New version of SubtitleCreator for .NETv2 released

[Paddington]

Version 2.0.0 of SubtitleCreator (http://subtitlecreator.sourceforge.net/) differs in many ways from the previous version 1.9.2, not in the least that it is compiled for .NETv2 (so you need to have that installed). The actual version is even a bit slicker, but I didn't have time to update my pictures. More recent examples can be found on SourceForge (follow the previous link).

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/9538/subtitlecreatormain7jz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Manusse managed to overlay the subtitles on top of the DVD, which was the most requested feature! This allows you to see the results before you burn the DVD: even better, you can actually watch your DVD, with the new subtitles added on top. Optionally, you can combine them with the original subtitles. The current version of the filter has been tested extensively with PowerDVD, although other DVD players might work too. You can turn the option off in the Settings menu.

This actually means that you need to have CLVSD.ax (comes with PowerDVD) registered on your system using "regsvr32 path\CLVSD.ax". You can also look for it in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder.

Semi-automatic addition of a subtitle while retaining the menu, using only freeware tools: The DVD wizard (Tools menu, or CTRL-W) has been improved a lot. It allows you to create a SUP subtitle file at the start, after which the wizard will demultiplex it for you (depends on PgcDemux), multiplex it again with the new subtitle (depends on MuxMan), and finally, add it to the existing DVD to keep the menu (depends on the latest version of VobBlanker, v2.1.1.0 RC1).

Just a quick guide as how it works:

Open the wizard (CTRL-W),
Select any file from the original DVD, press next (if the original contains subtitles, they will now be extracted)
Select the new subtitle language and subtitle: the main window will appear again, and you can select a Profile, position the subtitle, and do some editing of errors (press CTRL-Z to go to the next error).
Use the Synchronize menu to open one of the extracted original subtitle SUP files: select matching pairs left and right (near the beginning and end: double-click to find the nearest subtitle in the other window) and press synchronize.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8200/subtitlecreatorsync9ph.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Create the SUP and return to the DVD wizard form
Press Start to let SC do the rest (it will call PgcDemux, MuxMan and VobBlanker)


http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/486/subtitlecreatorwizard1dg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Added a translator tool to translate from SUP to SRT (Tools menu): It's still a manual job, but at least all the time information is copied from the original SUP file.

Added a Most Recently Used file list.

It runs under the .NET2 framework, and it is compiled using the freeware C# IDE, SharpDevelop. The downside is that you need to install it if you haven't, but it is worth it... it just looks much better.

It comes in three GUI languages: English (default), French (by Manusse) and Dutch. Write me a PM if you would like to translate it to your own language, which should be relatively straightforward.

It also features support for Closed Captions, although this is still under testing by its developer. As I don't use them, I couldn't really test them...

In addition, there are many more small additions and bug fixes, e.g. it opens by default your last subtitle file, it saves the window position and size (when you save your settings), it by default uses Heathcliff's rendering algorithm (much better looking!), and others I forgot about...


Any comments appreciated!

[ai4spam]

I couldn't help noticing the Romanian subtitles. Is it a coincidence, or are you Romanian ;)?
PS: I haven't tried the app, but it looks great!

[Paddington]

My wife is born in Romania, and I actually started SubtitleCreator for her parents, who would like to watch DVDs with Romanian subtitles (there are not that many). I'm Dutch, however (and so is she), currently living in Australia, and besides Romanian, I also speak German, French, and Spanish (although the latter two are a bit rusty).

[Mtz]

A nice gift for my birthday from Paddington to me. ;) Thanks ! (from Romania).

*Edit: when using for example "Left or Right" alignment, the function is working only on the first subtitle line if the subtitle have 2 lines. If I want to make all subtitles aligned to the left, I can't select all subtitles.
In the "Edit" menu is "tekst" (dutch?) instead of "text".
The "baloon tips" for the arrows for the Next Chapter and Previous Chapter are in the wrong order.
The "line height" arrows up an down are not working OK.
I can't see the srt subtitles when playing a dvd. They appear on the blue bar of the SubtitlesCreator but not on the video. I have registered the CLVSD.ax. :(
/Edit

enjoy,
Mtz

[Paddington]

A nice gift for my birthday from Paddington to me. ;) Thanks ! (from Romania).

