Forced subtitles using VobSub

[mdjaved]

Hi! Is it possible to get extract the forced subs using Vobsub? I came across a link that said if I used Subresynch, you can find out the forced subs. But the problem is, you need to go through all the languages till you find the forced subs. Secondly, in some cases, one of the language sub is the forced sub. So without using brute-force, is there a way to find out the forced subs that can be saved in the idx/sub file? Thanks for your time.

[manono]

So without using brute-force, is there a way to find out the forced subs that can be saved in the idx/sub file?
Maybe. Sometimes the Forced Subs have their own substream, and it's much smaller than any of the others. Sometimes they're part of the larger main dialog substream, but are marked as forced.

For the ones with their own subtitle stream, open the IDX in Notepad and scroll down looking for the stream with very few timestamps. Then open that one in SubResynch to confirm.

For the ones just marked as forced within the larger regular subtitle stream, there's no real quick way of finding them, except that each language will usually have the forced subs within it. So, just open the language you're interested in in SubResynch and look for the markings in the Forced column.

Often you'll find 2 of each stream, one for playback on widescreen TV sets and the other for playback on standard 4:3 TV sets.

[setarip_old]

@mdjaved

Hi!

You can use DVD SubEdit to:

1) Readily identify a separate subtitle stream that's being used for "forced" subtitles, and

2) Select for processing ONLY TRUE forced subtitles from within a primary subtitle stream

[alfixdvd]

For the ones with their own subtitle stream try with VsRip. It has the option to extract only the forced subtitles present on the stream.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84442

The standalone DVD subtitle extractor to VobSub (idx/sub) file format. Also outputs closed caption as .srt when found. DVD to SUB/IDX, VOB to SUB/IDX.

[idbirch2]

Is there anything similar for subs extracted from BluRays? Re-encoding from BD is becoming more and more bothersome with films that used forced subs.

[mdjaved]

Hi guys! Sorry for the delay in replying. It seems I've no other choice but to do brute-force. I was testing the forced subtitles of Mean Girls (borrowed the DVD from my friend ... so I only had this DVD to test it out on). My results so far: VsRip couldn't recognize the forced subtitles. I only recognized the subtitles exist because of SubResync (The forced subtitles were stored in a separate stream). As for DVD SubEdit, I couldnt find any option of saving it in IDX/SUB format hence of little use to me. Now I've one more query. Once I've extracted the forced subtitles, is there any way to hard code it into the movie? With MeGUI, you can choose the subtitles you want to add (in the MKV Muxer) but this can be enabled and disabled in your media player. I want it to be part of the video so that it cant be disabled in any player. Is this possible? Thanks.

[manono]

Hi-
My results so far: VsRip couldn't recognize the forced subtitles.
That's because, technically, they're not forced. True forced subtitles have a flag set within the main dialog subtitle stream to force them to play. When the subs for a different language have their own subtitle stream they're not forced, although usually that stream is set to play by default when playing the DVD. I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but there is a distinction between the 2.

Sure, you can burn (hardcode) the subs into the video, just as you'd burn any other subs into any other video. If VobSubs, load the VSFilter.dll and use a VobSub line in the AviSynth script. You may have to extract the subtitle stream you want first, perhaps using VobSubStrip. I don't know anything about MeGUI, and don't know if it accepts edited AviSynth scripts.

[mdjaved]

Hi manano. Thanks for the reply. I kinda understand what you are referring to. Can you post the script for me (movie.mkv and subtitle.idx/sub) since I'm not too familiar with avisynth? I will forward this in the MeGUI forum and hopefully I'll be able to understand where to include the script in my encoding. Thanks.