Editing

You'd be hard pressed to find a subtitle editor with more editing functions than Spot. Yes, it can do all the standard stuff like formatting multiple subtitles, adding comments to subtitles, changing horizontal or vertical alignment, shifting words up and down, deleting, splitting, merging or inserting new subtitles, assigning shortcuts to often used or difficult to remember words or phrases, checking spelling and so on. Child's play. But what about the non-standard stuff, the features that set Spot apart from other subtitling systems? Can your software create punctuation or file cleaning rules and apply them automatically to whole files? Does it have a unique Notes window that lets you translate a documentary or prepare a script and save the notes directly inside the current file or export them to Microsoft Word? Can it QC files and provide immediate error feedback at the click of a mouse? Can it immediately list all references to a word or phrase in a subtitle file? Can it translate via Google? Or pop-up synonyms for any word you like? Does it let you easily copy subtitles from other files? Can it merge subtitles from one file into the current file? Does it let you split a dual language file into two separate files? Can it create dual language files? You get the picture.

Timing and reformatting

Frame-accurate subtitling needn't be a chore. Use Spot's audio waveform to synchronise subtitles to speech; find shot cuts in a video and jump instantly between them; grab the current in cue and lock it to the previous subtitle with one keystroke; fine-tune in and out cues with simple key combinations; get instant readability feedback from Spot's unique colour-coded timing fields. If you're an "on the fly" spotter, use auto recut to automatically compensate for your reaction time or offset your file by any number of frames or based on a new in time.

Need to reformat a file for PAL video that was originally timed against an NTSC DF master? Have to convert PAL subtitles to 23.976 fps? No problem. Just open the cue conversion window, select your source and target video standards and you're done. Spot's true telecined masters conversion means there's no need to resubtitle your original file.

As well as spotting against almost any digital video file format (MPEG-1, AVI, MPEG-4, WMV, MOV, etc), you can also load an audio-only file (WAV or MP3) into Spot or select separate video and audio sources. And if the video file you've just opened contains embedded timecode, Spot can sync to that rather than its own internal clock.

Video

Spot has its own internal MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and MOV video splitters, ensuring smooth playback of these formats on just about any system. You can switch audio streams in MOV and MPEG-4 videos if necessary and use Spot's Media Info tool to display in-depth information on any video file. You can view the components used to render a video file and even choose the decoders and splitters you want to use. And for those occasions when nothing will correct a poorly encoded, jumpy video, SpotCVT - Spot's unique video converter and subtitle encoder - can quickly convert the video to a subtitling-friendly format.

File import and export

Spot can import and export a wide range of subtitle formats.

Import • Apple iTunes Timed Text files • Caption Inc CIN files • CaptionMaker ASCII text files • Cheetah closed caption CAP files • Closed caption text files • EBU STL files • Hoek en Sonépouse voice-over text format • MicroDVD SUB files • PMWin OVR files • QUBE files • Scantitling 890 files • Screen PAC files • Screen RAC files • Screen structured ASCII files • SDI Media Group formatted text files • Softni text files • Sonic DVD Creator script files • Sonic Scenarist closed caption files • Spruce Maestro STL files • SubRip SRT files • Swift Interchange Format files • Tab separated DVD script files • Texas Instruments DLP Cinema XML files • Text-only files • Theatrical DOC or RTF spotting list • Titra theatrical files • Translation template • Unstructured Word or RTF documents • WebVTT files • Windows Media Player caption files (SAMI) • YouTube SBV Files

Export • Adobe Encore CS3 files • Apple iTunes Timed Text files • Avid DS Nitris files • Caption Inc CC files • Cheetah CC files • Custom text formats • DVD/Blu-ray bitmap streams • EBU STL files • EBU-TT Timed Text (EBU Tech 3350) fies • FAB shortform files • Figaro Systems in-Ovation files • Final Cut Pro XML text files • Flash files • Gelula files • Generic Timed Text files • Hoek en Sonépouse voice-over text files • MicroDVD SUB files • Microsoft Excel files • Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation files • Netflix Timed Text (DFXP) files • PMWin OVR files • Preformatted textfiles • QUBE files • Scantitling 890 files • Scenarist Closed Caption files • Screen PAC files • Sonic DVD Creator script files • Sony DVD Architect files • Sonya Friedman tab-delimited text files • Spruce Maestro STL files • SubRip SRT files • Swift Interchange Format files • Swift text files • Texas Instruments DLP Cinema XML files • Theatrical RTF spotting list • Theatrical spotting list • Titra files • Translation Template • Ulead DVD Workshop files • Ultech CC files • W3C Timed Text (DFXP) • WebVTT files • Windows Media Player files • YouTube SBV files

The Quick Batch Convert tool converts one or multiple Spot files to any of two dozen formats with optional cue offsetting. The Multi-Format Export window lets you save a file in up to 21 different formats simultaneously.

Spot's HD and DVD bitmap export modules give you precise control over the placement and appearance of bitmap subtitles for SD and HD Blu-ray and DVD authoring systems. Anti-alias effects, alpha blending and transparency levels are all user-definable and help create some of the best-looking subtitles this side of Wangaratta.

Still not convinced? Download a trial version of Spot and see for yourself what it can or click here to view the Spot 6 User Guide.