*Edit: when using for example "Left or Right" alignment, the function is working only on the first subtitle line if the subtitle have 2 lines. If I want to make all subtitles aligned to the left, I can't select all subtitles.
In the "Edit" menu is "tekst" (dutch?) instead of "text".
The "baloon tips" for the arrows for the Next Chapter and Previous Chapter are in the wrong order.
The "line height" arrows up an down are not working OK.
I can't see the srt subtitles when playing a dvd. They appear on the blue bar of the SubtitlesCreator but not on the video. I have registered the CLVSD.ax. :(
/Edit

Happy birthday Mtz and thanks for letting me know about a couple of bugs!

I've fixed them all except the Alignment option: do you really need to align all lines left or right - I normally only see that happening per line.

BTW, SourceForge (https://sourceforge.net/projects/subtitlecreator/)seems to have some problems, so you may not be able to download the fix yet (v2.0.1 RC1).

About the subtitle overlay: after installing SC, did you run it immediately - the installer probably needs to install the overlay filter. Check that it is properly installed by right-clicking on a DVD and selecting the About the DVD option. If it's installed and it doesn't work, we have a real issue!

[manusse]

Hi Mtz,

For the DVD overlay, can you check that:

Settings->Overlay Subtitles on DVD is validated.
Settings->Select DVD decoder->Preferred by SC is validated.

About CLVSD.ax. I have tested that the overlay filter can work with the CLVSD.ax that comes with PowerDVD version 4, 5 and 6 but not with the one that comes with version 7 (I don't know why). Could you check which version you use?

If all of these seem correct, can you play a DVD and right click on the video and choose about. Then tell us what you can read after "SC Sub filter : " and "DVD Decoder : ".

Thanks

Manusse

[Mtz]

1. Looking at the "About" I saw this:
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7499/scfilernotfound6pj.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scfilernotfound6pj.jpg)
and as you can see the original subtitle was displayed in some wrong place and the custom sub wasn't.

2. After uninstalling the Nvidia decoder I have this:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8984/scworking2wy.th.jpg (http://img215.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scworking2wy.jpg)
Now the overlay filter is OK.

No uninstalling of SubtitlesCeator between 1 or 2. Just restart of it

Another report: the "Play the movie backwards" button is not working.

[manusse]

Hi Mtz,

Thanks for your reply.

According to the screen copies you provide:

Settings->Select DVD decoder->Preferred by System is validated

In this case, SC tries to use the default DVD decoder provided by Windows XP. It tries to build a DirectShow graph that is including the overlay filter. Maybe in the case of the Nvidia decoder it can't and that's why the about box doesn't show it.

After you removed the Nvidia decoder, SC uses one of the remaining decoders if you have more. In your case you have Intervideo WinDVD installed. According to tests I have made this decoder is not working with PAL DVDs but may work with NTSC DVDs which is your case (FrameRate 60).

To our knowledge, only PowerDVD 4,5,6 and Fraunhofer decoders are working well with NTSC and PAL DVDs in SubtitleCreator. But if you don't plan to use PAL DVD's with SC, this is not a problem.

Cheers
Manusse

[joker76]

Very nice!
especially the dvd preview option!

This program definetly makes the best subtitles of all srt -> sup converters, if u ask me. i especially like the arial narrow font.

[tomywong]

Hi Paddington,
Can you try this : http://www.tototek.com/sup/sup_test.rar
Use Manipulate SUP from tools.
Do a few times,
load sup
save sup (overwrite it)
load again sup
save sup (overwrite it)
.
.
.
After a few times, you can see this SUP already move its position and look bad. Hope you can fix it. :)

[allouh]

sincere thanks for this great program

[Paddington]

Hi Paddington,
Can you try this : http://www.tototek.com/sup/sup_test.rar
Use Manipulate SUP from tools.
Do a few times,
load sup
save sup (overwrite it)
load again sup
save sup (overwrite it)
.
.
.
After a few times, you can see this SUP already move its position and look bad. Hope you can fix it. :)
Thanks for letting me know and please give the latest version a try - this problem should be fixed.

[tomywong]

Hi Paddington,

I tried v2.0.2. Problem solved a little bit. Position will not move now. But each time you save sup (overwrite it). whole sup will move to left by 1 pixel. Can you check again ? Thank you. :)

[Kitt0s]

hmm i like this version :]

one problem tho... it doesn't show the loaded subtitle on the screen? it just shows the first subtitle on the dvd (english) ...

[manusse]

Hi Kitt0s,

For the DVD overlay, can you check that:

Settings->Overlay Subtitles on DVD is validated.

