Subtitler:Export EBU Arte

The EBU Arte format is a variant of the EBU format to support specific requirements of the european channel Arte. The differences are:

Subtitles are defined as Level-1 teletext

  • 23 lines are specified vertically and the vertical position of the first line is 20
  • The titles have control characters to define them as yellow.

You still need to pay special attention to adhere to Arte requirements: Ask for the Directives pour le sous-titrage. In particular, you need to do the following:

The title of the film must be specified. This is the filename with only ascii characters. Take care when you name the file.

The first timecode must be specified. This is the timecode of the empty title you need to put on the first frame of your film. Add a title of duration of 5 frames with only one space. (It must have at least a space in Subtitler, or it will not be in the EBU file.)

If subtitles are not starting immediately (in the first two minutes) you must add an index title after 10 seconds. This is a right aligned title on the second line with the text "S/T" in french and "U/T" in german. (Again, you need to put a space on the first line.)

So your subtitle file should start like this:

/tc 01:00:00:00 01:00:00:05
(space)

/tc 01:00:10:00 01:00:10:00
/style right
(space)
S/T

/tc 01:00:19:02 01:00:22:08
your first title

You cannot put a subtitle in the first second of the film. The last subtitle must stop 3 seconds before the end of the film. A subtitle must be displayed at least for 1 second and 10 frames and two subtitles must be separated by at least 5 frames. Subtitles should be separated from cuts at least 4 frames. Subtitles can go over cuts if they go over by at least 1 second.
Subtitles can have 1 or 2 lines of maximum about 36 characters (proportional font, depends on character).