MaestroSBT strange timecodes...

[resonator]

Hi!

I've made a subtitle-script for an Anime title from scratch, using a text-editor and a correctly timed (meaning perfectly in sync with the video) WAV-file. I took the timecodes directly out of SoundForge, so they should be correct. In fact I know for sure they are correct, because I tested the script in VirtualDub with the "textsub" filter, and they sync perfectly with a capital P.

Now I used MaestroSBT to produce nice looking DVDMaestro subs, but when I test them there are moments troughout the episode where the subs appear roughly a second before the sound I timed them to. I tried both dropframe and "regular" 29,97, of course "regular" is the way to go. The MPEG files' timecode is at 0:00:00,00 and most of time the subs are timed just fine, but sometimes they are way off, and that pisses me off, because I want them to be perfect. Funny thing though is, when I export the script from MaestroSBT to an SRT file and then again use VirtualDub/TextSUB they are fine again although MaestroSBT rounds the timecodes to match the framenumbers! It's the strangest thing!

Any ideas what might be causing this? Or a possible workaround?

Thanks.

[burnttoast]

I don't really know what could be causing this.You could right click on you subtitle stream in maestro and choose list all subtitles.Seeing how you have a list of the subs and thier start times you might be able to adjust them here.Are the sounds in soundforge happening at the same timecode when you view it in maestro?

[resonator]

Just found out what was causing the problem, and it's quite amazing. The title I'm doing atm is Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Japanese "Renewal" discs. There are two audio tracks on these discs, the original stereo tracks as well as a 5.1 mix. Now I always though that the 5.1 mix was some sort of remix of the existing tracks, but as it turns out they rebuilt them FROM SCRATCH! So anytime you can't see the lip-movement the sync is a little off, maybe because when they did the 5.1 mix they placed the samples on the timeline "by hand". That's why the timecodes didn't work, I used the stereo track for syncing and also for the preview in VDub, but when I test-compiled the DVD I used the 5.1 Mix.

So MaestroSBT works just fine, the error is, as it's most the time, human.

[dvd_master]

The Renewal discs? Oh man, I'm sooooo jealous! I'm dying to see them after the crap that was ADV's video. I don't know exactly how good their are, but it's on my list of to-buys.

Out of curiousity, where are you getting the scripts for them? I heard the HK set from the Renewals had bad eng. subs.

[resonator]

When you say you don't know exactly how good they are, let me tell you - they're awesome. The picture is clean and sharp, there's little to no telecine wobble, the colors look fresh, and the 5.1 Mix kicks ass.

As for the subs, well, I've made them from scratch, using both the ADV scripts and several fansubs to get the most "efficient" yet correct English translation possible. The time it takes to get the timing right though is a bummer. I started working on them 2 weeks ago and at the moment I'm working on Episode 2 (working for about an hour a day).

But to answer your question: You can get very nice subs at Scriptclub (take the ones that are in DVDSubber format), you can also download them from Emule/Edonkey/Overnet/Whatever. The SSA-ones from Edonkey are basically the same as the DVDSubber ones, whoever released them there just ripped them out of the ZDS file (which is, as you probably know, just a renamed ZIP-file). You can get them to sync if you rip with DVD Decrypter and always rip 5 chapters, for instance 1-5 for Ep1, 6-10 for Ep2, 11-15 for Ep3, 16-20 for Ep4, chapter 26 is just the DVD credits. And I will publish my take on them on Scriptclub once I'm finished, probably in January.