Question about using subtitles in MPEG Video Wizard

Author: giordano1000
Date: 1-Nov-2012, 8:30 AM

Author: giordano1000
Time: 1-Nov-2012 8:30 AM
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Hi there,

I have been working on an edit of Game of Thrones season one to make it "parent-friendly." I'm using the season 1 DVDs as my source. I've also been using the extremely helpful "ADigitalMan's Guide to MPEG2/AC3 Editing" and the resulting DVDs look perfect.

My problem is that there are some scenes that are subtitled because the characters aren't speaking English, and I realized only after burning the edited DVDs that the subtitles are not actually "hardwired" into the video itself. They are just sort of pulled from the subtitle file on the DVD or something and simply pop up in the scenes where they are needed.

I need to go back and insert the subtitles into the scenes where they're needed, but could anyone help me get started on this? I've attempted to figure this out on my own but I have no idea what to do first.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Author: Doctor M
Time: 1-Nov-2012 11:07 PM
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In situations like this the DVD will usually contain more than two subtitle tracks for English.

There will be the fully subtitled track of all dialog and one called 'forced' subtitles that will turn itself on to give you subs for non-English dialog.

You have a couple of different options here (most aren't fun). If you haven't altered the runtime at all, you can extract the forced subtitles and use them as they are.

If you've changed the length of the program you need to use OCR software to generate a text version of the subtitles. With subtitle editing software you can retime it to match your new edit, and then generate new graphic (DVD format) subtitles.

The only other answer is using something like avisynth with a vobsub filter and 'burn in' the subtitles while re-encoding the video. You can then use the re-encoded version in your edit.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Dr. M

Author: giordano1000
Time: 2-Nov-2012 7:05 PM
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Well I've been using DVD Decrypter to extract the files from my DVD to my hard drive. I end up with a demuxed .m2v file for the video and an .ac3 file for the audio which I mess around with in MPEG Video Wizard. I also end up with a .SUB file for the English subtitles, but I have no idea what to do with it.

If I'm understanding correctly then there is a way for me to edit the SUB file so that the timing gets fixed (because I have altered the runtime by cutting out gratuitous sex and violence!), and then I would have to put the .SUB file back into the video somehow? And make it so that the video forces it to pop up when it's needed?

I am willing to put some time into this. The subtitled scenes are usually no longer than 2 or 3 minutes and so even if I had to type every line out myself it wouldn't be so bad. I just don't know how to edit the subs or put them back into the video when finished. I also don't know how to tell the video to "force" the subs.

Author: CatBus
Time: 13-Dec-2012 6:34 PM (Edited)
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The SUB files, in combination with an IDX file which you should have also extracted, contain graphical and timing information for the subtitles. I recommend using BDSup2Sub for editing them.

Once you load them in BDSup2Sub, you can set an output format (could also be SUB/IDX or something else, whatever format your DVD authoring software prefers), then go through the subtitles one-by-one and mark them as "exclude from export" as needed--sounds like in your case that's most of them. Then you can export a version of the subtitles with just the subtitles you want. Also, you can manually adjust the timing of each sub before exporting it.

Honestly sounds like a complete PITA to me, but I suppose I've done a lot worse.

EDIT: As for "forcing", from what I've been able to figure out, that's handled through DVD menu logic, forced subs do not really automatically display, the DVD menu logic just makes sure they're always displayed when appropriate. At least I think so... so if you're doing a menuless DVD, your parents will have to manually select the subtitle track using the "Subtitles" button on their remote. If you're doing a menu, then it's doable, but, well, that's a question for someone else with DVD menu experience...