creating subtitles for matroska file?

[jumping_gum]

Hi all
bit new to subtitle creation but I have a basic aim to create a single file that contains video, multiple audio streams and subtitles that plays on a media center (such as my xbox - xmbc). Having looked at matroska for past few weeks I have managed to get different audio and video but bit stuck on the subtitle front.

I am using robot4rip to create the subtitles (which in turn uses vobsub) this creates the .idx/.sub files. however I can't seem to mux these into my matroska file (tried mkvmerge GUI and virtualDubMod) to display the subs as a single file, it works if i leave the subs external to the matroska tho.

So my questions are:
- whats the best way to create subs for a matroska file?
- Someone has suggested subrip, is this any good? Can I download existing text Matrices(or what ever they're called) somewhere?
- Is there other ways of creating a srt from the .idx/.sub file?
- what about ssa, possible alternative?
- what other ways do people use to achieve the same aim as mine? Are people still using ogm?

[lordyu]

I would just mux the .idx/.sub into .mkv without having to convert it to .srt first. Some people enjoy ORC'ing (I don't know why) but I don't.

[jumping_gum]

Originally posted by lordyu
I would just mux the .idx/.sub into .mkv without having to convert it to .srt first. Some people enjoy ORC'ing (I don't know why) but I don't.

Which program do you use?

[niamh]

however I can't seem to mux these into my matroska file (tried mkvmerge GUI and virtualDubMod)
mkvmerge fully supports muxing of idx/sub. What error did you get?

whats the best way to create subs for a matroska file?
The fastest is the way you've been doing, after that there are other parameters which would point towards one format or another (ssa is entirely customizable, srt is fully demuxable and usually, being basic, creates never a problem playing back... and so on)

Someone has suggested subrip, is this any good? Can I download existing text Matrices(or what ever they're called) somewhere?
Yes, it is, and no you can't. It doesn't take that long to create a matrix, and if you have episodes, it's valid for all the other episodes usually.

Is there other ways of creating a srt from the .idx/.sub file?
Yes, vobsub has an OCR facility.



what about ssa, possible alternative?
Yes it is, but if you struggle with the basic ones, it might be worse with ssa. ssa's strength is about the various fonts, effects and such you can insert in it; if you're going to do a basic subtitle, srt IMO is easier to deal with in the first place. But you can save as ssa directly through vobsub instead of srt (it'll look the very same anyway, unless you decide to add manually all sorts of effects)

what other ways do people use to achieve the same aim as mine? Are people still using ogm?
Some people are. I prefer mkv, question of taste. Mkv will take more formats(i.e. idx/sub for subtitles) and the overhead is much much smaller.


Some people enjoy ORC'ing (I don't know why) but I don't.
I find that idx/sub look disgusting, font-wise. It's why, for me.

[unmei]

/me so much agrees with niamh in the corresponding thread in general discussion :D

[lordyu]

Originally posted by niamh
I find that idx/sub look disgusting, font-wise. It's why, for me.
I see. I always love the look and feel of the original subs! :D

[niamh]

lol unmei,we couldn't agree more indeed. I'm impressed with the way you put it in 3 lines instead of 3 pages though ;)

@lordyu: I've never been a big fan of the 1920's typewriter style ;)