Good util for editing idx/sub?

[JimmyBarnes]

Have been using vobsub configure at length to try to edit the colour and appearance of idx/subs.

The best I can get is a thinnish plain white subtitle in a rather bumpy looking font (supposed to be Tahoma) with no border. I find vobsub configure cryptic, very user unfriendly and I'm wondering if there is anything better which can do what I want?

TIA

[Katie Boundary]

Subtitles are stored on DVD as bitmaps, not text. The gift and curse of Vobsub is that it reads these bitmaps directly and shows you exactly what's in them. If you want to edit them the same way you'd edit text, then you need to convert them into text first with an Optical Character Recognition program.

[Ghitulescu]

BDSup2Sub

[JimmyBarnes]

Subtitles are stored on DVD as bitmaps, not text. The gift and curse of Vobsub is that it reads these bitmaps directly and shows you exactly what's in them. If you want to edit them the same way you'd edit text, then you need to convert them into text first with an Optical Character Recognition program.

Ah yes these subtitles are from DVD (but I'm trying to use them with a bluray backup rip).

Do idx/sub subtitles from DVD differ from idx/sub subtitles from bluray?

[hello_hello]

Ah yes these subtitles are from DVD (but I'm trying to use them with a bluray backup rip).

Do idx/sub subtitles from DVD differ from idx/sub subtitles from bluray?

I'm not really sure what the differences are, but Bluray subtitles are sup files. The long name is "Presentation Graphic Stream Subtitle Format".

I've always understood the idx/vob format was something invented by the author of VobSub. Maybe DVD subtitles aren't stored the same way as Bluray subtitles on the disc, but other programs can extract DVD subtitles and save them in sup format.

I'm not sure about the "supposed to be Tahoma" part, but Vobsub Configure should be fairly easy to use. From memory, the four colour boxes are background colour, text colour, outline and shadow colour. Unless the subtitles are closed captions you'd want to keep the transparency checkbox below the background colour checked.

Or try DVDSubEdit (https://www.videohelp.com/software/DVDSubEdit). I haven't use it much (and not for a fair while) but it'll change the subtitle colours with a preview. You can change a single subtitle line if you want to, or change one and apply the changes to the rest.
It opens vob files directly and saves the changes to the vob/ifo files, so it you want the subtitles in idx/sub format you'll need to edit and save them before extracting, otherwise DVDSubEdit can save the subtitles in sup format.

Personally I prefer to use OCR and convert the subtitles to a text, as then you can apply any styling you like (especially using ssa or ass subtitles) and text subtitles look better.
Subtitle Edit (https://www.videohelp.com/software/Subtitle-Edit) can convert DVD subtitles to text format, with tools to make the process easier. I mostly run OCR, use the "Tools/Fix Common Errors" option, then run the spellcheck, and if I'm really fussed, I check each line manually, which is the most tedious part.

[Ghitulescu]

Subtitles are stored on DVD as bitmaps, not text.
Strange that you do not know, apparently not coming from PAListan, that there are DVDs with text subtitles. I let you the pleasure of discovering this previously unknown aspect of an almost dead technology :)

[JimmyBarnes]

Or try DVDSubEdit (https://www.videohelp.com/software/DVDSubEdit). I haven't use it much (and not for a fair while) but it'll change the subtitle colours with a preview. You can change a single subtitle line if you want to, or change one and apply the changes to the rest.
It opens vob files directly and saves the changes to the vob/ifo files, so it you want the subtitles in idx/sub format you'll need to edit and save them before extracting, otherwise DVDSubEdit can save the subtitles in sup format.

I ended up using going back to the original DVD and ripping subs with VobSub Ripping Wizard to idx/sub. DVDSubEdit may have been able to do the job but offered far more complexity than I needed.

A single adjustment in VobSub Configure gave me the subtitle appearance I was wanting.

Personally I prefer to use OCR and convert the subtitles to a text, as then you can apply any styling you like (especially using ssa or ass subtitles) and text subtitles look better.
Subtitle Edit (https://www.videohelp.com/software/Subtitle-Edit) can convert DVD subtitles to text format, with tools to make the process easier. I mostly run OCR, use the "Tools/Fix Common Errors" option, then run the spellcheck, and if I'm really fussed, I check each line manually, which is the most tedious part.

I hate SRT subs as they are tedious as you say, and I tend to be a perfectionist.

The DVD subs are a tiny bit "ragged" but very legible and sync almost perfectly with the blu-ray :)

https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/8a25/sbg52zhcsl4chdu6g.jpg

Anyway :thanks: for everyone's contributions..

[hello_hello]

I hate SRT subs as they are tedious as you say, and I tend to be a perfectionist.

The DVD subs are a tiny bit "ragged" but very legible and sync almost perfectly with the blu-ray :)

I generally only bother with forced subtitles for non-English dialogue, which I encode, so as a rule it means there's a lot less to OCR than subtitles for everything, but as I assume we live in the same country (I'm in Melbourne) and given you're a perfectionist, how do you handle not being able to correct the American spelling? :)

[Ghitulescu]

The DVD subs are a tiny bit "ragged" but very legible and sync almost perfectly with the blu-ray...

The only way to improve their appearance is to recreate them from text - which implies an OCR with all the problem therefrom derived.

[JimmyBarnes]

I generally only bother with forced subtitles for non-English dialogue, which I encode, so as a rule it means there's a lot less to OCR than subtitles for everything, but as I assume we live in the same country (I'm in Melbourne) and given you're a perfectionist, how do you handle not being able to correct the American spelling? :)

Perfectionist perhaps but pragmatist also. With idx/sub(rar) I resign myself to accepting what displays, which is usually acceptable (spelling and occasional missed word etc.).

With SRT subs I get myself in a lather as it is easily possible to adjust word accuracy and AV sync - once started usually a painful, time-consuming exercise.