Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
16/02/2015

Futures For Subtitling – A Manufacturer's View

News Image
If this piece was being written just three years ago it would be heavily influenced by 3D television and cinema and the implications for subtitling. Of course, in hindsight, the recent 3D revival was just another phase in the development of three dimensional viewing, which seems to follow a 30-year cycle, and perhaps we should expect the next instalment around 2035? By John Birch, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Screen Systems.

What the 3D 'bubble' made clear is that it is difficult to predict a clear future in the broadcast market. But, regardless of the success of 3D broadcasting, interesting new lessons were learnt this time around about 3D subtitle presentation, some of which might also have impact in traditional 2D subtitling.

One clear observation from the 3D experience is that a single set of subtitles will not work for all material. This is not just an issue of different file formats or transmission standard – although that is in itself a growing problem – but more an issue of a need to ideally use different timing and layout for subtitles when they are used against the same video on different presentations (e.g. cinema, HDTV and internet/mobile). The growing problem is that video is now available to us in more forms than ever before, and there are more derived versions of any given 'video story'.

The current approach of subtitling the finished article and optionally repurposing it to suit different presentations is clearly inefficient – and the result is subtitles that are sub-optimal for these other presentations. Is this an indication that current subtitling production paradigms need to evolve?

Traditional subtitling is a process of creating a textual dialogue substitute with added style and layout, typically performed using a preview of how the text will appear over the video content. The layout and style chosen is constrained by an assumed presentation of the video, with the 'subtitler' working in a 'What You See Is What You Get' environment to produce a subtitle file. Established (and often regional) conventions are used to convey additional meaning (e.g. speaker identity, narration, SHOUTING!) that further 'lock' the subtitles into a specific presentation. Unfortunately, the intent of these conventions cannot be easily translated between presentations because their use is not standardised. As a result the 'context' behind the text often cannot be carried across into re-purposed presentations.

The concept of preserving this context (or metadata) is being addressed by several new standards for subtitle files. These new standards are being driven by the growth in 'internet video' and the desire to offer equivalent access services and translation, similar to those available in traditional broadcasts, to Over-The-Top and Video-On-Demand viewers. The new standards are predominantly XML based and therefore intrinsically support the addition of metadata and annotations; allowing the evolution of more universal subtitle files. These files might include more information about the speech within the file (the 'who', 'where', 'why' and 'how'), plus additional context about the associated video scenes (geographic locations, dates and background). This context is inevitably 'learnt' by the subtitler during the subtitling process, but cannot be placed into traditional subtitle files. A 'universal subtitle file' with additional context could be used, for example, in the indexation of video; in the production of audio description; and for the production of dubbing scripts.

The growing demand for efficient re-purposing is just one of the challenges for subtitling; there is also greater emphasis on reducing subtitling costs, and an increase in the use of new technologies like automatic speech translation. The introduction of new technology has subtle impacts on the traditional paradigm. As an example, the types of errors that occur in live subtitling scenarios when using automatic speaker independent speech recognition are quite different to the problems that occur with speaker dependent speech recognition, or with traditional stenography. This difference may lead to smarter subtitle insertion or re-purposing systems that can detect and ameliorate problems at transmission, rather than removing them at source.

It would seem that two distinct changes may occur: an evolution of the subtitling process into a role that involves more 'curation', with more capture of video context; and a new subtitle production paradigm where the subtitle file is more generic and the appropriate 'format' of subtitle output is derived as necessary.

The article is also available to read in BFV online.

(IT/JP)
VMI.TV Ltd

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

21/11/2018
Subtitling Is A Profit-Boosting Opportunity For Broadcasters
They are not limited to just being used as translation devices for foreign films or only of benefit to the hearing-impaired. Therefore, why is it that
24/03/2009
Screen Subtitling Systems Wins Turner Contract For HD Subtitling In Argentina
Screen Subtitling Systems has won a contract with Turner to provide two HD subtitling systems for Imagen Satelital S.A. its affiliate in Argentina. Pr
02/05/2006
Screen Subtitling Systems unveil latest HD subtitling technology at NAB
Screen Subtitling’s latest innovations mean that all types of subtitling services are available in HD. From preparation through transmission to compre
08/09/2014
Web Subtitling: How Hard Can It Be?
The apparent simplicity of creating subtitles and captioning for web-based video belies the real complexities of this relatively new endeavour, writes
16/03/2018
Video Clarity Preview - 2018 NAB Show
Video Clarity is to launch a range of products including the new RTM Manager, Venue Player IP, RTM IP and its ClearView 9.0 at the 2018 NAB Show. NEW
29/07/2021
MAX Live Media Access Services Invests In SubtitleNEXT
Belgium-based live-subtitling experts MAX Live Media Access Services have invested in SubtitleNEXT to provide real-time subtitling workflows. Subtitle
22/10/2009
Screen And Grab Networks Agree Partnership
Screen Subtitling Systems and Grab Networks have announced that they have signed an agreement to work together to develop a solution for the open subt
16/09/2008
Streambox's New Solution For File-Based Video Over IP
Streambox Inc has announced the release of its innovative solution for file-based video management and acquisition. The solution, which is part of Str
26/02/2007
Nugget HD Video Player Features Extensive Video File Format Support
Doremi Labs’ popular standalone Nugget HD Video Player now features extensive video file format support courtesy of the new Doremi Asset Manager softw
10/09/2007
Screen And Sysmedia Reach Solutions Partner Agreement
SysMedia Ltd and Screen Subtitling Systems Ltd have announced the signing of a strategic agreement that will enable them each to recommend the most co
19/05/2017
Take One's Guide To Encoding YouTube Videos At The Best Quality: Pt I
Article credit: Take One. YouTube boasts over one billion viewers every month so it shouldn't be dismissed as an important distribution channel and po
18/11/2009
Softel Swift Subtitling Available In Grab Networks Video
Softel and online video specialists Grab Networks have announced a partnership for Grab to supply the Softel Swift vTX subtitling and captioning solut
09/09/2008
New Streambox Solution For File-Based Video Over IP
Streambox, a provider of a single software-based platform for live and file-based video transport and acquisition, has announced the release of its in
31/10/2024
Disguise Powers New Video Production Show
Disguise has powered a new video projection show and multimedia theatre experience for one of New York's most iconic tourist attractions: The Rockefel
19/09/2024
Ateme Deploys New Video Delivery Solutions
Ateme has announced it is deploying its Titan video processing and compression solution with NVIDIA Holoscan for Media, an AI-enabled, software-define