On Screen Text - how to add, using what program

[corkboard]

I've looked through most of the posts here, but I don't think they answer my question.

I'm looking for a guide or program that allows a "WYSIWYG" editor for subtitles. Subtitle Creator comes close, but the idea is I have an anime DVD which of course has Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana that is located all over the "Screen". The DVD already has "speech" subtitles, and it also includes some partial "on screen text", but I haven't been able to find an editor that shows me where the on screen text will end up.

Another issue is that the on screen text might span several lines of dialogue.

This is an episodic disk, not a movie, so the episodes are split across multiple VTSs. I've had no luck opening the IFO in Subtitle Creator (assuming it's been ripped by DVD Decryptor, lost the original disk).

Ultimately, I want to add some extra translations for some of the Japanese text, and add cultural notes at the top screen so some of the dialogue makes more sense, but it's hard to do without knowing how to position multiple text entries. OR it's hard without being able to properly opening the IFO in Subtitle Creator.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your help

[manusse]

Next version of SubtitleCreator (2.00) could be what you are looking for. Its debug phase is lasting a bit longer than what we thought at the beginning. However it should be available before Xmas.
:D

I am wondering what you mean by "I've had no luck opening the IFO in Subtitle Creator". Do you mean you couldn't play the DVD using SubtitleCreator 1.9.2?

Manusse

[corkboard]

Thanks for the reply, I know I was vague about the IFO issue.

When I load episode 1 (VTS_02_0.IFO) in WMP classic, the video plays correctly, sans subs and language options.

After ripping the subtitles using SubRip into .srt, I load the .srt into Subtitle Creator. I then try to load VTS_02_0.IFO from File->Open IFO. The player controls at the top right stay grayed out. I try to use the "Eject" button on those same player controls to load the VOB (divided into _0, _1, _2; _1 being the largest). Regardless of which division I pick, I get a "Could not get interfaces! No such interface supported" error. I checked that I had .NET 2.0, windows XP sp2, and went so far as to install .NET 1.x.

Unless I totally misunderstand, I thought that loading the IFO would also load the movie as well. I understand there's a size limitation to VOBs, hence they're sliced and diced to 1 Gig sections, is the program supposed to automatically scan for all the parts to the VTS? Am I off my rocker and totally miss a step?

Thanks for your help!

[manusse]

Hi,

The File->Open IFO is not the right way to play a DVD. This is used to tell SubtitleCreator which IFO it must use to load the palette of the subtitles.

However the second method you write about is the right one.

Normally "Could not get interfaces! No such interface supported" means that no DVD decoder is installed. However if you can play a DVD with WMP Classic this is strange.

Does the DVD start playing at the back of the error message?

[corkboard]

Thanks for your help so far manusse!

Sexy Ashley Judd stays in the window. Too bad she can't help me =(

Did I need to do something to link Subtitle Creator to a player? Perhaps you can suggest a required codec? I'm using Media Player Classic 6.4.8.7 by Gabest to watch DVDs.

[manusse]

Hi,

SC 1.9.2 can use any DVD codec installed.

You can try installing a demo version of PowerDvd for example. If it works with the PowerDvd player then you can try again SubtitleCreator to see if it is working better.

Manusse

[corkboard]

Power DVD works! Odd thing is regardless of which IFO or VOB I choose, the player decides to play starting from what seems to be whatever's in the VIDEO_VTS.IFO (beginning ads, etc etc)

The subtitle window will scroll through the subtitles regardless of what's playing, but won't use the subtitles in the box for onscreen. I've followed the steps as I described before 1) open srt 2) open IFO for palette info 3) click on the "eject" button of the player on the top right and choose the corresponding vob for the subtitle. Please correct me if I'm missing steps so I can get this to work.

Subtitle Workshop seems to correctly display the subtitle, and will load the VOB set I select. Timing's off, but I understand that should be adjusted given nothing's perfect.

Now to find a way to add on the subtitles that already exist, in different positions on the screen, and in different orientations. Would be really nice to even have definitions (translations of terms) added to dialogue subs so I can describe chinese/japanese characters or cultural terms.

Thanks!

[manusse]

Hi corkboard,

SubtitleCreator is not really a player. It just uses the DVDNavigator interface of DirectShow to play DVDs (and only DVDs). When you use the "eject" button to choose a IFO or VOB file, it just uses the path of the directory to start playing whatever DVD it can find there. this explains why whatever IFO or VOB you choose it always starts playing the same way.

If you can adapt the structure of your files so that SubtitleCreator displays the video the way you need it (DVD authoring software like Adobe Premiere or Pinnacle Studio can do that, just create a DVD with one of them), then you will be able to use the next version of SubtitleCreator (2.00) to preview your subtitles on top of the playing video, matching the final subtitles, before creating the final DVD.

Cheers
Manusse

[corkboard]

Manusse,

Subtitle Creator 2.00 sounds juicy, and December of this year is a long way away :(

I suppose I'll tinker with the Adobe software to see what I can come up with.

I also notice in some of the other threads that problems like MaestroSBT can do karaoke, and while this isn't totally what I want if MaestroSBT can achieve the multiple lines of subs (eg translator notes on top, dialogue on bottom, on screen text) then that might do for now.

I also get the feeling SSA could do what I want, since that was THE de facto subbing program back in the days of subbing anime in DivX. I have lots of DivX/Xvid episodes with fantastic onscreen text, some of it oriented in the way the kana/japanese/chinese was written (vertically, diagonally, etc). I've also read somewhere that it's been superceded by SubtitleWorkshop, but that doesn't do it for me.

Can't wait for SC 2.00!

[manusse]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I wrote "before Xmas" this was a joke. This must be my French humour that's a bit stupid.

We hope SubtitleCreator 2.0.0 will be available ASAP but we are still fixing the remaining bugs and as any freeware project we develop it during our free time. So this takes more time than expected.

However you can already build yourself the current version we are working on to try it even if it's not stable yet. Just look at the instructions in this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=835757#post835757.

Manusse