Missing subtitles in exported video

[brko]

I just exported a litle 4 minute video and when I played it i realised that the subtitles are missing.

I opened the project and previewed it in the video editor (3.12) and I noticed a strange behaviour (if enybody encountered the same, plesae give an advice): the subtitles are well added (i see them when i clik the subtitles button) but when i preview the video they are not visible - but they become visible if I PAUSE the preview playback when the cursor is over the part where the subtitles should be, and then if i resume right after that (very strange)???

In the exported video the pause/resume trick doesen't work, of course.

 

Any advice, would be great!

 

Thanks,

Marijo

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

I find subtitles a bit difficult to use as "Subtitles" as one needs to continually adjust the in/out times.

I would suggest that you use the "Add Text" option instead.

Click the "Add Text" button on the toolbar and enter a line (even 2 or 3) of your subtitle text and then the "Add" button

Each text entry will appear in the media list as an image.

These can then be positioned exactly where you want on one of the other video tracks and extended or shortened in duration by dragging the ends of the "image" in or out.

 

Clicking the text "image" box on the video track will preview it in the left hand pane and initially the text will be central on the screen.

Click the big T and it will open a parameter box where you can alter the position, size and colour of the text to make it a subtitle. A preview will appear in the right hand pane showing the current text position if you have the main track cursor positioned over the text box "image".

 

In the control window, clicking the centre bottom square of the alignment block will place the text in the normal subtitle position. A long line of text can be placed bottom left. etc. By reducing the size and position of your text you can enter 2 or more lines if required.

 

If you need to retype your text there is a small 3 line edit box but this does not always work correctly and NCH have said this will be corrected in the next version. If you do need to redo the text it's better and probably easier to just make another complete subtitle from scratch and delete the faulty one from the media list.

 

As it is considered to be an overlay image you can use the "Opacity" control effects and key frames to create a fade in/out if required.

 

In my opinion you have more control of text here than you get with the subtitle option.

 

Nat

[brko]

Thanks Nat for the informative answer. You are an active member :-)But

I'm already using text option and all the good things that go with it, but I also like to use subtitles.

 

And for some reason there is this problem I explained in my post. If I have to use tricks to avoid subtitles, I'd like to know why - anyone had the same expirience using subtitles, or you are guessing what could be the reason of the problem, please post - I'm all ears :-)

 

Anyone?

 

Regards

[Nationalsolo]

Hi brko

 

Bit of a longish reply but it confirms what you have found.

 

I have just switched into version 3.12 to try the subtitle option...

 

Loaded a short MPEG4 clip waited for it to appear in the media list. Dragged and dropped in on the sequence line

Selected it and clicked the Subtitles Tab.

Typed in a short text

Waited for the thumbnails to render in the window

Dragged the IN/OUT markers to display from START to FINISH of the clip and waited for the thumbnails to render in the window

The subtitle text appeared on the thumbnails between the markers. i.e. All looked OK.

 

Although not necessary I then clicked the Green + to add another subtitle, didn't add another and then closed the subtitle window.

On the main screen I played the clip...

 

THE SUBTITLE DID NOT APPEAR IN THE PREVIEW

 

Clicked the return to start button < and again played the preview..NO SUBTITLE APPEARED UNTIL I STOPPED THE PREVIEW PLAYING THEN IT DID APPEAR!

 

To check , I Clicked the return to start button < and again played the preview..NO SUBTITLE APPEARED UNTIL I STOPPED THE PREVIEW THEN IT DID APPEAR!

 

My first observation is that ...You can't see where your subtitle actually is on the screen. Playing the sequence doesn't show it until you stop the preview when it then appears....not much use!

 

After clicking the return to start < button I exported the video to my PC as an avi.

THE SUBTITLES DID NOT PLAY IN THIS

 

Returned to VP and played the preview for a short distance and then stopped the preview when the text then appeared again as noted above. Exported again.......again NO SUBTITLES!

 

Thinking it might be the Show Subtitles tab (which showed grey) I clicked this turning it the same coulour as the other tabs and the text disappeared in the thumbnails. Exported video was still without text.

 

There is a bug here and NCH should have a look at it.

 

Nat

[brko]

Thanks Nat for reproducing the situation. It really is strange. I hope NHC will answer somethin. And fix it, of course!

 

What do you say, NHC guys, will you give it a look?

[borate]

Bit of a longish reply but it confirms what you have found.

 

Not seeing that here in a quick test using 3.10.

 

Loaded three clips to the time line - two WMV files and one MOV.

Placed two subtitles over the first clip and the beginning of the second, using 18pt. Comic Sans type. Preview was good, whether dragged manually or played automatically.

Placed a third subtitle over the end of clip two and saved the production as an AVI. Played fine, with all subtitles intact.

 

Of course, the very latest VP incarnations are usually betas, and might be expected to have odd behavior. The basic, free 3.10 version being used here isn't listed as such, thus might be less problematic.

[brko]

That's right, borate, in version 3.10 I also didn't encounter this missing subtitles situation.

The issue occured in version 3.12

and is still here

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

 

One thing to note if you are adding subtitles...... and that is the aspect ratio of the output video. This must be same as the video that you have on the timeline otherwise the text won't be correctly sized or positioned.

 

e.g.

Version 3.10

Put a short HD clip on the timeline (I used a 1280 x 720 MPEG4)

Add a subtitle......"This will be too wide for the screen"

At the default character size of 18 it will spill off the screen at each end. This is common to all 3.xx versions of VP.

(Version 2.41 started a new line to accomodate long subtitle texts.)

 

So,...Reduce the text to size 10 and it just fits OK.

Export to the PC as HD 720 avi and the result is OK

 

Export it to the PC as a TV PAL (768 x 576) or TV 640 x 480 NTSC and the ends of the subtitle will be missing.

 

Although your original video will be reduced to fit the new frame size and the image will retain its AR within this frame shape, the subtitle text will not be corrected in this way and will retain its original size and AR. This means it may not all show or be too big or appear too large under the screen image .

 

I have also noticed that on occasions (not every time) the video refused to preview in the right hand pane when I returned to VP to try another export with different settings. I even had one black right hand preview pane that showed TWO correctly sized subtitles, one placed placed at the bottom of the pane and the other upside -down as a mirror image along the top of the pane . Wierd or what?

 

Nat

[brko]

I still have the same problem. Sent an report to the NHC tech support, we will see will they answer...