First you need to adjust the project type using File/Project Settings... menu or the 
button on the toolbar. First you should select Closed Captions as project type. As shown on the window below:
Project Type
Project Type and Mode
Depending on the selected closed captions mode some functions of the program could be disabled:
CEA 708 |
All command and features are available including: colors, background colors, italics, underline and all closed captions specific presentation styles (Paint-On, Pop-On and Roll-up). |
CEA 608 |
All command and features are available with the exception of the background color. Background color could not be changed for CEA 608 captions as per specifications. |
TeleCap I |
No colors and Paint-On captions. The corresponding commands are disabled. |
TeleCap II |
No colors. The corresponding commands are disabled. |
SCC (DVD Closed Captions) |
Scenarist Closed Caption format used by DVD authoring systems. Only Pop-On captions are available. |
Safe Area
For CEA-608 closed captions the screen is divided in 32 columns which also means that there might be no more than 32 characters for each text line.
Due to compatibility the Maximum characters per row is limited to 32 in EZTitles.
The very same applies for CEA-708 closed captions but for projects with 16:9 aspect ratio the screen is 42 columns wide instead so up to 42 characters can be entered. The Maximum characters per row setting will change accordingly when changing the project settings to CEA 708 mode and selecting 16:9 aspect ratio.
Interleave CC data for 23.976fps to maintain 30/1.001 pairs per second |
The option is available for projects with 23.976fps frame rate and changes the captions encoding model in accordance with the "CEA-708-B" standard. By default the option is turned off which means that 2 pairs of CC data will be encoded for every video frame. When the option is turned on, 3 pairs of CC data will be encoded for every other frame. Or in other words, turning the option on enables 25% more text to be encoded over the same period of time which will also account for decreasing the "time to process" required for each caption. Note: Turning the "Interleave" option is recommended only when confirmed that the particular service provider acknowledges the "CEA-708-B" recommendations. Although the "CEA-708-B" standard was released in 1999 it appears it might not be fully adopted by every service provider which may result in rejections. |
Use extended character set |
Enables the use of characters from the Line 21 extended character list set.These are basically vowels commonly used in the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian as well as some additional symbols (curly brackets, single quotes and etc.). |
Double control codes |
Control code characters are duplicated to ensure safe encoding during transmission. |
Blank between pop-ons |
The blank between pop-ons option is used instead of Minimum Interval in Closed Captions, the default value for it is 2 frames. |
Use ENM control code at the beginning of pop-on captions |
Some closed captioning formats (CPC-715 .onl and Caption Inc .cin) require the ENM (Erase Non-Displayed Memory) control code to be present in the CC data for each caption but this adds a frame or two to the respective Time to process. The option can safely be switched off when importing or exporting any of the remaining closed captioning formats. |
According to CEA-608 standard the screen is divided in 32 columns and 15 rows with fixed width and height and only monospaced fonts could be used.
The CEA-708 extends the caption presentation and allows several predefined font styles both monospaced and proportionally spaced.
Proportionally spaced fonts take less space on the screen, about 80% the width of a line with monospaced font.
This, however, shall not be mistaken with the safe limit of characters. No matter of the selected font type, up to 32 or 42 (for 16:9 aspect ratio) characters can still be entered.
The Default Font directly corresponds to the default preview font set at the viewer's decoding device. In terms of EZTitles, the default font is a monospaced one to address some compatibility issues.
Reading Speed and Cues
The remaining pages are described in Configuring Project Settings.