DVD subtitles into scenarist

Hi All,
Looking into getting a film authored and am piecing together the best workflow in terms of making subtitles. Basically, I want to send the film media to the authoring company, and then send a time-coded subtitle file which can then be imported directly into the authoring program without too much trouble. My plan was to use a neat piece of freeware called Subtitle Edit which allows you to export your subtitles in a variety of formats, depending on the destination DVD authoring software. All well and good. Or so I thought...

I contacted a DVD authoring company who use scenarist for authoring. I said I would send through a timecoded subtitle file, but they said they would have to convert each one to a tiff graphic file before being used in the program - with a cost associated with this extra process. I was really suprised to hear this - it just didn't sound right to me. When I've done tests with DVDit (or AVID DVD a it's now called) the program just pulls in the information from the subtitle file and then you decide the format of the subtitles from there. There's no need to convert the subtitles to graphics first.

Can anyone shed any light on this, or the 'normal' workflow in terms of supplying subtitles to an authoring company?

Thanks,
Paul

Avid Media Composer. PC with Intel DP35DP s775 iP35 ATX motherboard. Core 2 Extreme CPU QX6800 2.93GHz (4 CPUSs). 2030MB RAM. 256MB Nvidia Quadro/FX1500 PCIe

Thanks Rob, that's very helpful. There's a surprising lack of info out there about subtitling and the process involved - I'm really having to piece it together. That's good news about using normal subtitle files - that's exactly the route I was planning to take, saving a basic txt file with an extension that Scenarist recognises and then playing around with them once they're in the program. Any other advice from Scenarist users much appreciated...

Thanks,
Paul

Avid Media Composer. PC with Intel DP35DP s775 iP35 ATX motherboard. Core 2 Extreme CPU QX6800 2.93GHz (4 CPUSs). 2030MB RAM. 256MB Nvidia Quadro/FX1500 PCIe

Thanks Bouke. You say the workflow I described is not the best way to do it in your opinion - I wondered what workflow you would normally go with for subtitling? Would you do it all from within the authoring program?
Thanks,
Paul

Avid Media Composer. PC with Intel DP35DP s775 iP35 ATX motherboard. Core 2 Extreme CPU QX6800 2.93GHz (4 CPUSs). 2030MB RAM. 256MB Nvidia Quadro/FX1500 PCIe

Ok, I understand what you're saying Bouke. Yes, it's a very good point - too many times have I embarked on things only to realise that there's a reason there are professionals who do it for a living! We're just up against it in terms of money on the project - it's an independent feature - so always look to do things ourselves where possible. Thanks for your help,
Paul

Avid Media Composer. PC with Intel DP35DP s775 iP35 ATX motherboard. Core 2 Extreme CPU QX6800 2.93GHz (4 CPUSs). 2030MB RAM. 256MB Nvidia Quadro/FX1500 PCIe