Special Characters not showing properly

[peppi_le_piou]

I am using VirtualDubMod v1.5.10.2 with the TextSub 2.23 plugin.

I have some subs that I want to put into a video file but some of the European characters are not recognised.

Using Notepad I typed in, for example, ....fraülein.... but adding the TextSub Filter and browsing to my subs file, in the VDMod preview window I see .....fraA¼lein.....

The subs format is .ssa. Everything else that I have done using override codes and fonts and style, etc is fine except for this problem.

Any help please?

ps.... I just noticed that using VLC to play the video file with the same, but seperate .ssa subs file (not hard coded) that it does display these characters correctly.

[Groucho2004]

You saved the file in UTF-8 format and TextSub doesn't seem to be able to interpret this properly. Save the file to ANSI (CP-1252 in your case I guess).

Edit: Actually, TextSub should be able to read UTF-8. I have no problem with UTF-8 .srt files. Anyway, I'm certain that there are many threads here about the same problem.

[filler56789]

First thing, check whether the UTF8-coded file starts with a "B.O.M" --- if it doesn't, add the UTF-8 B.O.M. to it,
OR... convert it to real Unicode (UCS2, UTF16, whatever).

Secondly, TextSub 2.23 is outdated, upgrade to VSFilter.dll 2.39 at least.

Lastly, friends don't let friends use VirtuaDubMod. :)

[peppi_le_piou]

Where do I look for this "B.O.M" thing. I don't see a reference to it in my ssa file (note that I did mention that it displays ok using VLC, so I don't think that it is my file problem).

[the_weirdo]

Where do I look for this "B.O.M" thing.

Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus-plus.org/) can do that. (If on its status bar displays "UTF-8" then that means "UTF-8 with BOM"). However, like filler56789 has said, you should use VSFilter 2.39+. At least in my experiences, it works with "UTF-8 with BOM" subtitles just fine.

[peppi_le_piou]

I did a test, wrote 2 lines in Notepad, one for STYLES: and one for DIALOGUE:
Found TextSub 2.39 and added it to VirtualDubMod Plugin folder, all showing good now in the video.
Saved one as ANSI.ssa and the other as UTF-8.ssa, both worked.
Nothing to do with "BOM" when I open them again with Notepad....(still don't know what that means).


Thanks for all of the suggestions.

[Groucho2004]

Nothing to do with "BOM" when I open them again with Notepad....(still don't know what that means)..
In this context, BOM stands for byte order mark and is a sequence at the beginning of a file indicating the type (UTF-8, UTF-16,...) and for some types also the byte order (little/big endian).
For UTF-8 it should be "EF BB BF" (hex).

TextSub in VSFilter.dll needs the BOM in UTF-8 and UTF-16 files in order to render the characters properly.