Belle Nuit Subtitler 2.0.0 Beta
Read Me

Subtitler 2.0.0 Beta is an early stage for the development of a new interface and work in progress. It is developed from 1.8.0b5. To support 1.7.8 users, bugs and some new features are published here as soon as they are ready to be go beta.
Please keep a copy of 1.7.8 on your computer, because some features of 1.7.8 may be broken or not work as expected for some time. Use this version only for the new features.

New Features in 2.0.0

Feature: Center Left alignement
Feature: Job Automation
Feature: Import DLP Cinema
Feature: Import TMPGEnc DVD Author 3.
Feature: Import Export DVD Architect Pro
Feature: Import and Export SoftNI SUB
Feature: New import format Eurolab 2.
Feature: New Textencodings Mac Tamil and Mac Telugu.
Feature: New Export format Timed Text.
Feature: Reference point in Spotting Tool Change Framerate command.
Feature: New Videoformat 2K (2048 x 1080 non interlaced).
Feature: New EDL exporter for Premiere. (May fusion on a later stage with CMX 3600 if it works also with FCP and Avid, to be tested.)
Feature: New Import format Caption Oneliner
Feature: New Export Format Digital Cinema Distribution Master Subtitler
Feature: New framerates 50 and 59.94
Feature: New import format Titra 4
Interface: Monitor tool does constantly update to frontmost document so that you do not have to click on the window to update. Note: The monitor-tool is processor-hungry, so close it while you are spotting.
Interface: Bigger timeline
Interface: Movie controls (including Framerate) are always visible.
Interfaces: Added more font sizes
Bug: Movieplayer Key S (next subtitle) has been corrected to work properly
Bug: On new users without preferences, the initial size of the Monitor Tool is now set (25%)
Bug: CIP Cinema import now detects italic text.
Bug: Unicode RTF import: Some other programs use the unicode 8213 character for error for the 2015 entity (dash). They mean probably the 8213 html entity. Catched Unicode and translate to a dash where normally this would be a chinese character.
Bug: Added a new version of the iacute letter in the EBU files uses in islandic files.
Bug: Spruce Maestro export: italic tags are now repeated for each line and not used at the end.
Bug: Unicode RTF export adds the space delimiter after each entity (no lost spaces any more)
Bug: Fixed some instances of the "Thread already running exception".
Bug: Alt Keys in Windows menus version fixed.
Bug: Fixed some occasions where new opened files where not completely rendered.
Bug: Fixed Windows error messages.
Bug: Softitrage importer reads now also files with timecode spotting
Bug: PAC file can read many more non ascii characters
Bug: Fixed spaces in Digital Cinema exporter
Bug: Fixed precision on 23.98
Bug: PAC importer recognizes now n-dash, right aligned, mix of alignment and italics and comments
Bug: Improved import of alignment and styles in DLP Cinema

New Features in 1.8.0 used in this beta

Feature: Universal Build for Mac Power PC and Mac Intel
Feature: New import format Eurolab.
Feature: New import format CIP Tempo.
Feature: New import format SUB Tempo.
Feature: New export list format Blue Ray BND.
Feature: New file format PNG.
Feature: Added new asian text encodings for importer
Feature: Added remove license menu item.
Performance: Improved response on text editing of long documents.
Bug: Fixed non-working 23.98 timecode.
Bug: Detects now correctly the square character in .890 and PAC files.
Bug: Removed a OutOfBoundsException on new subtitler files without movies on windows.
Bug: Removed a OutOfBoundsException on import of PAC and other binary files.
Bug: Spruce Maestro export: italic tags are now repeated for each line and not used at the end.
Bug: Unicode RTF export adds the space delimiter after each entity (no lost spaces any more)
Bug: Added a new version of the iacute letter in the EBU files uses in islandic files.

Download

http://www.belle-nuit.com/download/subtitler200b15.dmg (Macintosh Universal, 10.5 MB)

http://www.belle-nuit.com/download/subtitler200b15w.zip (Windows, 10.5 MB)

Important note for Windows users: The application comes now with a "subtitler Libs" directory which must be placed in the same directory as the subtitler.exe file.

Beta page

http://www.belle-nuit.com/subtitler/beta.html

Usage

You can test and use the beta version with a valid key for Subtitler 1.7. Please report us crashes and other bugs.

