Hello.  This tutorial will demonstrate embedding captions for Windows Media Movies.

It is a pretty easy matter to caption content for Windows Media Player.  In fact there are two ways to do it.  The first, more common way is to have the caption data stored in an external file called a SAMI file.  The advantage of using a SAMI file is that the production process is very simple because you do not need to modify your media file - you just generate a SAMI file and store it on your media server.  However, if you are distributing your content, the two files need to be distributed together and the risk is that the SAMI file will be separated from the media file and viewers will no longer have access to the captions.

Captioning with SAMI files is the subject of a separate movie called "Captioning Windows Media with SAMI files".  This movie presents a second method of captioning Windows Media content that allows you to embed the caption data right in the wmv file.  It is slightly more complex but avoids the risk that the caption data may become separated from the media in distribution.

To accomplish this, Windows Media uses a special format caption file called a WMP text file; this is a different format than the standard SAMI caption file.  Fortunately, WMP text files are one of the many caption file formats available to you from AST's CaptionSync service.  

Just log in to your AST account; select the Web application type; and on the Advanced Settings screen, select the "WMP Text" file format.  Of course, you can also select any other formats you need, including the SAMI format.  Then just submit your wmv file and let CaptionSync generate a result for you.

Once you have your WMP text file, and your original WMV media file, the next step is to embed the caption file in the media file.  To do this, you need a tool called Windows Media File Editor.  This tool is part of the Windows Media Encoder package, which can be downloaded from  www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx.

So, let's used the File Editor to embed captions for the movie we just submitted.  I have the wmv file and the caption file from CaptionSync right here.  Start by launching the Windows Media File Editor.  Now, open your wmv file.  Next, import the caption file.  Under the File menu, select "Import header file" and select your caption file.  You will see a series of markers appear on the time line below, indicating the placement of captions.  Now, save out your new wmv file.  That's it!  The new wmv now has the caption data embedded in it.  

Launch the new wmv file in Windows Media Player to check the captions.  Good!!

If you do not see captions, remember that the captions will only appear if you have captions enabled.  Check the Play menu to ensure "on if available" is selected for captioning.  Also remember that in Windows Media version 10 or greater that you also need to ensure captions are enabled on the security tab under the Tools/Options menu.  If you make changes to these settings, remember to exit Windows Media and relaunch it for the changes to take effect.

Ok, you now have a Windows Media file with the captions embedded in it.