subtitles with color codes

[dstarfire]

What noob-friendly encoders support the font/color codes used in .srt files (specifically those created by subrip)?

The series (Love hina) I'm trying to encode doesn't work very well with a single font color, due to the diversity of colors used in that area through the course of a single episode.

Also, any tips on encoding series' where several episodes are encoded as multiple chapters in a single program chain. I've already got them broken up as one .vob per chapter, it's just recombining all the chapters of an episode (and their component streams) into a single file that gives me headaches.

[manono]

Hi-
Also, any tips on encoding series' where several episodes are encoded as multiple chapters in a single program chain.
Decrypt using DVD Decrypter set for IFO Mode, and select the chapters corresponding to each episode. Deselect the rest.

[dstarfire]

Hi-

Decrypt using DVD Decrypter set for IFO Mode, and select the chapters corresponding to each episode. Deselect the rest.

So, by having just the .vob's from one episode and the ifo, I can let apps just process .ifo , rather than trying to force them to process multiple .vob inputs (which seems to be impossible for a depressingly large number of apps), correct? It's really that easy?!

Okay, I need to remember the K.I.S.S. principle applies to video encoding, too. *L*

[manono]

Hi,
Yes, it's fairly simple. Simple once you know the trick. And you can use the DVD subs (in IDX/SUB format) and keep them the way they are on the DVD, with the specialized colors and positioning on the screen.

If there might be one problem with the subs it'll be that the ones from other episodes after the first might be out of synch (won't show up when encoded, depending on how you're doing the encoding). They'll retain their original timings. If each episode is, for example, 25 minutes long, the ones from episode 2 will begin at the 25 minute mark, the ones from ep 3 at the 50 minute mark, etc., while each encoded episode begins at 0. The answer is to move up the times depending on the length of the episodes before. Again, if each is 25 minutes long, the subs for the 3rd episode have top be delayed by -00:50:00:00. Using SubtitleCreator for the job is probably the easiest way. Open SubtitleCreator and go Tools->Manipulate SUP or VobSub. In the bottom right of the new screen Open Sub->scroll to and open the IDX. Then hit the "Delay" box and fix the delay (you'll have to figure the total exact lengths of the episodes preceding the one you're working with). Then "Save Sub" and use the dropdown box to save the IDX.

You haven't said how you're doing the encoding or even what codec you're using, so there's a chance you'll need more information about how to get the VobSubs into the AVI. But there shouldn't be any need to OCR these things and mess up the pretty subs that a lot of anime has.

[dstarfire]

Hi,
Yes, it's fairly simple. Simple once you know the trick. And you can use the DVD subs (in IDX/SUB format) and keep them the way they are on the DVD, with the specialized colors and positioning on the screen.

Yeah, I saw some .avs code that handled the raw .subs but it was for hardsubbing, and I want to keep the subtitles as a seperate data stream I can turn on and off as desired. If there's a way I can simply mux the .subs into matroska, I'd love to hear about it.

You haven't said how you're doing the encoding or even what codec you're using, so there's a chance you'll need more information about how to get the VobSubs into the AVI. But there shouldn't be any need to OCR these things and mess up the pretty subs that a lot of anime has.

I'm mostly using megui for the encoding, as the first guides I found were written around that. I've also tinkered with vdubmod, which seems to provide better support for multiple subtitle and audio streams. I used subrip to capture the subtitle streams as vobsub can't seem to tecognize my "love hina" dvds.

[manono]

Hi,

I know nothing about Matroska or MeGUI. Perhaps someone else can help.

[dstarfire]

ahhh, okay. thank you, anyway.

[RunningSkittle]

Yes, subtitles can be muxed into matroska files! mkvtoolnix is probably the easiest way. megui has this as an option too i think.

[dstarfire]

Thanks for the tip, skittle. Just today, finally managed to compile an mkv with dual-audio and workign subtitles. Turns out I just needed to convert my subtitles file from .srt format to ssa to show them in the right color. (Contrary to the file types displayed in the gui, mkvmerge supports .ssa and .ass as well as .srt and .idx).