Divx newbie subtitle question

[inframan]

I'm new to the Divx format, I've downloaded some fansubbed episodes of a tv show and I can't figure out how to get the subs to show up on my dvd player. Here's the thing I can't find any info on, there doesn't appear to be a separate file for subtitles, just a single file for each episode.

The subs they made for the opening credits are "burned in" and work fine on my dvd player, but the subtitles during the actual episode don't show up. They play fine on my computer in windows media player.

I've been trying to do some research but everything I read seems to assume that there is always a separate file for subs and I'm not seeing it.

thanks.

[jman98]

Best guess - they muxed the subtitles into the AVI container. You can do that and there are programs that support it on a PC, but many standalone DVD player refuse to play such subtitles. I'm hardly an expert at the field, but I have seen a limited number of fan subbed Japanese dramas and I've not seen one yet that wasn't hard subbed. This is probably anime as the people who make anime available always find some kind of crazy ass way to do things. They'll use codecs that are barely supported like Real Media. They'll mux subtitles into AVI containers even though such is poorly supported. They'll use weird frame rates. I don't know how much of this is by design or stupidity. Maybe someone can tell you how to demux the subs to a separate file and if you save them as the same name as your video file (ie. if your video is called MYVIDEO.AVI, then save them as MYVIDEO.SRT or .whatever format they are in) your DVD player may be able to play them, depending on the format they are in. If your video ends in .DIVX then they used the DIVX container which supports muxed in subtitles, but very very few DVD players can play subs that way.

[Ai Haibara]

I haven't seen a DivX/Xvid-compatible DVD player that supports subtitles have a problem with AVIs with muxed-in subtitles. (That doesn't mean there aren't any out there, though.) What the DVD players tend to not like, however, is the format of the muxed-in subs. For example, if the subs are ANSI SRT vs. Unicode SRT.

As far as I've seen, the only 'poor support' for subtitles muxed into AVI is in the selection (number) of tools available to create such AVIs. Computer players have no problem with it, for the most part.

inframan: I'm not sure of what tools you might be able to use to extract subtitle streams from an AVI, other than VirtualDubMod. If they're actually XSubs, however, there aren't any tools that can extract those, to my knowledge. A DVD player should generally be able to handle those, however.

Have you tried pressing the Subtitle button on your remote when you're viewing one of the videos with subtitles? Your DVD player probably doesn't automatically start them with the video (a lot of players don't).

[Nikse]

SubtitleEdit can extract XSubs from avi files - but other types of embedded subtitles in avi files also exists...

Edit: Files with xsubs should probably have the extension .divx... but some still have .avi

[Ai Haibara]

Ah, okay. I'll have to remember that.

Well, a .divx file is essentially a renamed .AVI. I'm not sure, offhand, how many players would be picky about the extension (computer or DVD/BD player, etc.).

[jman98]

Ah, okay. I'll have to remember that.

Well, a .divx file is essentially a renamed .AVI. I'm not sure, offhand, how many players would be picky about the extension (computer or DVD/BD player, etc.).

DVD/BD players care a lot about the extension. Models that aren't certified but still play Xvid/Divx anyway won't touch .divx files. And my experience is still that muxed in subtitles are a bigger potential problem than in your experience, but I cannot offer proof as to whether most players can or can't handle it.

[inframan]

Thanks for the responses, you've given me enough info to ask the right questions, I'll contact the guys who put it together.

The files are labeled .avi but they are divx

Its not Anime but an Ultraman series. Even nerdier.

[Ai Haibara]

DVD/BD players care a lot about the extension. Models that aren't certified but still play Xvid/Divx anyway won't touch .divx files. And my experience is still that muxed in subtitles are a bigger potential problem than in your experience, but I cannot offer proof as to whether most players can or can't handle it.

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of whether or not the Ultra-certified players (or players on a computer) would care what the extension of a .divx/.AVI that uses Ultra features is.

There's been a report or two of players here on the forum (if I remember correctly) where the DVD player did interpret all of the DivX Ultra features, but wasn't certified, simply because they apparently didn't want to pay for the certification.

[handyguy]

My PS3 can only play that type of Avi. I small program creates it: AVIAddXSub

[inframan]

a big for me.

It was an overscanning issue. The subs are hardcoded, my tv was just cropping the bottom. I fixed it by playing with the aspect ratio on the dvd player.

thanks for the education on divx subs, I'll probably getting a few more in the future so this is good info anyway.