If it's the case and it is still not working, check also that

Settings->Select DVD decoder->Preferred by SC is validated.

You can find more details here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=844345#post844345

I have tested that the Subtitle overlay function of SubtitleCreator is working well with the following DVD decoders: powerdvd4, powerdvd6 and fraunhoffer, also windvd4 but only for NTSC DVDs.

Cheers

Manusse

[Paddington]

Hi Paddington,

I tried v2.0.2. Problem solved a little bit. Position will not move now. But each time you save sup (overwrite it). whole sup will move to left by 1 pixel. Can you check again ? Thank you. :)
You are right - your subtitle did have a problem (previously, I used one of my own subtitles, and that was fine). Version 2.0.3 should have that fixed too.

BTW it's quite an irregular file - some subtitles are missing, some don't have a reported end time!

[tomywong]

Hi Paddington,

Thanks for new update. :thanks: Now, sup will not move its position and will not shift to left by 1 pixel each save (overwrite). But I checked sup saved by SC v2.0.3 with DVDSubEdit. It still show a little problem. See here : http://www.tototek.com/sup/sup.bmp
The picture have two subtitles, the top one is original, the bottom one is saved by SC. You can see the one saved by SC that bottom have one more pixel, and missing the right end pixel. It use right end -1 pixel instead the real right end pixel. So, you can see right end and right end -1 pixel are same. You understand what I saying ? Sorry for my bad english.
Yes, this sup is not normal, some subtitles are missing. Don't know why.

[Paddington]

Hi Paddington,

Thanks for new update. :thanks: Now, sup will not move its position and will not shift to left by 1 pixel each save (overwrite). ...
:thanks: for checking againg - OK, could you give it one final go with v2.0.4: my initial check with DvdSubEdit revealed no errors, so hope that is really the case!

[tomywong]

I tried SC v2.0.4, :D Great !! Fixed. Thank you for your time to fix this. I like SC very much. I always use it to change sup position and color. With some not normal sup, I need to use other tools. But now, I can use it again. One tools for all usage, good. :thanks:

[ai4spam]

@paddington and manusse: why don't you guys use AviSynth and AviFil32.dll instead of overlaying? That basically gives you access to the video frame as a bitmap, and you can change it to your heart's content.

[manusse]

Hi ai4spam,

Let me first sum-up how we came to this solution:

Paddington asked several times last year about how to overlay a bitmap on top of the video. He had several answers but nothing directly operational. The idea was to be able to preview the subtitles look and feel, position, ... on top of the DVD before creating the actual SUP file used by muxman to remux the original DVD.

At the beginning of this year, I became interested in this field. I had no idea about DirectShow neither about any other method that would allow to incrust a bitmap in real time over the video. After a few research (Google is my best friend) on my own, I thought a DirectShow filter could be an interesting solution. Some information from Paddington confirmed this could be a way.

Also for the interest of learning a new (to me) technology, I tried making my own DirectShow transform filter and managed to get a working one. I proposed it to Paddington who was interested. This solution has some advantages: it's our source code and we can adapt and enhance it as much as we want without any restriction. However it has some disadantages: Works only with a small (to our knowledge) subset of the available DVD decoders, could have performance issues, proprietary solution...

Why didn't we chose another solution?

I can imagine (now) there are many other solution among which: Use DirectVobSub (even though I don't know how), directly overlay a bitmap using the bitmap overlaying capacities of MS video mixing renderer 9... However I knew nothing about those subjects 8 months ago and Paddington didn't find another working solution despite he tried.

I didn't know about "AviSynth and AviFil32.dll" until today. This could also probably have been a solution but at the time of SC 1.9.2, we didn't know about it. However if I read well on its website AviSynth is a powerful tool for video post-productionSo it could probably not be used for real-time subtitles overlay, could it?

What about using another solution now?

Changing solution today means somebody taking this in charge. Knowing that it took us 2-3 months to fully integrate the current solution into SubtitleCreator. I suppose changing solution is interesting only if the new one has several advantages over the current one. (aka performance, not proprietary, working with most of the DVD decoders ...).

Also it must be an open-source solution (or a solution with a future).

To be clear, I don't see the interest and don't personally have the time now to implement a different way what is currently working quite well.

However, if somebody else wants to try to integrate a new solution, the whole application (including the DirectShow filter with its documentation) is open source (at sourceforge), so it is possible.

And in the future?

