Avidemux - can I hardcode subs in DVD vobs?

[Yobbo]

I have ripped a DVD with selectable subs, what I want to do is burn those subs in, and for the life of me I can't figure out how? Can Avidemux help me here?

Avidemux seems to accept the vobs, and recognize the idx subs in there... But can it output mpeg2 with the subs embedded in the frame?

Thanks in advance! :)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Avidemux can add "hard" subtitles to your video. Simply use the "Vob Sub" video filter for that purpose. You will find it in the "Video Filter Manager".

It should be clear that you cannot apply video filters in "Copy" or "Requant" mode. You must re-encode!

Last but not least, if you have not done this yet, you must extract the 'VobSub' subtitles from the original VOB files via "Tools" -> "VOB -> VobSub".

[Yobbo]

Wow thanks for super-quick reply! That's great, I'll try it & see how I go! Thanks a lot, Lord Mulder!

[Ghitulescu]

Today most software and hardware players can easily display selectable subtitles, be they bitmaps or texts, from several containers (VOB, TS, MKV and so on). It's by far the most elegant solution and it keeps the quality of the video unaltered, also your precious time would be saved, last but not least this method is almost future-proof.

There are of course other reasons why someone is willing to prefer rather an old/cumbersome method to a simple one. ;)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Just as a side-note: Avidemux contains an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool to convert the Bitmap-based VobSub subtitles into "real" text subtitle (SRT format).

Even if I wanted to add "hard" subtitles, I'd still convert the VobSub's to SRT first, because embedding the subs as SRT gives much nicer font :)

[Yobbo]

Thanks, guys. Yes I understand the cons of what I'm doing, I just want to extract some clips from a DVD I have, and I want the subtitles embedded. Thanks again!

[Yobbo]

It took me a while to get back to this. I'm using latest Avidemux svn 6636.

Lord Mulder, when I open my clip vob, Avidemux seems to make an idx file without me doing anything? I load it with VobSub filter and encode but no subs in the output!!?

I went back to start and looked at Tools - VOB - VobSub, select my vob, its ifo, and the idx file... "Do you want to replace idx file?"... I'm confused!

Any suggestions?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

It took me a while to get back to this. I'm using latest Avidemux svn 6636.

Lord Mulder, when I open my clip vob, Avidemux seems to make an idx file without me doing anything? I load it with VobSub filter and encode but no subs in the output!!?

I went back to start and looked at Tools - VOB - VobSub, select my vob, its ifo, and the idx file... "Do you want to replace idx file?"... I'm confused!

Any suggestions?

You are mixing up things!

When you open a MPEG/VOB file, then Avidemux will create a so-called Index file (at "Filename.VOB.IDX"), but that is NOT related to subtitles at all.

Avidemux needs the Index file for frame-accurate access to the MPEG/VOB files, as MPEG files don't have an index block (like AVI has).

If you want to add subtitles, you must extract the VobSub's from your original VOB/IFO files via "Tools" -> "VOB -> VobSub".

The files created during the extraction of the VobSub's are NOT related to the previous Index file at all! Make sure you save them to separate name/folder!

Then, when adding the subs to the video, load the IDX file created by "VOB -> VobSub", do NOT load the index of the VOB/MPEG file...

[Yobbo]

THANKS!! Yep I was mixing up things! I've got it all working now, like a breeze!

Thanks for your speedy assistance, Lord Mulder!!! :)