Problems using Subrip sucessfully.

[SmutleyQ]

This is my first forum post so hopefully I do not break any rules :)

My problem is that I cannot get Subrip (1.3.x or 1.5.x) to export subtitles in .sub format in a way that ANY other app can read the .sub files. Despite having searched the 'net for two weeks, and trying any and every "how to" found the same thing happens.

Here is what happens (Assume that Subrip's own guide is used. Note also that I have tried this on at least a dozen different VOB file sets):

I set ALL settings as per the guide (note that I have tried all the output formats such as ssa, srt etc.) and choose a file name when prompted. Subrip then exports the .sub files and creates the .srt file (or whatever format I chose), which I name and save.

While it is exporting, one can read the subtitles flashing by in subrips main window.

However, nothing (Subtitle Workshop, DVDlabPro, etc. etc.) can read the contents of the .sub files. All that one sees when opening in any app is the file name given to the .sub files. This is being treated as text and is editable as if it were the actual subtitle. Very annoying :(

According to the guides used, I am doing everything correctly. So, what am I doing wrong? And if nothing, what can I do to get subtitles exported.

Any help would be appeciated.

Thanks!

[laserfan]

IIRC I had a problem w/SubRip as well, that was resolved when I opened the file with Notepad or WordPad and then saved again as text-only. Dunno if this will help your problem though...

[ai4spam]

It's not a bug, it's a feature ;). All you had to do to understand what's going on was read the sticky topic in this forum or the news on the SubRip home page.
SubRip, since 1.30, supports UniCode subtitles (2 bytes per character). These subtitles support the full UniCode range, and are editable in NotePad, WordPad, or even Word.
While that may not matter to many people, it does help with languages that are not written using the Latin alphabet, or have various special characters in their scripts. There are no sutbitle editing tools that support these formats that I know of, and only VSfilter (VobSub) UniCode can play them. This is rather sad, since everything else has long moved to UniCode, and subtitling applications are among the last to do so. I am hoping that soon subtitling applications will start to move to UniCode, and SubRip is among the first to do so.
Anyway, when a subtitle contains UniCode characters, SubRip asks you if you want to save the subtitle as UniCode. You probably said "Yes", not knowing what it does. If you answer "No", SubRip will let you choose a CodePage, which is basically a way to have a specific subset of UniCode characters fit into the ANSI 1-byte character set. Choose the one that's appropriate for you (usually 1250 or 1252 in Europe and the US), press "Save", and you'll have the subtitles in the format you're used to. Beware: you may need to change the CodePage in your player to see the special characters in your language (if any). Editing and saving as simple text in WordPad does the exact same conversion.

So, say "No" when asked to save as UniCode, choose your CodePage, and you're done.

Hope this helps.

[laserfan]

...All you had to do to understand what's going on was read the sticky topic in this forum or the news on the SubRip home page...Thanks very much ai4spam for responding & straightening us out. Dunno if SmutleyQ will find his way back here, but it is very helpful to me who has only used your program a couple of times and many months apart, such that I've never gotten comfortable with it.

But my most recent efforts to extract, re-work, and re-insert subtitles into a DVD have resulting in my finally having a clue as to what I'm doing (!) and how things generally work, and SubRip is clearly a key tool for the arsenal; indeed it seems to be "the only game in town" for doing the OCR thing. Anyway thanks again.

[SmutleyQ]

Thank you for your explanation and solution. :)

Forgive my ignorance and general noobisms, but what is a "sticky topic" and how are they accessed? I searched the FAQs and there is no reference to them.

Thanks again.

[ai4spam]

A sticky is a topic that stays "glued" to the top of the forum, because it's important ;). There are 3 stickies in the Subtitles forum, and one of them is about SubRip: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=93680

[SmutleyQ]

Hence the term "sticky" beside it and the little pins to the right ...

Can't see the forest ....

Thanks again.