Closed Caption errors in VF - How to fix?

[Vedat]

First of all, thank you for this great tool!
I am using v2.16.50 on Mac OS Ventura.

I have an existing DCP which I created with DCP-O-Matic for a 90' documentary.
Now I am making a VF (SMPTE) to add Closed Captions. Closed captions are in .stl format and I can add them no problem.
But when I create the new DCP, I am presented with some errors.

At least one piece of subtitle or closed caption content has no specified language. It is advisable to set the language for each piece of subtitle or closed caption content in the "Content→Timed text", "Content→Open subtitles" or "Content→Closed captions" tab.

I can only enter the language in the Timed text tab if I choose "open subtitles". When I choose "closed captions" this option disappears.
Is there anywhere else I can set the language for closed captions?

At least one of your closed caption lines has more than 32 characters. It is advisable to make each line 32 characters at most in length.
Some of your closed captions span more than 3 lines, so they will be truncated.

Presumably this is a formatting issue of the closed caption file and needs to be redone?

And there was an error about the captions being within the 4 seconds from the start. So I added 3 seconds to the OV start time as well as the subtitle file start time, but this required me to enable Reels: Split by video content. Is there anything I need to be aware of doing this move in a VF? After doing this, I can't see the captions displayed within the closed captions window, but they do show up in the Player.

At least one of your closed caption files' XML part is larger than 256KB. You should divide the DCP into shorter reels.

I searched the documentation but couldn't find a clear answer to fixing this. Can I split the closed captions into 2 reels? If so, how would I go about that? Or do I have to create a whole new DCP from scratch or both??

Sorry it's a bit of a long list of questions!
I really appreciate your wisdom.
Cheers!
Vedat

[carl]

I can only enter the language in the Timed text tab if I choose "open subtitles". When I choose "closed captions" this option disappears.
Is there anywhere else I can set the language for closed captions?

The interface for this is rather confusing and should probably be improved. You need to add a new CCAP "track" by clicking on the drop-down next to "CCAP track". Then you can add a new track, specifying which language it's in. All this is necessary because you can have multiple selectable CCAP language tracks in a single DCP/CPL (which you can't do with open subs).

Presumably this is a formatting issue of the closed caption file and needs to be redone?

Probably, unless DCP-o-matic has read your input file badly. If it looks like your captions should be right maybe you could send me the captions file and I can take a look. I don't have direct experience of how important these character/line limits are but they are advised by SMPTE so probably worth fixing.

And there was an error about the captions being within the 4 seconds from the start. So I added 3 seconds to the OV start time as well as the subtitle file start time, but this required me to enable Reels: Split by video content. Is there anything I need to be aware of doing this move in a VF? After doing this, I can't see the captions displayed within the closed captions window, but they do show up in the Player.

Do you actually have a caption that early? The easiest thing would be to move that first caption later, if that's possible.

At least one of your closed caption files' XML part is larger than 256KB. You should divide the DCP into shorter reels.

This is tricky and something which definitely needs to be improved in DCP-o-matic. There's two things that should happen:

• DoM should be more terse with the XML it writes, to reduce the chance of hitting this limit in the first place.
• It should be easier to create multiple-reel VF DCPs from single-reel OVs.

For the second point there is some discussion in this bug and this one but it's all kind of awkward. Are you on a tight timescale?

[Vedat]

Thanks so much for your answers!

The interface for this is rather confusing and should probably be improved. You need to add a new CCAP "track" by clicking on the drop-down next to "CCAP track". Then you can add a new track, specifying which language it's in. All this is necessary because you can have multiple selectable CCAP language tracks in a single DCP/CPL (which you can't do with open subs).

Ah, gotcha.

Probably, unless DCP-o-matic has read your input file badly. If it looks like your captions should be right maybe you could send me the captions file and I can take a look. I don't have direct experience of how important these character/line limits are but they are advised by SMPTE so probably worth fixing.

OK, I will send it via PM. Thanks! (EDIT: I can't use PM, not enough privs. Any other way I can send it?)

Do you actually have a caption that early? The easiest thing would be to move that first caption later, if that's possible.

Yeah they put a caption for the opening distributor logo music! I would like to delete that caption but I am not sure how to go about it. Can you recommend a Mac based (or browser based) solution that I can use to edit an .stl file?

This is tricky and something which definitely needs to be improved in DCP-o-matic. There's two things that should happen:

• DoM should be more terse with the XML it writes, to reduce the chance of hitting this limit in the first place.
• It should be easier to create multiple-reel VF DCPs from single-reel OVs.

For the second point there is some discussion in this bug and this one but it's all kind of awkward. Are you on a tight timescale?

I think I'll be creating a new OV pointing to the existing .mxf assets and chopping it into size-based reels (64GB limit makes 2 reels).
I did a test one and it seemed to have fixed the captions' size issue.
Do you see an issue with using the old .mxf files created with the original DCP?
And reel changes will play smoothly I presume? As I don't have a way of identifying the splice points.

Thanks again!
cheers
V