It turns out that closed captioning can also be at the GOP level, and our libmpeg2 module was not expecting userdata at that level. This data is also parsed now. 1.0.0 and possibly 0.9.10 (if we ever release that), should show the closed captioning subs.

[MontananIceMan]

Woohoo! I'll spread the word among my friends to watch out for 1.0.0 - thanks guys! This will be a milestone firmware fix/addition release among the deaf community.

[ksraj]

i need this info as soon as possible, so please if you have answer for it please reply as soon as possible.

[Anamayki]

Newbie here,

I saw this post and got all excited.
Because my first posts were about ''su'btitles", but after reading here, it is the same as requesting for CC.

I am in complete agreement about the need for CC, but not only those with the US {code region?)

Admittedly I am an anime fan, but the CC of other programs for general entertainment as well as
educational purposes have a CC format. For example when in "study" mode having the CC of the native language Spanish/Japanese, is helpful.

That's why I'll add my 'twist' to this request.
Can there be an option added where the CC/subtitle will play based on instance?
Either highlight the selection within a playlist to note the need of a CC/sub activation when it plays within a playlist?
And/or allowing for a continual play and cc.sub selection?

Thanks in advance,
and thanks to those that make VLC work...

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Newbie here,

I saw this post and got all excited.
Because my first posts were about ''su'btitles", but after reading here, it is the same as requesting for CC.

I am in complete agreement about the need for CC, but not only those with the US {code region?)

Admittedly I am an anime fan, but the CC of other programs for general entertainment as well as
educational purposes have a CC format. For example when in "study" mode having the CC of the native language Spanish/Japanese, is helpful.

That's why I'll add my 'twist' to this request.
Can there be an option added where the CC/subtitle will play based on instance?
Either highlight the selection within a playlist to note the need of a CC/sub activation when it plays within a playlist?
And/or allowing for a continual play and cc.sub selection?

Thanks in advance,
and thanks to those that make VLC work...

Anime are subs not CC.

[Anamayki]

Hello.

Thanks for the correction JB.

Sorry if I caused any confusion.

However whether it be CC or subtitles, the ability to continually play either format within a playlist
would be a great service. For I try to subscribe to both were I can. CC in Japanese or CC in Spanish.

{Here's an example, one can review an anime with Spanish subtitles, BUT if lucky can review the same version in CC Japanese , a 2 for 1 !!!}

Thanks!

[The DJ]

Please stay on topic. This post was about Closed Captioning (One of the many forms of subtitling in existence) and how VLC was not supporting CC in some files/dvds. The issue is solved, i will lock this topic now.