CatBus

Well, here’s an interesting tidbit I just found out. It certainly looks like frame-accurate subtitles are not actually possible in either the SUP or BDN+XML formats (the two graphical formats). This is because for some reason, the internal timings are stored at a fixed 24.000fps, in a weird hybrid seconds+frames format, and are converted to 23.976fps values on the fly. This is usually not a problem but every now and then, something just won’t come out on the exact right frame. Which means we can add frame accuracy to the reasons to burn the theatrical alien subtitles in.

Not that frame accuracy matters at all for your typical subtitles, so maybe this issue never concerned the people writing the specs. But still, I feel like this is crappy because it’s a self-inflicted technical limitation that they could have pretty easily avoided. In fact, the way timing is handled seems so needlessly complicated, I don’t even…

No videos, just the screencaps on the previous page.

PM sent.

Chewtobacca said:

I doesn’t have seamless branching.

You don’t have seamless branching? How do you mange without it?

Ear mites, mostly.

PM sent, and feedback appreciated.

PM’s sent.

PM sent.

He’s got one.

PM sent.

TR2N said:

Looks awesome CatBus!

Thanks. If anyone’s curious, I ended up going for a slightly more noticeable border (that’s the faint edge on the northwest side of the letters – I tested a few Hoth scenes and the previous one just wasn’t quite adequate), I reduced the blur a bit, and the positioning was also a bit off in the sample screenshot. Other than that, no changes planned.

imperialscum said:

I don’t think those are marmots. More like minks.

It was a Big Lebowski reference. But that’s okay, I only make jokes for my own amusement anyway. If someone else gets them, that’s just gravy.

Sure, and thanks. Of course, I was just contacted by someone who said he would soon have some suggested changes to the French subtitles, so the ground’s always moving under our feet.

PM sent. There’s a few reasons I don’t put these up on subtitling websites. First, these websites typically only accept subtitles in a text format, like SRT or SSA, which would lose a lot of the value of this project, which is in the graphical subtitles – after all, I don’t actually recommend anyone use the SRT files except as a last resort, so I’m not inclined to upload the subtitles somewhere where I can’t give better options. Also, this project gets frequent enough updates that it would require re-uploading them, and many subtitling websites are designed for “upload once and it never changes”, or “have a new version? make a second (or third, or fourth…) download to confuse people”. Third, this project is ultimately a toolkit for the people creating Star Wars preservations (i.e. for Harmy, Puggo, negative1, etc) – the goal is that every preservation will have all of these subtitles built-in, so there will be no need at all to download separate subtitles. We’re not there yet, but at least the Despecialized Editions are getting there.

That said, if you want to put this project (and I’d prefer if it was the complete project rather than just the SRT files) on some site catering to a particular language, feel free.

Actually, my suicide cult leader assures me this still gives us about sixteen months to enjoy the films.

bubu54 said:

REPORT-SW-v2.5
01:16:41
Between minutes 01:16:40 and 01:19:48, in the trash compactor scene, the track sound in Spanish (Castilian) turn on into Spanish Latino, can you fix it? Thanks for your work.

The fixed audio is already available as a separate download. See the frst post of Project Threepio, and go to the tehPARADOX link, and you’ll find it, or PM me.

PM sent.

moviefreakedmind said:

Hey Harmy, could we please get a little update on what you’ve been working on so far since the release of the workprint?

Way to derail the thread…

Well, Han’s “even I get boarded sometimes, do you think I had a choice?” line has the same problem, more or less, but the super-close-up camera angle at that moment kinda makes the different acoustics more plausible.

PM sent.

My first test of the new matching subtitles has been pretty successful, sample below (click for full size).

Things I worked on:

• The font, which is mostly Franklin Gothic Demi Cond, but you’ll see on the lowercase “g” and the question mark that I’ve modified it to look more like the theatrical font.
• The drop shadow, which is now scripted with Perl and ImageMagick (of course, one trick pony…) to look more like the solid black drop shadow of the films than the semitransparent drop shadow generated by easySUP.
• The border, which isn’t theatrical at all but is pretty much necessary if you want to read the subtitles against a white background (think Hoth). Instead of the thin black solid outline you can see in the example in the first post, it’s a thin faint semitransparent border along the northwest edge of the letters to provide some definition – much less obtrusive IMO, but still necessary.
• The blur, which you can only really see in the larger version. I blurred up the subtitles very slightly so that they appear to be part of the film itself, rather than much sharper than the rest of the film. I think this makes it look much more seamless.

I may decide to do more things, but I’m actually very happy with how this test run looks.

Please note that none of these changes are going into the regular subtitles–just the ones that are supposed to look like the burnt-in theatrical ones. In particular, don’t panic about the blur, it’s not going anywhere else.

TV’s Frink said:

Any of us men who think we always know what women will do are kidding ourselves.

Oh, now you tell me. Thanks a lot.

Also, FWIW I encountered a similar situation. Close to best friend, not a lot of other friends should that friendship get awkward, a few decades later and we’ve got kids and a mortgage. It sometimes does work out. But I stand by my initial assessment – get your own personal crap in order first, and that can do nothing but improve the odds of success (in addition to improving your odds of being able to handle it well if it doesn’t go your way). Desperation/hitting bottom/depression are great reasons to reach out to people, but not the best reasons for people to reach back out of anything but sympathy, and that’s not exactly what you’re angling for here.

TV’s Frink said:

Interesting. How do you rate the other six movies?

It’s not a rating, it’s a username.

That’s Grand Duke of the Ring to you, mister!

yoda-sama said:

I don’t see how a Blu-ray player connected over HDMI to a TV is supposed to look dramatically different than a PC hooked up the exact same way, I think your calibration comment is moot in this instance.

If your TV is calibrated for rec.709 for your Blu-ray player, but it isn’t calibrated for RGB for your PC, then it very much will look different, and the Blu-ray will be better. Since most calibrators only calibrate for rec.709 anyway, it’s very non-moot.

My TV is calibrated for rec. 709 input, not RGB (and frankly, so are most people’s, if they’re calibrated at all). Plus optical discs are a better archival format, and it plays back more reliably across all hardware players (some players have odd MKV limits, like they only play one audio track, or they won’t do DTS-MA if it’s on an MKV). Oh yeah, and it’s a good gifting format for less technically inclined (or if you have kids). And the box looks nice on the shelf.

Other than looking better, lasting longer, being more reliable, working better for friends and family, and the bling factor, I admit there’s not much reason.