ETSI
ETSI EN 300 743 V1.5.1 (2014
For each subtitle service a subtitling_descriptor as defined in EN 300 468 [2] signals the page id values of the segments
needed to decode that subtitle service. The subtitling descriptor shall be included in the PMT of the program and shall
be associated to the PID that conveys the subtitle stream. In the subtitling descriptor the page id of segments with data
specific to that service is referred to as the composition page id, while the page id of segments with shared data is
referred to as the ancillary page id. For example, the ancillary page id might signal segments carrying a logo that is
common to subtitles in several different languages.
The PTS in the PES packet header provides presentation timing information for the subtitling data, and is associated
with the subtitle data in all segments carried in that PES packet. The PTS defines the time at which the associated
decoded segments should be presented. This may include removal of subtitles, for example when an entire region is
removed or when all objects in a region are removed. There may be two or more PES packets with the same PTS value,
for example when it is not possible or desirable to include all segments associated to the same PTS in one PES packet.
The complete set of segments of a subtitle service that are associated to the same PTS is referred to as a display set.
The last segment of a display set shall be followed by an "end_of-display-set segment", which signals that no more
subtitling data associated to a certain PTS is needed for that service before decoding can commence. The display sets
shall be delivered in their correct presentation-order, and the PTSs of subsequent display sets shall differ by more than
one video frame period.
For carriage of multiple types of subtitling data, several segment types are defined, in particular:
• display definition segment; a subtitle service may be intended or have been prepared for display sizes other
than full standard definition television (i.e. other than 720 pixels by 576 lines – e.g. for HDTV). The optional
display definition segment explicitly defines the display size for which that service has been created;
• page composition segment; the decoding of a subtitle service will typically result in the display of subsequent
pages, each consisting of one or more regions; the page composition segment carries information on the page
composition, such as the list of included regions, the spatial position of each region, some time-out
information for the page and the state of the page;
• region composition segment; in each region typically one or more objects are positioned, while using one
specific CLUT, identified by a CLUT-id; the region composition segment carries information on the region
composition and on region attributes, such as the horizontal and vertical size, the background colour, the pixel
depth of the region, which CLUT is used and a list of included objects with their position within the region;
• CLUT definition segment; the CLUT definition segment contains information on a specific CLUT, identified
by a CLUT-id, such as the colours used for a CLUT entry;
• object data segment; the object data segment carries information on a specific object; there are two types of
objects, graphical objects and text objects. An object data segment with a graphical object contains run-length
encoded bitmap colours, while a text object carries a string of one character codes;
• end of display set segment; the end of display set segment contains no internal information, but is used to
signal explicitly that no more segments need to be received before the decoding of the current display set can
commence.
The page id value of a segment containing data for a subtitle service shall be equal either to the value of the
composition_page_id or the ancillary_page_id provided in the subtitle descriptor. Page compositions are not shared by
multiple subtitle services; consequently, the page id of each page composition segment shall be equal to the
composition_page_id value.
In summary, the data hierarchy is:
• Transport Stream (TS);
• transport packets with the same PID;
• PES packets, with PTSs providing timing information;
• subtitle service;
• segments signalled by the composition page id and optionally the ancillary page id;
• where appropriate, a display definition segment;