Video editing workflow... Subtitles?

[sgofferj]

Hi,

I'm slowly getting settled with all the new stuff around my 6D and my new video workstation. One thing I was wondering about is that my shiny new workstation seems to have more problems with real time processing of h264 in KDEnLive than my shabby old Phenom2X3.

Anyways, for the moment, I settled on DNxHD as intermediate format and I knitted some bash scripts which will suck h264 (and hopefully MLV if I ever get it to work) from the card and convert it to DNxHD on the fly. Mid August comes my first project - travelling to Germany and shooting a short doc about the Wolfcenter.

Question:
What would be your recommendation for subtitles? I have a translation genius who lives 600km away from me. What we need is some kind of a visual sub editor, preferably open source, which produces a format which can either directly be exchanged with others on production quality level or be converted into a common production format.
At first glance, Aegisub looks really good as far as the workflow for the translator goes. But I'm not sure if I can actually do something with the "advanced substation alpha" subtitle format...

-Stefan

[ItsMeLenny]

I don't think your workstation is the problem so much as Kdenlive is the problem.

Subtitles can be created in any text editor. (Unless you want DVD subtitles, you have to convert them to that DVD image subtitle format).

If he's only doing translations, then you'd want to pre-subtitle it in whatever language with timing, and then he can just translate that text.

[budafilms]

In Mac? Plenty of them, Open Source and free!

[sgofferj]

I don't think your workstation is the problem so much as Kdenlive is the problem.

I get the feeling also... But the choice of editing software on Linux is quite limited... And since Adobe changed to that renting model which basically requires the editing machine to have an internet connection, that's out of the question for me (besides the fact that it's out of my budget).

Subtitles can be created in any text editor. (Unless you want DVD subtitles, you have to convert them to that DVD image subtitle format).

I think, creating them in a text editor is fairly unintuitive. Aegisub (what I mentioned before) allows basically "on screen" WYSIWYG editing.

If he's only doing translations, then you'd want to pre-subtitle it in whatever language with timing, and then he can just translate that text.

Isn't that kinda double work? She does understand/speak German and English perfectly fluent, so my idea was basically, to tell her what software to set up on her PC and then send her a USB-SSD with the material to work on. She would then send the SSA/ASS/SRT/whatever file back to me.

My main issue is: In case a TV station or production service wants the material - which format are they going to want the subs in and how to I create that format? DO they nowadays still use the EBU STL format?

In Mac? Plenty of them, Open Source and free!

Actually, Linux or Windows but if it's Open Source, chances are it's possible to get it to run and/or compile on Linux. Do you have recommendations for good software which creates files which could be accepted by "professionals"?

[budafilms]

I get the feeling also... But the choice of editing software on Linux is quite limited... And since Adobe changed to that renting model which basically requires the editing machine to have an internet connection, that's out of the question for me (besides the fact that it's out of my budget).
I think, creating them in a text editor is fairly unintuitive. Aegisub (what I mentioned before) allows basically "on screen" WYSIWYG editing.
Isn't that kinda double work? She does understand/speak German and English perfectly fluent, so my idea was basically, to tell her what software to set up on her PC and then send her a USB-SSD with the material to work on. She would then send the SSA/ASS/SRT/whatever file back to me.

My main issue is: In case a TV station or production service wants the material - which format are they going to want the subs in and how to I create that format? DO they nowadays still use the EBU STL format?
Actually, Linux or Windows but if it's Open Source, chances are it's possible to get it to run and/or compile on Linux. Do you have recommendations for good software which creates files which could be accepted by "professionals"?

It's not a science a software subtitles, because, as you know, it's tipography.
I did three movies in my life. All of them were in international films festivals with english subtitles - I'm spanish.
One of them were in big screen a couple of weeks.

The first one I used DVD Studio PRO - discontinued by Apple.
The other two I use this:

http://www.jubler.org