External subtitles - how?

[Kvark]

I have tried to search the forum, read the stickies, readme-files and also the good old try-and-fail method for a few days myself. Nope. Could't find it nor figure it out.

Now we finally have an oppoturnity to use external subtitles with DVD2SVCD
(not shouting, it's written that way :) ).
That is cool, supercool, really.

Ehhh... how does one do it right, then?

How about putting this into a mini-howto file and making it sticky, somebody?

I have been experimenting with this for a few days now. DVD2SVCD accepts the two external languages I'd like to add to the SVCDs. Good.
My first mistake was that the .srt files were for 2 CD DivX, while the movie requires 3 SVCDs. Joining the files only was obviously a wrong solution. 3rd CD didn't get any 3rd and 4th subtitles, and everything was out of sync from the beginning.

The beautiful and usually helpful dvd2svcd_log.txt didn't mention anything about the process and the command lines which do all the tricky part, converting the .srt files, creating the .txt, .sub and the .bmp files and most important, calculating the sync. This meant that in order to try this again, I had to take the complete process all over again (sigh).

Oh, btw, that failed too - I tried to copy faithfully the timing of one of the subtitles on the DVD to those on the .srt files, but obviously it was right either - this time I got subtitles on all the three CDs, but no sync, no sync.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't just want to complain.
I found several detailed instructions about how I could get the job done manually. I would only like to use the automation which already is provided by DVD2SVCD.

To the point (finally):
How do I prepare the .srt files (or any other format of subtitles) right, before feeding them to DVD2SVCD in order to get them to be in sync with the resulting SVCDs?

I have a faint feeling that I'm not alone with the problem. The policy seems to be more or less "don't ask, find out yourself" or "somebody asked something like this already 3 years ago".
Sorry for everybody who gets hurt because of my humble question (and hopelessly overlong post), but I don't see the point why everybody should invent gunpowder all by themselves...

Thanks a million so far and keep up the good work!
Kvark, an eternal newbie

[da franksta]

i use urusoft subtitle workshop. works fine for me! if you put avi and srt in same folder with same name it displays the movie with the subs so you can figure out how to get them in sync.

[jorel]

good question,great answer!

da franksta,
can you post the link to the homepage of
urusoft subtitle workshop please?

thanks in advance!
:)

[da franksta]

http://urusoft.cjb.net/

[jorel]

great.

thank you very much da franksta !

:)

edited:

fantastic, subtitle workshop is really cool.
:D

[Kvark]

Thanks, da franksta, but there's no avi.
I'm talking about backing up one of my DVDs and making the backup copy even better than the original... as much "hands free" as possible.

What I'm trying now, is as follows:
I've already generated the SVCDs once. Now I've edited the .srt files to be in sync with the SVCD subtitle file of one of the subtitles which was already on the DVD, and running the whole, complete process one more time (only video converting takes over 11 hours with my secondary 1,3GHz machine which I'm using to this...:D )

The subtitle .txt (which I use) and .sub files in the subs folder are generated at the end of the process without any note in the dvd2svcd_log.txt, so I can't figure out this without running the whole thing through first.

I already tried ripping one of the original DVD subtitles and syncing the external ones with that.
Nope. The timing on the DVD was completely something else than that on the SVCDs.

I agree with you guys, URUsoft subtitle workshop is another fine tool, but it didn't seem to read DVD video.

I still have the same questions::confused:
I have a DVD and the .srt file(s).
1. How do I know in advance where to split the .srt files?
2. How do I know in advance how to get them in sync with the resulting video files, without having to take two full rounds with complete DVD2SVCD process?

As I see it at the moment, it seems to be easier to use "the manual method" in order to get this right, without using the built-in feature in DVD2SVCD. I'd be very happy to be wrong about this, somebody please correct me.

Kvark

[da franksta]

okay, let's give this a shot. i'm still not COMPLETELY sure what you're trying to do :)

to summarize:
you have a dvd, but you want to use external subs. your external subs are not in sync, so you have a problem. the subs on the dvd should be in sync, so you're using them to look at the timing error. so far so good.

in dvd2svcd, subs are extracted right at the start of the process (dvd subs as well as external subs). as soon as audio extraction is started you can quit the process, so there's no need to go through the whole video encoding sequence. in frameserver tab, you can also chose "edit as part of video encoding" to make a pause in the process. now compare the subs file created by dvd2svcd with your external file. is the offset (a.k.a. delay) wrong, are the subs gradually getting out of sync, or both? if your dvd is ntsc and you external subs are based on pal, everything will be off. a program like subtitle workshop can help you set a new fps setting to get in sync with your movie. if necessary, adjust the delay and you should be set. only then, when your external subs are perfect :p you have to go through the entire sequence of dvd2svcd after starting over again.

hopes any of this makes sence

to answer your questions:
1. you don't have to split the srt file, if you have one file that is in sync with the dvd, d2s will do the splitting for you
2. as i tried to explain above

[Kvark]

Thanks again, da franksta.