Center left

Some subtitlers prefer the two lines left aligned and then centered. We have added the new horizontal alignment Center Left. The alignment works for exporting image files, but not for list export, as none of the exporting formats supports Center Left.

The style comment for individual titles is /style centerleft On the formats that support formatting (Avid DS, DLP Cinema, EBU, QuickTime SMIL, QuickTime Text, SAMI, STL Text), the format is replaced by Center.

Job Automation

Subtitler can now open a job file which defines an import file and an export file. The job file is an XML file with the extension .job and contains the parameters to execute the job.

A sample job file looks like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xmldict>
	<key>importpath</key>
	<string>daily.ebu</string>
	<key>importformat</key>
	<string>EBU (STL Binary)</string>
	<key>importtextencoding</key>
	<string>Mac Roman</string>
	<key>importframerate</key>
	<string>25</string>
	<key>exportpath</key>
	<string>daily.stl</string>
	<key>exportformat</key>
	<string>STL Text</string>
	<key>exporttextencoding</key>
	<string>Mac Roman</string>
	<key>exportlineending</key>
	<string>Macintosh</string>	
</xmldict>

The import and the export paths can bei either a path relative to the job file itself (only folder childs, no "../" syntax allowed) or an absolute shell path. (With windows only relative paths are supported: The job file must be in the same folder as the import and the export files.)

The other parameters option have to be written as they are shown in the Import and the Export List windows.

Note: The Job Automation does not return any errors if you misstype any of the parameters.

You can open the jobfile from the terminal or in command line with the command in the style

open -a /Applications/Belle\ Nuit\ Subtitler\ 2.0.0.app /Users/matti/Documents/test.job 

On windows, you use the line in the style

"C:\Program Files\Belle Nuit Subtitler\subtitler.exe" "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\test.job"

You can also open the jobfile from Subtitler with the Open menu while keeping the option-button pressed (Open Any...).

This feature needs the site license. If you do not have the site license, only the first 10 titles will be processed.

Question: Why don't we provide a command line utility directly? Subtitler has access to the graphics port for the subtitling and also for some of the import/export functions and the graphics port requires a user to be logged in, so a command line utility is not possible. We may provide however on request an utility which writes the job file to interface with subtitler.

Eurolab

This is a format from a film lab subtitling. Film is expected to be subtitled in 35mm in feet.frame notation.

The file is a textfile with the following format. A first line "#title" which will be ignorerd. Then there is a line "in: Feet.Frames", one or two lines with text and a line "out: Feet.Frames". The out line can be zero, which means that the out-point is calculated automatically from the next inpoint. Subtitler uses the Split Distance in the Preferences to calculate the out-point.

in: 10.07
In this building behind me I spent
over 70 nights and most days ...
out 0.0
in: 16.12
during the war which lasted 77 days.
out: 18.00

Eurolab 2

This is a format from a film lab subtitling. Film is expected to be subtitled in 35mm in feet.frame notation.

The file is a RTF file. Subtitles are separated by REEL lines and lines with a single "@". A first line starting with "*" shows start and end in feet and frames. 35mm and 24fps are assumed. Because the file can have more than one reel, each reel has an offset of one hour. It's on you then to adapt timing to the real reel durations. Italices in RTF style are preserved.

@
*[TAB]00368.02-00373.00 00.00 11.0 1 0000 00 16-090-090 In this building behind me I spent
over 70 nights and most days ...
@
*[TAB]00373.09-00380.00 00.00 11.0 1 0000 00 16-090-090 during the war which lasted 77 days.

CIP Tempo

This is a format of the DVD subtitling application Tempo by Cavena Image Products. It is an RTF file with the following format. The header is ignored. Each subtitle begins with a timecode line with titlenumber, tc in, tc out and other information separated by tabs. Then there are one or two textlines. Italic formatting is detected.

#00001[TAB]00:02:03:04[TAB]00:02:06:10
In this building behind me I spent
over 70 nights and most days ...
#00002[TAB]00:02:07:00[TAB]00:02:09:18
during the war which lasted 77 days.

DLP Cinema

DLP Cinema files can now also be imported. Currently, only text and timecode are imported, style information is ignored.

