Unicode subtitle

[Maxand]

I couldn't post it under videos so I did here

I'm trying to download Unicode subtitles but they are being saved as ANSI which results in all kind of funny characters when displayed or opened in Notepad++.
How can I solve this problem?

Thanks anyway

[videobruger]

Use Notepad (not ++) and select Unicode as code when saving.

[Maxand]

I'm not writing the subtitle myself, I download it from the internet, opening it in whatever editor shows the same, funny characters

[El Heggunte]

Probably what you have ARE NOT "Unicode" subtitle files, but plain-ANSI text written for a different "codepage".

OR, equally possible, there is a problem in the Web server of the site you download from, or/and in the Web browser you're using

If you upload a sample file to this forum, we may take a look at it.

[Maxand]

There you go

This is just a sample, I have been trying different subs from the internet and I see all of them being saved as ANSI

[johns0]

Thread moved to the subtitle forum.

[El Heggunte]

Thanks for the upload

Hmmm, it looks like that SRT, as I said, is "ANSI plus Simplified Chinese", plus a UTF-8 header (a.k.a. B.O.M.) at the beginning I used EditPlus for re-loading it under the Simplified Chinese codepage, and saved the result as a Unicode file --- which appears fine in Wordpad, but since I don't understand Chinese, I really don't know if what I got is just nonsense written with Chinese characters Please check the modified (hopefully fixed) .SRT ......

[Maxand]

Problem solved
Thanks for trying to help me guys, appreciated
In MPC, subtitles - styles, under font group box select GB2312 (134)
I have no idea what that stands for but it seems to work on all subtitles for now..

[El Heggunte]

Thanks for trying to help me guys, but its still not working
@El Heggunte, the file you uploaded looks like Chinese buts its not

I'm sorry for that.

This is so confusing, I download these subtitles from opensubtitles.org and other sites
Arabic works, Chinese doesn't, and they are both Unicode

I also tried downloading these subtitle files using different browsers, which shouldn't matter because they are zip files.
I noticed that when I want to display Arabic subtitle I need to go to subtitles - styles - Arabic(178) (Under font group box)
But when I do the same for Chinese (Chinesebig5(136)) it doesn't work, it just displays Chinese like funny chars

I presume I know what you mean by "funny characters" (some Greek letters, some mathematic symbols, and a lot of ??? and/or "blank boxes")
Apparently something very-wrong happens to the Chinese subtitles BEFORE they are zipped by those sites. As I tried to say, a UTF-8 BOM at the beginning of a text file IS NOT what transforms "codepaged ANSI" into actual UTF-8 Unfortunately, there is a LOT of programmers who still haven't learned what UTF-8 or Unicode really means.

[Maxand]

Hi El Heggunte,
I edited my last post, it works now, could you explain what that option in the picture stand for?

[El Heggunte]

Hi El Heggunte,
I edited my last post, it works now, could you explain what that option in the picture stand for?

It stands for "Simplified Chinese".

Just for the notes, THERE IS a difference between "character set" and "(type of) encoding". The file I uploaded IS real Unicode (little-endian type, always using 2 bytes per character).

[Maxand]

How is it possible that when I choose that option (GB2312 (134)) it displays Chinese AND Arabic subtitle fine?!
Also when I open those subtitle files after I unzip them in Notepad++ or any editor they are showing their format as ANSI yet MPC displays them fine!
How can one edit those files if he wanted to if they show funny characters in editors!
Strange!

[El Heggunte]

How is it possible that when I choose that option (GB2312 (134)) it displays Chinese AND Arabic subtitle fine?!
Also when I open those subtitle files after I unzip them in Notepad++ or any editor they are showing their format as ANSI yet MPC displays them fine!
How can one edit those files if he wanted to if they show funny characters in editors!
Strange!

VERY-strange indeed

FWIW, I still use VSFilter version 2.33 (it works for me, I don't like fancy .ASS subtitles, so I won't upgrade it anytime soon).

--- EDIT ---

Hmmm, with VSFilter 2.33, UTF-8 and Unicode work well for SSA files only

Maybe it's time for an overdue update, unfortunately (argh)