The current implementation opens new possibilities for DVD subtitle makers and for SubtitleCreator. It is now possible to adjust the look of the subtitles by previewing them on the video before. In the future, somebody else (or Paddington, or myself) could propose/implement some better way of doing that than using a proprietary filter.

This is only my opinion about your question. Paddington may think differently.

And finally a question

I hope my answers explain why we have chosen this solution clearly enough. Let me finally ask you a question.
For what reason did you ask this question? Did you notice some problems with the current solution we use?

Cheers
Manusse
;)

[Paddington]

Manusse gives a good description of the process, and I also don't feel a particular need to replace his filter.

The only question I still need to investigate is why the DVD players WinDVD, PowerDVD, another freeware mpeg decoder and my 3 hardware DVD players (all different brands) display the subtitles in different vertical locations? For example, I have the impression that by opening the same DVD in WinDVD or PowerDVD, each will show the original subtitles on different vertical positions. Any suggestions anyone?

[ai4spam]

I meant no disrespect for your work, I'm sure it took a lot of time, frustration and digging to come up with a solution like you did. I just saw your own description of the limitation, and proposed a very simple solution. Incidentally, it's what I use in SubRip's module for ripping hardcoded subs. The code (Pascal) is one file, which is basically an interface to AviFil32.dll for opening the video and audio streams, and getting a frame by its number. AviSynth is a frameserver: it takes in anything you can play with MediaPlayer and makes any application trying to play it think that it's dealing with an .avi. That way, basically you can open a DVD, a VCD, a MPEG, you name it. Your application has a very simple interface to it, and is able to work without worrying about what's underneath. AviSynth is open-source, and works great. It works in real time if you don't make it do too much processing. As you mentioned, that's a pretty limited use for it, as it can do many more things, like apply its own filters or VirtualDub filters to each frame before giving it to your application. I wouldn't recommend using its subtitling filter (although that's possible); I would do the overlay in the application, on the raw bitmap. That way, you have total control over the appearance of the subtitles.

[DonMartione]

I'm trying to synchronize some edited subs with the originals. However, whenever I try to open the .sup file to synchronize them, it just sits there and doesn't load. The progress bar fills up but it just sits there, I even left it alone for 5+ minutes.

edit - I just upgraded to 2.04 and tried again and still the same problem. Here is a screenshot as well. http://www.dmartin.net/sc.jpg

edit 2 - Ok, apparently it works fine as long as I open up the .sup file first in the synchronize menu, and then open my text .srt and .ifo. If I do it in the reverse order then it just sits there.

[Corert]

Hello Paddington,

A few days ago I wanted to add a subtitle to an existing dvd, so I downloaded subtitlecreator (version 2.04) to synchronise the new subtitle with the existing subtitles. The new version was a big improvement, especially with the 'DVD wizard' function! I tried it and it was easy, only it partially fails. The new subtitle was added, but only the first original subtitle was added. I though muxman was the problem, because it can only handle 8 subtitles and my dvd did already have 9 subtitles. Therefore, the total would be 10 subtitles, but even muxman advanced did not do it right. So, unfortunately I was forced to do it by hand and it turns out that the dvd was a little too big for a dvd5 (4.37 GB). Does subtitlecreator checks the dvd size or is it limited to an dvd5?

[Paddington]

Hello Paddington,

A few days ago I wanted to add a subtitle to an existing dvd, so I downloaded subtitlecreator (version 2.04) to synchronise the new subtitle with the existing subtitles. The new version was a big improvement, especially with the 'DVD wizard' function! I tried it and it was easy, only it partially fails. The new subtitle was added, but only the first original subtitle was added. I though muxman was the problem, because it can only handle 8 subtitles and my dvd did already have 9 subtitles. Therefore, the total would be 10 subtitles, but even muxman advanced did not do it right. So, unfortunately I was forced to do it by hand and it turns out that the dvd was a little too big for a dvd5 (4.37 GB). Does subtitlecreator checks the dvd size or is it limited to an dvd5?
SC tries to read the existing subtitles from the IFO file, which normally works well enough except for some problems when there is a widescreen and a 4:3 screen version of the same subtitle. If you have many subtitles, you can go through the wizard and check/add them again manually (the wizard accepts srt/sub files, as well as sup files, so you can add any sup file that SC missed).
Muxman's freeware edition only allows you to add 8 subtitles via the GUI, but internally (in the project file that I create), I can add up to 32, so that's no problem.

