Problems with Intros and Subtitles

[Mary H]

I'm trying to back up some Indian DVD's with English subtitles. When playing some of these original DVD's, whether from a standalone player or computer, the only way to get the subtitles is to sit through the LONGGGGGGG Eros promos and Basmati rice commercial, and then finally get to the menu, where you can select the English subtitles and finally play the movie. So I know the subtitles are really there, but you can't select them with the remote after the movie has started. You have to go through the menu.

I've tried processing these Eros movies with DVD Shrink, DVD2One, DVDFab, and DVDXcopy Xpress. In each program, the subtitles do show up (although listed as "unspecified"), so I select the main movie, the only audio track (Hindi 5.1) and the subtitles, then process. When I try to play the resulting DVD files with either PowerDVD or TheaterTek, there are no subtitles available to be selected from the software menu. It's just as if they disappeared.

I have been successful with some other distributors' titles, compressing to one disk or splitting the movie-only to two disks to avoid too much compression, and the subtitles work just fine. (Most of these movies are close to 3 hours!)

Anybody know of a way around these problems? My preference is to get rid of intros and menus, but I don't mind selecting the subtitles from the menu if I can avoid the 8-10 minute intros.

I don't have much experience with IFOEdit or other DVD tools, but if somebody can give me a clue where to start, I'll sure give it a try! I'm at the point now where I'll have to back them up to VHS to loan to friends! Shudder!

Note: I have already opened the IFO files from these disks in IFOEdit, and tried the "Remove P-UPs" button on each IFO. In each case, it comes back with "None found..." What other method could have been used to force the watching of the intros?

[Arianos]

Greetings
Your answer to your problems may be called Menuedit.
http://menuedit.dimad.net/home.html
When registered, it allows you to replace cells (e.g. basmati rice commercials :), studio logos, Dolby Show-offs etc ) with blanks. The structure of the DVD stays intact, so most of the one clickers are content (CloneDVD still complains :( ), and they process it.
Visit the site and read the instructions. It's worth every cent of the 15Euros it costs.
A blank cell can be found on MackemX's site, where you can also find a sure but (difficult way for newbies) to do the same thing.
I did Lagaan a few days ago, and I know what you mean by LOOOOOONG :)
Fortunately it was the European edition, so I was spared some commercials...