VHS to DVD: How do I capture the Closed Captioning?

[ttraveler]

I want to transfer a VHS video tape to DVD keeping the Closed Captioning.

Keeping the Closed Captioning which is on the video tape for optional use on the DVD is a requirement.

How do I do it? What software would I need?


??? :confused: ???

[jggimi]

A little searching here found several closed caption discussions, including this post with two outside links:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=618788#post618788

[ttraveler]

Thanks for your reply jggimi.

I should have titled this thread "Where can I find a Complete Guide to backing up VHS tapes to DVD media so Closed Captioning can be used from the DVD media via the on/off TV decoder".

In the body of my original post I should have said "Can someone please provide a link to a very detailed guide explaining the setup of the hardware, the software needed, the settings on the software, and what final tests should be done on the burned DVD to ensure 'it's all there' and working".

I did do a search for "closed captioning" but found dozens and dozens of hits with even more links in them. The thread you list was in my search results. All still confusing.

I hope there are a few Guides to this somewhere which put it all together. After all these years of video tape, Closed Captions, and DVD burning, one would think that there is a guide somewhere by now.


:confused:

[olyteddy]

Most MPEG encoding chips and or other capture devices tend to blank the first few lines of the TV picture. This is bad as the Closed Captions are on line 20 to 22 of the picture. That being said, you need to find a capture system that doesn't blank the whole vertical interval. It isn't just a software problem.

[Dimmer]

I should have titled this thread "Where can I find a Complete Guide to backing up VHS tapes to DVD media so Closed Captioning can be used from the DVD media via the on/off TV decoder".

In the body of my original post I should have said "Can someone please provide a link to a very detailed guide explaining the setup of the hardware, the software needed, the settings on the software, and what final tests should be done on the burned DVD to ensure 'it's all there' and working".
@ttraveler
There are two main options depending on the scope of your project:
1. If you just need to capture a few tapes for home use and want a fast and simple solution then get a DVD recorder. Most of them record closed captions without requiring any special settings on your part. To confirm this, record any TV program with CC and play it back. If it doesn't work straight away exchange the recorder for another model and try again.

If that's good enough for you then you're all set. You might also want to re-author your DVD however you like, and as long as you don't re-encode the video CC is going to stay there because it's stored as a part of MPEG stream. However, consumer-level authoring programs won't set the CC flag in the IFO file. In order to fix this, after re-authoring you'll have to open VTS_01_0.IFO in IfoEdit, double click on the line Video:... in the Title Set (Movie) Attributes section, and check the box Field 1 in GOP; save and repeat for all VTS_xx_0.IFO files.

2. If this is a big project for work or something equally serious then you'll have to do a lot of reading and learning; it's too large a subject to be covered in one guide, and no one seems to have written one. All essential technical stuff including necessary utilities is covered by McPoodle on his site - he's the real guru of closed captioning:
http://www.geocities.com/mcpoodle43/SCC_TOOLS/DOCS/SCC_TOOLS.HTML

This site also describes the procedure of using IfoEdit to set the CC flag in IFO files.

Obviously, you'll need a PC with TV capture card either stand-alone or integrated with video card. There are many of these, specifically ATI has a number of models - check their web site; or perhaps you can find on eBay their older model Radeon 7200 VIVO (Video In Video Out) - real treat IMO. For CC capturing purposes, the cheaper the card, the better.

Now, the actual CC capture would be done separately from capturing the video. McPoodle explains in his documentation how to use GraphEdit (free Microsoft tool that comes as a part of DirectX SDK) for this purpose. The advantage of this method is that a) you can edit, adjust, and spell-check CC if desired, and b) you can capture all video material however you prefer customizing MPEG encoding settings to you liking because CC will be added later at the authoring stage.

However, the authoring would require professional software like Scenarist because only programs of this level would allow adding CC to the DVD. I wouldn't go into details of DVD authoring because this is what the large part of these forums is about.


As it's been mentioned, protected commercial tapes can't be recorded by a regular DVD recorder or capture card. Hardware-based workarounds wipe out CC, so you'll have to search the web a bit more if you come across this.

In any case, the final test "to ensure 'it's all there' and working" is playing the DVD on a DVD player and turn on CC on the TV set. If you can see the CC then it's working.

[jmac698]

You can convert CC to subtitles on a DVD as well, in which case you just press subtitles key instead of CC key when viewing.
I have followed the above guide and got it working. I used a Hauppage PVR card and discovered how to record, preview with CC, and save mpeg and cc all at the same time.

http://www.shspvr.com/graph_build/mepg_cc.html