About your second question, SC doesn't check the filesize of the final DVD, since it cannot change it anyways: When using DVDShrink for coyping the DVD, there should normally be enough room to add one more subtitle. If you use a different program, that may not be the case. In that case, you will either:

have to remove an existing subtitle to make some room
if the existing subtitles are very large compared to the one generated by SC, you can open and save them in the SUP manipulation tool (which removes empty space, thereby compressing the sup file)
recompress it again using DVDshrink to make it fit

Hope that helps!

[Corert]

SC tries to read the existing subtitles from the IFO file, which normally works well enough except for some problems when there is a widescreen and a 4:3 screen version of the same subtitle. If you have many subtitles, you can go through the wizard and check/add them again manually (the wizard accepts srt/sub files, as well as sup files, so you can add any sup file that SC missed).
Muxman's freeware edition only allows you to add 8 subtitles via the GUI, but internally (in the project file that I create), I can add up to 32, so that's no problem.

About your second question, SC doesn't check the filesize of the final DVD, since it cannot change it anyways: When using DVDShrink for coyping the DVD, there should normally be enough room to add one more subtitle. If you use a different program, that may not be the case. In that case, you will either:

have to remove an existing subtitle to make some room
if the existing subtitles are very large compared to the one generated by SC, you can open and save them in the SUP manipulation tool (which removes empty space, thereby compressing the sup file)
recompress it again using DVDshrink to make it fit

Hope that helps!
Thanks for your reply and explanation.
I will try it when this problem occurs again.

[tomywong]

Hi Paddington,

I find out SC v2.x have little problem. When you go into "manipulate SUP file", delay function have problem. After you re-timming, click ok, it say "value can't be null". Why ? Also, when you select video format is NTSC, then show subtitle target area, it is wrong position. Please check. Thank you very much !

[garysan]

Hallo to all of you and thanks for this great software!

1) In these days I am using it for my personal subtitled DVD. I think it's a very complete and easy editor but still now I find that the quality of the rendered subtitles is a bit less than the ones made by Txt2sup. There are always some strange "wild dots"... The quality is anyway good but have you got any suggestions ? What is the difference in the rendering process between Txttosup and SC?

2) Do you know about "Illegal colors" ? Some weeks ago I made a DVD with full white (RGB255) subtitles and when I projected it with a classic PC videoprojector I found that it was an "illegal color" in fact there were some strange (not wanted) light effect... brrr... Do you know if subtitled generate by SC, srt2sup and txt2sup are automatically checked for this problem, or not ?

3) About the little differences in vertical position... Yes, I can say the same thing and I don't know the reason. I can also say that the time In and time OUT of the subtitles can also change (a little) from a DVD player to another and this can be a problem when you try to cover an hard subtitles track with an optional subtitles track. For example some Nortek dvd players show the subtitles always with 0,4 seconds later.

Bye !:D

gary-san

[manusse]

Hi garysan,

1) About the wild dots problem, you should post an example file so that we clearly see what the problem is.

2) What do you mean by illegal color. It may be related to the projector you are using. Or do you have the specs of an "illegal color"?

Cheers
Manusse

[Paulcat]

Most of my usage of S.C. involves creating subs from a text (.srt) file. I was using v1.92 and only just discovered the new versions.

I installed v2.04 and noticed that the .srt file converted to a .sup file in v1.92 was 1700K or so and the same .srt file converted in v2.04 was 1100K or so, with all settings being equal?!

Does v2.04 automatically reduce the bitmap size/placement if for example you have a one word subtitle and the number of lines selected is, say, four?

I also noted that, when re-opening the .sup file after converting, two or three of the subtitles were missing, even though the conversion process seemed to go fine.

I am in Canada, and we have the NTSC system here. Is there a way to cause S.C. to default to NTSC? Also, the changes or corrections S.C. makes when loading text subs (cleanup spaces etc) can be unchecked, but this also reverts to checked when the program is re-started, which is a bit of a pain, as some of my titles are descriptions in brackets which disappear the next time I load them (because I always forget to uncheck that stupid box!), and this does not occur with v.1.92.

Also, in v2.04 the ability to change the number of lines has vanished from the top-right "menu" and I had to drag the box with the cursor, can you bring that back?

Paul

whew! It's still a great program, don't get me wrong, but I may have to go back to v1.92 just to make things easier for me.

One more thing, sorry, when you change the aspect ratio of the background picture, it would be nice to see the background in black, the way it would look on the television.