SUB Tempo

This is a format of the Cavena Image Products. It is a text file with the following format. Each subtitle begins with a timecode line with TC IN and TC OUT separated by a back slash. Then there are one or two textlines. Formatting is currently ignored.

00:02:03:04\00:02:06:10
In this building behind me I spent
over 70 nights and most days ...
00:02:07:00\00:02:09:18
during the war which lasted 77 days.

Blue Ray BND

This is a XML-based format for the Sony Blue Ray disc authoring system.

  1. Select one of the HD video formats.
  2. Select PNG as file format. Export the PNG files.
  3. Export Blue Ray BND as Export list format into the same folder.

Current limitations:

TMPGEnc DVD Author 3

This is a format with the extension .subtitle, mostly in UTF-8 textencoding. The header is ignored. The title section starts with "[ItemData]". Each subtitle is a line in CVS format with five fields: Title number, unknown, Start time with milliseconds, End time with milliseconds, unknown, text.

1,1,"00:02:03,160",00:02:06,400",0,"In this building behind me I spent over 70 nights and most days ..."
2,1,"00:02:07,000",00:02:09,720",0,"during the war which lasted 77 days."

DVD Architect Pro

This format is a text file to import and export subtitle files (extension ".sub") for the Sony Programm DVD Architect Pro 5 and later.

The format is a simple tab fields with the fields title number (sequential in format 0000), TC in, TC out, text. The textencoding is not specified in the manual, it is probably Latin-1. Also, the manual does not specify how to encode two lines. You cannot know the framerate as it is not part of the file.

0001[TAB]00:02:03:04[TAB]00:02:06:10[TAB]In this building behind me I spent over 70 nights and most days ...
0002[TAB]00:02:07:00[TAB]00:02:09:18[TAB]during the war which lasted 77 days.

This format can also be easily used to export for Excel or to import from an Excel files after the columns have been arranged and it has been exported as tabbed text.

SoftNI SUB Import and Export

This format is a mixed text binary format used by SoftNI subtitlers. Use it with DOS-Latin1 encoding for western european files. There are 1 to 2 lines of text and then the timecode. Text and spotting are imported, the formatting is mostly ignored.
The following title level formats where detected, but we do not know the meaning of it:

Timed Text export

This format is defined by the W3 Group and can be used for importing to flash files.

See http://www.w3.org/TR/ttaf1-dfxp/

Digital Cinema Distribution Master export

This format exports a subtitle track as XML file according to the SMPTE 428-7-2007 standard. This file can be added to a Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM).
Note that you need some manual work after exporting. You can edit the XML file in a text editor.

We took care to translate as much as possible the style you set in Subtitler to the format possibilities in the export format.

Note: The format would also allow to use PNG files and reference to them. We may support that on a later state.

Caption Oneliner import

This is a simple format used in China. Each title is one line , starting with start timecode and space, followed by the title. If the title has two lines, they are separated by //. There is no end timecode. So Subtitler uses the next timecode and removes the split distance set in the preferences to generate the out timecode.

00:02:03:04 In this building behind me I spent // over 70 nights and most days ...
00:02:07:00 during the war which lasted 77 days.

Titra 4

Another format used by titra. After a header titles are separated by double returns. The first line is the title number, the second and third line are start and end in feet and frames (35mm is assumed = 16 frames per feet), finally there is one or two lines of text. italic lines start and end with a hash #.

@
@ 25/08/10
@ TITRA TEST
@ C:\Documents and Settings\BOB.E05
@ Images/Pieds : 16
@ START : 0:00
@ Premi`re Image : 12.00
@ Derni`re Image : 1437.12

1.
36.07
38.03
In this building behind me I spent
over 70 nights and most days ...

2.
39.09
44.10
#during the war which lasted 77 days.#

Remove license

To remove a license, first use the menu command Apple:About Belle Nuit Subtitler.... While the About-window is visible, a menu command Apple:Remove License is visible. A message dialog asks you to confirm your choice. It shows also the location of the license file.
Note: The license file is not transportable between computers.

Bigger timeline

While waiting for a new timeline the current timeline has been enlarged from 200 to 600 pixel width.

Reference point in Spotting Tool Change Framerate command

When you change the framerate, you ar doing this sometimes with a timecode value that should stay the same in both framerates. For example, you want the programm start at 01:00:00:00 for both framerates. In this case, indicate a reference TC for the command.

