Roxio DVDit Pro HD, User Manual

Page: 193 / 222

Subtitle script structure
193
Basic subtitle format
This is the basic script without any formatting or screen position commands. Each subtitle
exists on its own line and ends in a carriage-return. The subtitle string has the following
format:
[id#][tab][start timecode][tab][end timecode][tab][text][cr]
Where:
•
[id#]
is a number to help you to identify the subtitle. It does not have to be unique or
sequential, so if you insert a new subtitle in the middle of a script, you don’t need to
renumber the subsequent subtitles.
•
[tab]
is the tab character.
•
[start timecode]
is the timecode where the text appears.
•
[end timecode]
is the timecode where the text stops displaying.
•
[text]
is the subtitle string.
• [cr] is the carriage return.
For example:
1 00:02:17:12 00:02:23:21 This is the subtitle text...
2 00:02:27:02 00:02:35:18 ...and here is more text.
3 00:03:12:14 00:03:22:10 But wait! There’s more!
.
.
Timecodes always use the hh:mm:ss:ff format, even if the video contains drop-frame
timecode. If you create the subtitles by reference to the source videotape’s timecode, you
can add a Tape Offset command to account for the difference between the tape timecode and
the movie’s timecode (which always starts at 00:00:00:00). See
“Display commands” on
page 197 for details.
Subtitle timecodes must not overlap. If you create a script where one subtitle starts before
the previous subtitle finishes, DVDit Pro HD will not import that subtitle.
To make a subtitle text block that contains two or more lines, you can either use “|”
characters (Shift+backslash) to represent the carriage returns, or use carriage-returns and
start the next line with a tab character.
DVDit_Pro_HD.book Page 193 Monday, September 25, 2006 2:32 PM