[krypton22]

Just wanted to thank you guys (Paddington, manusse) for this great tool. Nothing more :thanks:

[manusse]

Hi Paulcat,

You ask if there is a way to have SC work in NTSC by default. This is quite easy. First change the format to NTSC (Format -> Video format ...).
Then save the settings: Settings -> Save settings. And that will do it.
The same answer applies to the corrections applied by SC when loading subtitles. Just change the option to meet your requirements and save the settings.
:D

About the size difference between of generated SUP between SC2.04 and 1.92, this could be due to some options that are not the same. For example the anti-alias filter. The SUP format uses RLE compression for the subtitles so a big difference in size can mean quite no difference in the final result, depending on the algorithm details.

You write that when you convert one of your files from srt to sup some subtitles are missing. Could you please post the incriminated srt file so that we can check.

Also, in v2.04 the ability to change the number of lines has vanished from the top-right "menu" and I had to drag the box with the cursor, can you bring that back?
If you look at the third page of "SubtitleCreator user guide" you should see a screen copy of SC2.0.1. You can see that the "Position subtitles" group has a "#Lines" box where you can type the desired number of lines. Did you try it?

Cheers
Manusse

[Paulcat]

Manusse:

I don't know why I didn't look in the menu for settings, probably because I was switching back and forth between 2.04 and 1.92, and somewhere in there my brain shut off! I will try that!

As for the conversion, I converted 930 text subtitles to sup format and re-opened the sup to play with the adjustment options, and it only re-loaded 927 subtitles. Since I have modified that original srt quite a bit, all I can do is try it again when I am home (I am at work now) and see if I can duplicate the error. If I can, I'll post the srt file.

I have also figured out the problem with not being able to see the #lines adjustment in the menu. When I first start SC, the text window for the subs is approx. half the screen, and as a result, the adjustment menu is partially missing. If I pull the text window down, it re-appears. The "default" size of the text window must have changed between 2.00 and 2.04 because this only occurs with the latest version. Hopefully, this will also be saved in the settings...(I feel like such a fool!)

I do have a few other questions though. In the srt I was working on, there were some lines that were highlighted in green (duration error), yet they play fine in the completed DVD, what is the criteria for duration?

Also, some lines were highlighted in blue (too long), but since the subtitle window I was using was four lines, I had plenty of room. Does the length calculation default to 2 lines and/or a certain size of text in the font settings?

Final question, in the default colour settings, there is an option for the anti-alias colour as transparent or non-transparent. Toggling this option on and off does not result in any change in the on-screen appearance of the text when the 'show actual output' flag is un-checked. It does change in v1.92.. Which option on the toggle generates a clearer subtitle on the final DVD or it is a matter of trial and error?

Paul

[manusse]

The duration error is parametrized in the Settings.xml file:
(In C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Local Settings\Application Data\SubtitleCreator\)


<CheckSubDuration>True</CheckSubDuration>
<!-- Define the max chars per second you allow. -->
<MaxCharPerSecond>25</MaxCharPerSecond>


For the (too long) problem, check that Format -> Wrap lines is selected if you want SC to automatically go to the next line when the text is too wide to fit.

Cheers
Manusse

[Asmodeus]

I didn't read whole theread, but I don't think so that anyone sugested the same. I also no programmer so I din't know is it possible at all, but:
Is it possible to compile srt2sup the way that it will be .NET independent (with build in needed libraries or so)?

[Heathcliff!]

I didn't read whole theread, but I don't think so that anyone sugested the same. I also no programmer so I din't know is it possible at all, but:
Is it possible to compile srt2sup the way that it will be .NET independent (with build in needed libraries or so)?

Nope. It isn't. But why would you want to? More and more apps rely on .NET. The framework makes life for developpers a lot easier. More sophisticated apps can be build even faster. In Vista .NET 3.0 will be installed by default, no-one needs to download it anymore by then. But even if you would have to download it, what is 20MB now-a-days?

[Asmodeus]

Yeah :) But I'm on FreeBSD :)

[Heathcliff!]

Yeah :) But I'm on FreeBSD :)

Maybe you can try Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page). But I'm not sure if it will work.

[Asmodeus]

I'm no programer but AFAIK mono is for compiling source writed for .NET, to be able to run it on MONO VM on *nixes.
I mentionet this earlier, to make addidional "install" package of runtime libraries that SC relies on, to not install whole .NET. I saw that trick in cdburnerxp.
While it's impossible to install .NET on wine ATM, standalone binaries runs perfectly. For instance txt2sup runs nice (I only have problem with central european charesets, and some colors).