Beta History

10.6.2011 2.0b15
Bug: Fixed Export FCP XML encoding error in paths.
Bug: Suppressed FCP XML Exporter dialog of non existing exportfolder when it was present.
Bug: Fixed syntax error on BDN exporter
Bug: Windows programm window is no restored, not maximized.
Bug: Support for italics on EBU export.
Bug: Removed offenting tab characters in DCDM Subtitle

2.6.2011 2.0b14
Feature: New import format Eurolab 2.
Bug: Fixed import of FCP Text Effect XML.

27.5.2011 2.0b13
Bug: Fixed Timed Text syntax

6.1.11 2.0b12
Feature: New Import format Caption Oneliner
Feature: New Export and Import Format Digital Cinema Distribution Master Subtitler
Feature: New import format Titra 4
Feature: New framerates 50 and 59.94
Interfaces: Added more font sizes
Bug: Fixed precision on 23.98
Bug: PAC importer recognizes now n-dash, right aligned, mix of alignment and italics and comments
Bug: Improved import of alignment and styles in DLP Cinema

19.11.9 2.0b10
Feature: New Videoformat 2K (2048 x 1080 non interlaced).
Feature: New EDL exporter for Premiere. (May fusion on a later stage with CMX 3600 if it works also with FCP and Avid, to be tested.)
Bug: Softitrage importer reads now also files with timecode spotting
Bug: PAC file can read many more non ascii characters
Bug: Fixed spaces in Digital Cinema exporter

19.7.9 2.0b9
Feature: Timed Text
Interface: Movie controls (including Framerate) are always visible.
Feature: Reference point in Spotting Tool Change Framerate command.
Bug: Fixed Windows error messages.

19.5.9 2.0b8
Feature: Export SoftNI SUB
Interface: Width of Timeline and Waveform is 3 times larger (experimental)
Bugs: Alt Keys in Windows menus version fixed.
Bugs: SoftNI importer fixed timecode-title association and style interpretation
Bug: Fixed some occasions where new opened files where not completely rendered.

15.5.9 2.0b7
Feature: Import SoftNI SUB
Feature: New Textencodings Mac Tamil and Mac Telugu.

30.3.9 2.0.0b5+6
Feature: Import Export DVD Architect Pro
Interface: Monitor tool does constantly update to frontmost document so that you do not have to click on the window to update. Note: The monitor-tool is processor-hungry, so close it while you are spotting.
Bug: Movieplayer Key S (next subtitle) has been corrected to work properly
Bug: On new users without preferences, the initial size of the Monitor Tool is now set (25%)

4.3.9 2.0.0b5
Feature: Import TMPGEnc DVD Author 3.

4.3.9 2.0.0b4
Feature: Center Left
Bug: CIP Cinema import now detects italic text.
Bug: Unicode RTF import: Some other programs use the unicode 8213 character for error for the 2015 entity (dash). They mean probably the 8213 html entity. Catched Unicode and translate to a dash where normally this would be a chinese character.

8.1.9 2.0.0b3
Feature: DLP Cinema import
Bug: Spruce Maestro export: italic tags are now repeated for each line and not used at the end.
Bug: Unicode RTF export adds the space delimiter after each entity (no lost spaces any more)
Bug: Fixed some instances of the "Thread already running exception".

29.10.8 2.0.0b1

Feature: Job Automation
Bug: Added a new version of the iacute letter in the EBU files uses in islandic files.

6.3.7 1.8.0b5
Feature: New export list format Blue Ray BND.
Feature: New file format PNG.
Feature: Added new asian text encodings for importer
Feature: Added remove license menu item.
Performance: Improved response on text editing of long documents.
Bug: Removed a OutOfBoundsException on new subtitler files without movies on windows.
Bug: Removed a OutOfBoundsException on import of PAC and other binary files.

5.2.7 1.8.0b4
Feature: New import format Eurolab.
Feature: New import format CIP Tempo.
Feature: New import format SUB Tempo.
Bug: Fixed non-working 23.98 timecode.
Bug: Detects now correctly the square character in .890 and PAC files.

16.1.7 1.8.0b3
Feature: Universal Build for Mac Power PC and Mac Intel


www.belle-nuit.com - .2011