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Capturing Video with Closed Captioning Using Final Cut Pro
If you’re using a video capture card that supports the preservation of closed captioning,
closed captioning is preserved during capture in one of two ways:
• The Apple ProRes codecs support the capture and preservation of either line 21 or
VANC closed captioning data, including both the CEA-608 (for SD) and CEA-708 (for
HD) standards of closed captioning.
• Apple’s 8- and 10-bit Uncompressed 4:2:2 codecs preserve line 21 closed captioning.
However, the Apple Uncompressed codecs do not preserve VANC closed captioning
data directly. Instead, if VANC closed captioning is present in a video signal being
captured, it is extracted and preserved via a QuickTime closed captioning track.
Outputting Video with Closed Captioning Using Final Cut Pro
When outputting to tape, either CEA-608 or CEA-708 closed captioning can be encoded
to the video stream being output using the Closed Captions controls in the Print to Video
and Edit to Tape windows. Select “Insert closed captioning data from file,” click the Choose
File button, and choose one of the following:
• A Scenarist-formatted file (with an .scc extension)
• A QuickTime file with a closed captioning track
Scenarist files are always CEA-608 encoded. This means that if you output a program with
a Scenarist-formatted closed captioning file to an HD tape format, Final Cut Pro outputs
CEA-708 closed captioning that “carries” CEA-608-formatted closed captioning (supported
by QuickTime 7.6 and later).
However, you can use a third-party utility (such as CPC MacCaption) to reformat CEA-608
closed captioning as true CEA-708-encoded closed captioning, saving the result as a
QuickTime closed captioning track that you can use for output instead.
Adding Closed Captioning Using Compressor
Using Compressor, you can insert a closed caption track into a movie file being encoded
by choosing either a Scenarist file (identifiable by the .scc file extension) or a QuickTime
file with a closed caption track. These options are available in the Additional Information
tab of the Inspector window and let you include closed captioning in the following
formats:
• For QuickTime output: Compressor can add a closed caption file as a CEA-608 closed
caption track within the QuickTime output file. Closed captions can be viewed using
QuickTime Player (version 7.2 or later).
102 Chapter 6 Mastering