Using AutoGK to encode and XBMC to play (with subtitles)

[south_bay_dude]

Hi!

I'm pretty new to this whole thing and I'm loving AutoGK so far! It has just the right number of options for a newbie like me and works very reliably. I encode my DVD movies so I can back them up and watch them on my xbox using Xbox Media Center (XBMC).

I use all of the default options except I turn on external subtitles. Everything works fine when I watch the movie with with Windows Media Player. On XBMC, the picture and audio works fine. In fact, I can even switch to the second audio track of the avi. Very, very cool stuff!

So my question is regarding the subtitles. They don't seem to appear on XBMC no matter what I try. AutoGK uses vobsub so I thought it would work becuase XBMC supports vobsub subtitles. I think I have all the files in the right place with the right names and I've also tried uncompressing the rar file of the subtitles. Has anyone been able to make this work on XBMC? Do I need to tweak the way that AutoGK makes subtitles in some way?

Are there any AutoGK+XBMC users out there? Thanks!

[Sharktooth]

Probably you will need to convert and mux your subtitles into the avi file to make it work.
I usually use .srt subtitles and they work like a charm.

[south_bay_dude]

Originally posted by Sharktooth
Probably you will need to convert and mux your subtitles into the avi file to make it work.
I usually use .srt subtitles and they work like a charm.

Great! What does that mean though? :) Sorry I'm new at this.

Could you recommend a tool to create srt subtitles? Do you make them from the ripped dvd (vobs) or from the AutoGK output?

Really appreciate any tips!

[BigDid]

Originally posted by south_bay_dude
Great! What does that mean though? :) Sorry I'm new at this.

Could you recommend a tool to create srt subtitles? Do you make them from the ripped dvd (vobs) or from the AutoGK output?

Really appreciate any tips!
Hello south_bay_dude,

You can take advantage of the tutorial: http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Tutorial
after step2 (audio) you have a subtitle part;
also in the FAQ: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72679
there is a part 3 Subtitles :)

Did

[south_bay_dude]

Originally posted by BigDid
Hello south_bay_dude,

You can take advantage of the tutorial: http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=Tutorial
after step2 (audio) you have a subtitle part;
also in the FAQ: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72679
there is a part 3 Subtitles :)

Did


Hi Did,

Thanks for your response. Yes, I read those carefully before I posted.

I'm sorry that my first post was not clear. I meant to say that I have subtitles working fine when I play my movie with Windows Media Player. So there is nothing wrong with AutoGK or with the way that I am using AutoGK.

The problem seems to be an incompatibility with the very popular XBMC. I am curious if any XBMC users know how to work around this incompatibility, or if any AutoGK experts could point me in the right direction?

[Sharktooth]

XBMC can't unrar the subs and doesnt support external subtitles.
So you should use subrip to convert the subs to srt (it uses OCR and generate text subtitles).
Then you need to mux those text subs in the avi file. You can do it with virtualdubmod or avimuxgui.

[south_bay_dude]

Sharktooth,

Thanks, that sounds like what I need. And I'll still be able to turn subtitles on and off in XBMC?

[Sharktooth]

Yes.

[frankoz0idiaN]

Originally posted by Sharktooth
XBMC can't unrar the subs and doesnt support external subtitles.
So you should use subrip to convert the subs to srt (it uses OCR and generate text subtitles).
Then you need to mux those text subs in the avi file. You can do it with virtualdubmod or avimuxgui.

The discontinued XBMP 2.4 (XBox Media Player) is capable to uncompress .rar and show VobSub subtitles, although it will crash while loading it if VobSub file size exceeds ~4..6MB (uncompressed).

[MrJojo]

I used to watch movies with XBMC too; it doesn't support .rar subtitles, so here's what I do :
I make a preview in AutoGK, with external subs on; in the agk_temp folder (C:\agk_temp\), are my subs (in .idx + .sub, not .rar). I pick them, note their size in Mo, and then I make my movie with a size of xx Mo minus the size of the subs...
Once I have my .avi, .sub and .idx, I burn them on a CD (or a DVD), and XMBC is able to display subs !
I know, it's time consuming; I've asked Len0x to make an option in AutoGK to not rar the subs. We'll see in a next release...
You should adsk him too ! I own since yesterday a DVD/DivX player, it reads VobSub subs but not in .rar too. So I think it's a very good idea to not .rar subs in such cases...

Cheers

[south_bay_dude]

Originally posted by Sharktooth
XBMC can't unrar the subs and doesnt support external subtitles.
So you should use subrip to convert the subs to srt (it uses OCR and generate text subtitles).
Then you need to mux those text subs in the avi file. You can do it with virtualdubmod or avimuxgui.


Hi Sharktooth,

I tried subrip and it had a hard time with the OCR and gave some pretty questionable results for my test movie. It had a pretty hard time because some of the letters run together. Thanks for the pointer, though!

[south_bay_dude]

Originally posted by MrJojo
I make a preview in AutoGK, with external subs on; in the agk_temp folder (C:\agk_temp\), are my subs (in .idx + .sub, not .rar).

Hi MrJojo,

Thanks for the response. I tried what you described and it didn't quite work. XBMC could see that there are subtitles, and it would let me turn them on, and even let me choose between the different languages that are in the sub file (so it can read the sub file), but the subtitles never actually show up.