MacCaption

MacCaption is intended to help you author, edit and encode video captions and subtitles. Unlike other simpler apps, this tool can require some learning time before you can take advantage of all its features, which is why the abundance of help documentation, including a Quick Guide, is highly appreciated.

Its interface has been designed in a way that allows following a non-linear sequence, which also supports batch conversion. MacCaption has a basic workflow that starts when you create a file that includes your caption text. Luckily, you can import that file but also any already available captions in various file formats, such as plain text, SCC & MCC, CAP, TDS, ULT, PAC and EBU-STL. Moreover, it can extract existing closed captions from video files in various formats, like MOV, MXF and MPEG.

The next step is when you open the movie you want to subtitle. At this point, it is great that you can use the automatic timecode-to-captions feature. However, this only works when the language in the caption coincides with that in the spoken text. As an alternative, you can set the timing manually by playing the video and hitting a button when a new line of caption should appear. Still, for me, the best choice is to use speech-to-text technology to generate a text transcript of the video, including appropriate timing. This requires a working Internet connection as it is a cloud-based service and supports more than 100 languages.

MacCaption has several advantages in terms of sharing the results of your work. In this respect, it allows exporting the captioned movie or just the captions in any of the multiple formats supported (CAP, TDS, ULT, EBU-STL). As to this, it supports generating captions and subtitles in multiple resolutions (up to 4K) and frame rates. Moreover, even though it can export to every format, this possibility depends on the type of license you purchase.

To conclude, MacCaption is ideal for making your movies available to a wider audience by distributing them in multiple languages. Likewise, it is ideal for helping hearing-impaired people benefit from your materials. Unfortunately, this product does not have a 64-bit version, which makes it incompatible with Catalina.

Finally, MacCaption is available in three different licenses: Desktop, Pro and Enterprise. In this respect, I have to say that its very high price makes it unaffordable for low-budget projects. And even if you purchased the Desktop license, you would not be allowed to use some features, such as adding captions in real time. Luckily, there is an opportunity to try it at no cost, though.