DVD2SVCD does the ripping of the subtitles in the beginning, thats's right.
However, this generates only the .bmp files. The files with the timing information (subs\*.txt & *.sub) are generated by some internal process in between the bbMPEG_Mux and WinSubMux part, that is, in the end of the process.

As a matter of fact, the only part I really need to re-run after adjusting the .sub files is this part and what comes after that. The problem is that I don't know how to do it from the command line. :(

I'm running a couple of experiments on this right now, if I find out something useful I might put it here.

Thanks anyway.
Kvark

[rilopes]

Good to find this thread - having the same issue here.
First of all, I'd like to understand the D2S subtitle ripping process. Not the BMP's extraction - which I use to do w/ SubRip - but the .txt creation (for permanent subs or not). If somebody could explain...may be it could help to work w/ external subs (in .srt format) easier.

:confused:

[Kvark]

I promised to write, when I make some progress.
I probably will, it's just that I've been occupied with some other things in life, such as computer games and such...

To be serious:
DVD2SVCD is using some internal routine for generating the files you mentioned. This is done in between the bbMPEG_Mux and WinSubMux part in the end of the process (I watched it happen), but there's nothing mentioning this in the log.

To the big guru himself: The problem seems to be that the external language files have different amount of lines than the original ones. In one of the cases there was also a big difference between the time of the last line - in one language it was the last line in the converasion before the end credits, while in other languages there was additional information about the translator etc. about a half a minute later.

I tried editing the .srt files, comparing them with one of the languages on DVD, splitting them right according to the right lines, synchronizing the first and the last line with the language which was in sync - and this with every CD. But it was of no use.
I could sychronize the .txt files right. Fine.
It's just that they are not used in the process which I could reproduce easily - the SubMux part. When I tried saving the .txt files in "Philips SVCD Designer" format, I got close (yes, I removed the headers also), but I lost every detail about the colours, sizing, placing etc.

How do I convert the txt files into the sub files and still get all the goodies?

Kvark

[juange]

Hy, This is may first time in your thread.
But I try to help you.
First, sory for if my English is not so good.
I understood that you already have the svcds and all files made by dvd2svcd program.
Well, my advice is first join the two subtitles that I thing you found in the web. For this use the great program Subtitle Workshop (urusoft). Don’t worry about the times for now. But write down the time when finish the first one. In order to know the position when finish the first part in the new one. Maybe in the middle.
Second make one big mpg multiplexing audio an video with bbmpeg and the file video *.mpv and audio *.mp2.
After that open this video with the option preview of subtitles work shop, and start to sync. It isn’t difficult to do.

Well I hope it was helpfully.

[juange]

Sorry, I forgot said that you must work with the joined subtitle.:p

[Kvark]

Muchos gracias, juange, but I was hoping I could find an easier solution.
I'm not thinking about just a one-time-only job, but would like to find an easy way which suits to most occasions.

I already tried joining the two original srt files with Subtitle workshop before running the DVD2SVCD, and synchronized both extra languages to match exactly to one language which I had ripped from the DVD. No way man, for one or another reason the built-in routines in DVD2SVCD had figured out completely different timing.

Another, so far one of the most succesful ways to try to solve the quest was the one I explained briefly before. In short the trick was
to join the files (one file for each one of the two extra languages), run DVD2SVCD and get at least all the bmp files, join the three non-sync txt files for each language (it's a long film, 3 SVCDs), split them right, sync them with one of the original languages and end up with perfect txt files. The problem is just that SubMUX doesn't use them, but uses the sub files instead. Well, I saved the txt files as sub files, but lost all the fancy details about the size, colour and coordinates.

I thought of making a little program to create perfect sub files, picking the time from the re-synchronized txt files and all the attributes from the DVD2SVCD-created sub files, and then running SubMux. The problem is just that I haven't really reached the moment of inspiration yet :p


Originally I wanted to prepare the files "in the right way" before running DVD2SVCD, so that after the process I would have a fair chance to end up with a set of SVCDs fair enough timing. Now, please, how do I do this? Is it the first line and the last line I have to get to sync, and to sync with what? With the first set of subtitles?

Thanks anyway, I will certainly try your method too, I have plans of subtitling a couple of movies which are not mainstream enough to be available on DVD with subtitles on the languages I prefer.

Besides, it's not really my thread, but a thread for everybody who's trying to figure out how to do this.:D

Kvark

[juange]

Originally posted by Kvark
...
Another, so far one of the most succesful ways to try to solve the quest was the one I explained briefly before. In short the trick was
to join the files (one file for each one of the two extra languages), run DVD2SVCD and get at least all the bmp files, join the three non-sync txt files for each language (it's a long film, 3 SVCDs), split them right, sync them with one of the original languages and end up with perfect txt files. The problem is just that SubMUX doesn't use them, but uses the sub files instead. Well, I saved the txt files as sub files, but lost all the fancy details about the size, colour and coordinates.
...

Kvark

I understand that you have a synchronized txt. Did you try to use MaestroSBT program? For make bmps and insert with WinSubMux.