Selectable subtitles.

[agent2099]

I don't quite understand how to get selectable subs. I do however know hot to burn them in. This is from the guide:

If you prefer to have subtitles that you can turn on and off during the movie you must add them to the bitrate calculator so that GKnot will not create a movie that is too large if you to fit on your CDs.

Use the add button to add your 2 subtitle files so that you'll have enough space to store them onto your CD(s) after the movie has been encoded.



If you prefer to have subtitles that you can switch on and off during playback and in multiple languages you're better off using DirectVobSub (part of the VobSub package) during playback instead of "burning" them into the AVI.

So I got up to the part where I use the "Add" button under the bitrate tab in GKnot. After that do I just continue as normal? I just want to be able to select/deselect subs in PowerDivX. It seems like the "DirectVobSub" is if you want multiple subtitle options. I have only ripped 1 subtitle file and that is the only one I want as part of the AVI. Any help on this would be appreciated, thanks.

[jggimi]

To make them selectable, they are kept in separate files, and not burned in.

DirectVobSub is an application that will run automatically, with many players (such as WMP), whenever the .avi file and the subtitle file have the same name, and are in the same directory. The application will start playing subtitles automatically; adjustments and/or selection of different streams can be done by selecting the application controls, which appear in the "System Tray" area of your Windows Taskbar.

DirectVobSub can read several different subtitle formats, not just "vobsub" files, but other formats as well.

Some players can also manage subtitle files themselves, such as BSPlayer.

Gknot comes with Vobsub; and you have already used it to extract subtitle files for "burning-in" to .avi video. The SubResync application can be used to convert the subtitle images to text, and then converted to other formats if desired.

Other tools can also be used to extract subtitles from .vob files, such as Subrip; please click on this link (http://www.doom9.org/subtitle_guides.htm) for a list of Doom9's several subtitle guides.

[jggimi]

I looked back over this and see that I didn't directly answer your question.

1. Encode your video and audio as per Doom9's guide. Do NOT select subtitles at all in the "Save&Encode" window.

2. Put the subtitle files you extracted with Vobsub into the same directory as your completed .avi file, be sure they have the same file name.

3. When you open the .avi file, DirectVobSub will start automatically.

[agent2099]

Thanks. What you said worked. By adding the 2 subtitle files to the same directory as the .avi, and renaming the files, all of my software players played the subtitiles.


Now a followup question: How do I turn them off?

For example on powerdivx, it will play the subs if they are in the same directory, but it wont let me turn them off and on; the subs are always on. After going to the subtitle menu in PowerDivx, all of the entires say "None." So it's kind of like having burned in subs.

Do I have to move the subtitle files to a different folder every time I don't want to play the subtitles? That would make it pretty difficult since I play the DivXs off CD-Rs.

[manono]

Hi-

Just right click the green arrow that popped up on the right side of the Sys Tray and hit "Hide Subtitles". By the way, if you find those subs too large in file size, you might consider OCR'ing them into another format. Follow jggimi's link to the Sub Guides. Depending on how much dialog there is, you can usually shrink them down to under 100KB or so.

[agent2099]

That worked. I never even noticed the Green Arrow. :)