Asked • 07/04/19

Video Subtitles Specification [CHK and PAC]?

I'm wondering if any of you have experience dealing with CHK and PAC subtitles.I'm working on a project (from a software point of view) and we need to open these subtitles and convert them into a *nicer* format that can be used by some standard media players.So my 2 questions are:* Does anyone know the specification of the subtitle format? (this is bit technical, but will help us open the file and transform the contents to whatever we want)* Does anyone know any application that can transcode these subtitles to other formats?

Ernest B.

Both .pac and .chk subtitle files (not to be confused with the .chk fragment files in windows) are proprietary formats from Screen Subtitling and consist of binary control metadata and cue information plus text for the textual content. Both formats were developed for linear television playout and cater for HD and SD formats, they will handle multiple character sets such as Arabic, Mandarin, Geek and Cyrillic as well as all the variants of Latin plus vertical and horizontal positioning and fonts and colours. The CHK files are effectively a combination of the various language versions of the PAC single language files for one program, CHK files are used in playout/transmission when sending programs to multiple regions and therefore requiring multiple languages. Subtitle Edit will display timed text from a PAC file, but doesn't properly show positioning information or fonts and colours. Screen subtitling provide facilities for conversion, at a cost!
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02/28/20

1 Expert Answer

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Michael H. answered • 07/11/19

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Truly not sure you should use these files type at all (they are actually database and may contain virus).


It would create a considerable amount of work to go through to get a quality deliverable. Also not sure what you are editing in (ie. Final Cut, Premiere, After Effect, etc.)? If you are developing to be sustainable and create a solid workflow I would consider looking into Stock Lower Thirds and or Titling/Credits within other file extensions. Perhaps look up Adobe Stock Content at least this is a solid process. Hope this helps.

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