Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Beginner puzzled by price of subtitling software in relation to rates
Poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
Post title: Which part of subtitling?
I see subtitling as a three-step process, which I have described [b][url= [url removed] ]here[/url][/b]. Please bear in mind that I entered subtitling after having spent 18 years in translation for dubbing, so this vision - actually my workflow - is adapted from translation for dubbing. Other subtitlers may have completely different workflows, possibly more efficient. Effectiveness is not the issue, since my clients have been delighted with my results since 2004.
For [i]translation[/i] I use [url= [url removed] ]Express Scribe[/url] and Windows Notepad. Express Scribe has a free version too, I don't know which features lack there, probably the free one doesn't play the video on the screen. Notepad, if set to auto-wrap, by adjusting the window to the proper width, will prevent me from making subs longer than I should. (Btw, for dubbing I still use MS Word, the industry standard.)
I do [i]proofreading/checking/timespotting[/i] with the free [url= [url removed] ]Subtitle Workshop[/url]. Use v2.51. You may find v4.0, which is a failed attempt to rewrite it from scratch; avoid it.
Yet some subtitlers will tell you that you MUST buy the $4-digit software packages. It's like those people who say you MUST have Trados - and no other - to translate anything.
Subtitle Workshop is a barebones tool that will help you do a great job if you really know the ropes in subtitling. The expensive packages will give you all the automation you'll need if you don't.
However there is a catch. There are many subtitle file formats, at least 60 that I am familiar with. A few of them (often used by TV networks, mostly in Europe) are proprietary to some of these expensive programs. If your clientele demands such formats, there is NO alternative to buying the corresponding $$$ programs that create them.
Now, do your clients require you to burn the subtitles on the video, or author DVDs with them overlaid?
Permanently [i]burning[/i] the subtitles onto the (digital) video, like it was done on VHS and film, can be accomplished with freeware. The quality I get with VirtualDub and its Subtitler plugin may be seen [url= [url removed] ]here[/url]. (Brazilian standard subtitles are yellow letters with black outline.)
However there is no DVD authoring [u]free[/u]ware that I know of that can offer good quality for overlaid subtitles.
If you want more information, tutorials, etc. knock yourself out searching at [url= [url removed] ]VideoHelp[/url]! If anything for digital video exists or once existed, they probably have it covered there.
Topic: Beginner puzzled by price of subtitling software in relation to rates
Poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
Post title: Which part of subtitling?
I see subtitling as a three-step process, which I have described [b][url= [url removed] ]here[/url][/b]. Please bear in mind that I entered subtitling after having spent 18 years in translation for dubbing, so this vision - actually my workflow - is adapted from translation for dubbing. Other subtitlers may have completely different workflows, possibly more efficient. Effectiveness is not the issue, since my clients have been delighted with my results since 2004.
For [i]translation[/i] I use [url= [url removed] ]Express Scribe[/url] and Windows Notepad. Express Scribe has a free version too, I don't know which features lack there, probably the free one doesn't play the video on the screen. Notepad, if set to auto-wrap, by adjusting the window to the proper width, will prevent me from making subs longer than I should. (Btw, for dubbing I still use MS Word, the industry standard.)
I do [i]proofreading/checking/timespotting[/i] with the free [url= [url removed] ]Subtitle Workshop[/url]. Use v2.51. You may find v4.0, which is a failed attempt to rewrite it from scratch; avoid it.
Yet some subtitlers will tell you that you MUST buy the $4-digit software packages. It's like those people who say you MUST have Trados - and no other - to translate anything.
Subtitle Workshop is a barebones tool that will help you do a great job if you really know the ropes in subtitling. The expensive packages will give you all the automation you'll need if you don't.
However there is a catch. There are many subtitle file formats, at least 60 that I am familiar with. A few of them (often used by TV networks, mostly in Europe) are proprietary to some of these expensive programs. If your clientele demands such formats, there is NO alternative to buying the corresponding $$$ programs that create them.
Now, do your clients require you to burn the subtitles on the video, or author DVDs with them overlaid?
Permanently [i]burning[/i] the subtitles onto the (digital) video, like it was done on VHS and film, can be accomplished with freeware. The quality I get with VirtualDub and its Subtitler plugin may be seen [url= [url removed] ]here[/url]. (Brazilian standard subtitles are yellow letters with black outline.)
However there is no DVD authoring [u]free[/u]ware that I know of that can offer good quality for overlaid subtitles.
If you want more information, tutorials, etc. knock yourself out searching at [url= [url removed] ]VideoHelp[/url]! If anything for digital video exists or once existed, they probably have it covered there.