Vobsub Help

[jinkazuya]

Well...I am not sure if it is appropriate to ask for help with subtitles in this section. I know there is a Subtitle section but they are all tutorials or guides and there is none of the threads associated with help of subtitle there, which is why I post here.

Anyway. My friend just asked me to help him to rip and edit the subtitles of the Asian drama. This is how the internal structure of the Asian drama is like:

The whole drama contains five episodes. But all these episodes are packed within one long stream of video (like when you import it into DVDshrink, you see that a whole stream of video which is about 3 to 5 hours long). I managed to rip the subtitles of first two episodes of the drama without hassle and then did the retiming with subresync. However, for the third episode and the rest, I just get stuck and have a hard time dealing with them. I have been trying to play with them the whole day with different means or methods and now I am at wits' end.

Whenever I rip the subtitles with vobsub, all the timing seems to get messed up and then the subtitles are reversed. Below are part of the timing and the reversed subtitles


timestamp: 00:22:03:335, filepos: 000000000
timestamp: 00:22:04:069, filepos: 000000800
timestamp: 00:22:05:403, filepos: 000001000
timestamp: 00:22:07:706, filepos: 000001800
timestamp: 00:22:14:379, filepos: 000002000
timestamp: 00:22:15:347, filepos: 000002800
------------------
timestamp: 01:30:07:061, filepos: 0000cf800
timestamp: 01:30:08:863, filepos: 0000d0000
timestamp: 01:30:11:399, filepos: 0000d0800
timestamp: 01:30:12:934, filepos: 0000d1000
timestamp: 01:30:15:069, filepos: 0000d1800

What I meant by reversed is that, as you can see, the first batch of subtitles, which starts from the timestamp 00:22:03:335, filepos: 000000000... is supposed to be the last half of the video and the timestamp: 01:30:07:061, filepos: 0000cf800... is supposed to be the first half of the video but they get reversed, meaning timestamp: 01:30:07:061 must appear first or before the timestamp: 00:22:03:335.

In addition, the timing of the timestamp: 00:22:03:335 is correct. However, the timestamp: 01:30:07:061 is incorrect. It is supposed to be timestamp: 00:01:46:361 to match the video.

So my question is if there is a way to fix this? Retiming and resyncing won't work because the subtitles are already embedded within the vob subtitle file, which I have already tried. Hope somebody could help. Appreciate in advanced.

[Chetwood]

Usually when DVD Shrink shows all eps in one file, switching to reauthor mode will also show them separately and can be ripped as such. If that's really not the case you could still reauthor and set start/end frames (right-click on title) manually. For 5 eps it's not too much work and you'll end up with sub in sync.

[jinkazuya]

Yeah.....Reauthor mode is what I use to rip most of the DVD. However, I just did the same thing as you said. It just didn't work out. I was able to rip each of the episode by setting the start and end frame. However, when I ripped the subtitles from the third episode with vobsubrip, this strange thing happened (like what I stated above)...The timing of the episode got messed up. I was able to retime and sync with the second episode without problems, but starting from the third one, the timing & the subtitles get reversed.

this thing is supposed to be or appears to be in the very first dialogue (timestamp: 01:30:07:061, filepos: 0000cf800) and this is supposed to be in the middle of the video (timestamp: 00:22:03:335, filepos: 000000000), the timing of which is correct but it is not supposed to be located at the very first line of the idx vobsub. I could upload the subs if needed. I tried editing the timing, but it didn't work. My guess would be first I have to edit the idx and then the subtitle contents embedded within the vobsub file.

[manono]

Often times PGCDemux (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/PgcDemux) can do this correctly. Open the IFO and try ticking 'By Vob ID' rather than the default 'By PGC'. Then check the times as found in the drop-down box. If they correspond to the episode lengths, choose the one you want and make sure to 'Demux All Subtitle Streams'. The result will be a SUP file. It can be read and also converted instantly to VobSubs (IDX/SUB) in SubtitleCreator (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SubtitleCreator). And SupViewer (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SupViewer) can read DVD SUP files.

[Chetwood]

Yeah, I've never got completely at the bottom of this but there seems to be some issues when there's any sort of copy protection left. Meaning, the DVD sub timings will be ok but VSrip will be thrown off so extracted VobSubs are not in sync. I could counter this by ripping single eps with DVDFab in movie only mode. In case manono's tips does not work and before you fiddle with timecodes, try to

- rip the whole file with DVDfab, then split with DVD Shrink

or

- split with DVD Shrink, re-rip separate eps with DVDFab

and try using VSrip afterwards.

[Ghitulescu]

All that was said above makes sense, but only if the issuer authored the series as a series.
My experience with some animes and Asian series is that all episodes are merged in a single title, each episode being actually a chapter.

So, if each episode is a title, both DVDshrink (reauthor) and PGCdemux (by PGC) may be used.
If each episode is in a title but in different VOBids, only PGCdemux (by VOBid) may be used.
If each chapter is in a cell, then only PGCdemux (by cell) may be used, alternatively VobBlanker.
If all episodes however have the same VOBid but are spanned upon several cells (chapters pointing every third cell or so) then one has no choice but edit (a copy :) of) it in PGCedit, then pgcdemux.

Of course, the guides and help files for these tools are available in the internet, mainly on their respective home pages.