subs slowly go out of sync

[Andykard]

I was working on a copy of the movie Devils Backbone (NTSC R1), DVD2AVI shows it as 64% Progressive, there was a lot of NTSC in the middle of the movie, so I did it as interlaced using CCE (29.97fps). Extracted the subs with the latest Subrip (30fps with drop frame selected) and authored with Maestro. The movie starts off with subs in perfect sync, but by the end of the movie thet are a few seconds out of sync. I searched through this site for any postings that might help but none that I came up with solved my problem. Anybody any ideas?

[Andykard]

Does this mean no one else has had this problem, where the subtitles start off in-sync and by the end of the movie they are 4-5 seconds out of sync?.
I did the same movie with DVD2ONE and that program got the subtitles perfectly in-sync and the quality after 12mins looked the same as my 12 hour recode with CCE, its just that I like to have scene menus. Does anyone know anyway to incorporate menus into DVD2ONE?

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by Andykard
I searched through this site for any postings that might help but none that I came up with solved my problem.

No offense but... I don't believe you. ;) It's one of the most common mistakes NTSC users make!

[Andykard]

well actually I spent most of Sunday afternoon searching and the topics that seemed relevant pointed to making sure the drop frame flag was in place. Unless I'm missing something I think mine is. I have 30fps set in Subrip and the drop frame box is checked. I rendered the movie as interlaced and CCE is set to 29.97fps. I did not run the m2v through pulldown as everything is correct I thought. What am I missing here!

[dust12]

Hmm, I once had a similar problem when I converted a DivX file and tried to add a subrip package. Actually, the few-seconds-per-hour difference most probably is a drop/non-drop frame problem(30 vs 29.97) and not related to the 3:2 pulldown. Anyway... my suggestion is to estimate the out-of-sync ratio and use Subrip's feature to "stretch/compress" the subtitle times accordingly. Of course it only works if the bias is distributed equally over the whole movie.

Andy

[slk001]

You can run your .M2V through PULLDOWN and set the DROP_FRAME flag only... or, you can change the timing on your subs to not be drop frame timimg.

[Calypso]

Originally posted by Andykard
I have 30fps set in Subrip and the drop frame box is checked. I rendered the movie as interlaced and CCE is set to 29.97fps. I did not run the m2v through pulldown as everything is correct I thought. What am I missing here! If you encoded as 29.97 Interlaced, I do not believe you want to enable the drop frame box in Subrip.

[Andykard]

I'm not getting anywhere with this (I'm using Subrip 1.15) and I have tried ripping subtitles with 30fps drop frame NOT checked, drop frame checked and also adding a minus 5 seconds as suggested, It makes no difference what settings I use the subs are out by exactly the same amount each time. I even tried changing the setting to 23.97, but when I go to save the file it shows up as 30fps. Its like the program is autodetecting the framerate?

[TRILIGHT]

It's a drop frame problem, I assure you. I would wager that your video timecode is screwy. The subs are going to import at the framerate/timecode the video clip is. This is why it must be like the original was which is drop-frame. This is why so many Maestro users have problems when they import subs while a non-drop clip is on the timeline. Even if you replace this clip with a drop-frame one, the subs are still going to be set to non-drop because this is how they were imported. Two things you need to try doing (and I highly recommened you do them in a NEW project so that whatever old settings you have in your current one do not affect what we're trying to test here...

Run the following on your video clip:
pulldown inputfile outputfile -nopulldown -norff -drop_frame false

When it completes, run this:
pulldown inputfile outputfile -framerate 29.97 -drop_frame true

Try the clip you end up with.

If the previous DOES NOT WORK then do the following:
pulldown inputfile outputfile -nopulldown -norff -drop_frame false

When it completes, run this:
pulldown inputfile outputfile -nopulldown -framerate 29.97 -drop_frame true

Try this clip when you're done. Surely one of the two methods will result in you having your subs correctly in sync. If you don't know how to use pulldown, just read a bit and/or learn how to type commands at the command prompt. It's super easy.

[hendrix]

@Andykard
i suggest you try using DoItFast4U - the subs are always in sync whenever i use this proggy - tested with DVDMaestro and Scenarist.

hope this helps

[Andykard]

Thanx for the suggestions, this is only the second movie I have done with subtitles, its not usually an issue for me, and I had the same problem last time. I use pulldownbatch with the gui interface but I will try all your suggestions trilight this weekend and I do appreciate your input as I had run out of ideas.

[TRILIGHT]

Your not the first person to have problems using that GUI. None of the guides mention it so I suggest not using it at all. The commandline is really rather simple. Or, as hendrix suggested, use DoItFast4U on future titles.