[Paddington]

Just a quick note that I've fixed some bugs in v2.0.5:

Fixed the delay function in the SUP manipulation
Fixed the DVD synchronization list menu (sometimes, the subtitles wouldn't be correctly sorted)
Updated the settings, so the splitter controls should have a more sensible value.

[Paddington]

Manusse:
I have also figured out the problem with not being able to see the #lines adjustment in the menu. When I first start SC, the text window for the subs is approx. half the screen, and as a result, the adjustment menu is partially missing...

I do have a few other questions though. In the srt I was working on, there were some lines that were highlighted in green (duration error), yet they play fine in the completed DVD, what is the criteria for duration?

Also, some lines were highlighted in blue (too long), but since the subtitle window I was using was four lines, I had plenty of room. Does the length calculation default to 2 lines and/or a certain size of text in the font settings?

Final question, in the default colour settings, there is an option for the anti-alias colour as transparent or non-transparent. Toggling this option on and off does not result in any change in the on-screen appearance of the text when the 'show actual output' flag is un-checked. It does change in v1.92.. Which option on the toggle generates a clearer subtitle on the final DVD or it is a matter of trial and error?
Paul
I have little time, but let me quickly address your questions:

This problem should be fixed in v2.0.5 - I hope that the default settings have a better default value (when you save your own settings though, they will overrule the new settings that come with the program, so you will probably not notice anything unless you remove them).
The duration problem is only an indication that it may be hard to read if you are a slow reader (I got the values from Subtitle Workshop)
As you have already noticed, length errors are always based on 2 subtitle lines (my default).
Heathcliff has written a very much improved anti-alias algorithm, which results on less flicker when you display it on screen. If you don't like it, you can turn it off in the Edit or Format menu, and you will get my old, less sophisticated version again.

[Paulcat]

Thanks for the response, I have managed to work around most of the things that I noted above. The word wrap is the most tricky because sometimes instead of wrapping to 3 or 4 lines, the text would be reduced in size, and I found I had to insert carriage returns in the text to maintain the size (which is damned tricky in S.C. edit text mode by the way! Any keyboard shortcut for that?)

Apart from that, the program works quite well, and I am still quite impressed. Thanks for all your hard work.

[derebo]

hi,

firstly, thanks for that rockin' piece of soft! ;)

now, would it be possible to draw a black subtitle box for AS LONG AS the movie running time? when subs are on, they'd be displayed. when subs are off, the black box would still be on. that'd be useful in case hardcoded or burn-in original sub timing does not match with translated sub timing, and you'd like to keep those ugly burnt-in subs out of sight!

i guess creating an empty sub to come up between two real text subs would work. but that'd mean creating twice as many subs! pointless...

regards!

[Paulcat]

I noticed the changes in 2.05, everything seems to scale better now (my working resolution is 1280 x 1024).

I did note that every sub now says duration error, regardless of it's size or duration. I'm just going to ignore it. I usually play through the file with vobsub active anyway to see if they go by too fast, and change them if they do.

Derebo:

I have a dvd with two sets of subtitles, one is english and the other is english director's commentary. The main one is a forced subtitle and the other can be turned on and off. You could make your "black box" a forced sub and make your actual translation a switchable sub so even if you want to watch it in it's original language, the hard-coded subs would be covered up.

[derebo]

paulcat,

you've given some insight i hadn't thought about before! the idea of that director's commentary and using forced and non-forced altogether is brilliant! i'll do some testing and report results.

thanks for your nice feedback!

derebo

[Paulcat]

Glad to be of help, I hope it actually works!

[derebo]

hi,

after some testing and thinking... the issue is: only 1 sub stream can be displayed at a time. the dvd has no menus, just the movie. so everything has to be bundled within that sub stream. i can only think of creating empty subs between text subs for as long as the movie running time...

regards,

[Paulcat]

Interesting. I made a backup of my dvd of Night Watch, which actually has English (dubbed) and Russian versions. I picked the Russian version with English subs and got english subs with the dialogue and english subs for director's commentary both. The only thing I can think of is that the dialogue subs may be hard coded. I'll have to have another look at the disk.

Sorry...

[derebo]

no problem. thanks for your interest and checking it out. Nochnoi Dozor... ;)
please, let me know what you learn, when you have the time.

greetings!