No subtitles support for new 640w iPod video

[odedia]

Hi,

I noticed in the official guide that there is no support for subtitles when using the new 640w profile for the latest firmware of the iPods.

Is this really the case and is there a way to go around it?

I NEED subtitles in every video I encode, and with the new size it's even more important cause they're actually usable. will this be fixed in a future release?

I'd appreciate any ideas on the matter.

Thanks!

[rumplestiltskin]

This requires a two-step process:

1. Embed the subs using the DivX mencoder codec at full quality. I usually convert the audio to AAC in this step but that's not essential.

2. Convert the result using the 640w iPod codec.

(If you use the mencoder from the .9s version, you may alter the size and placement of the subtitles during step #1.)

[odedia]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

The idea is nice and all, but aren't we doing double work here?

I actually don't mind the time it will take, but i do mind the fact that i'm re-encoding the video TWICE. this can't be good for video quality, can it?

Oded S.

[rumplestiltskin]

As long as you use the same pixel size and use a high kbps, there should be nothing wrong with the end result. I do this with some AVI's I get in order to embed the subtitles and, once I view it on my TV through the iPod's AV cable, it's almost as good as a DVD.

[etruscan]

I use the old binaries to burn the subs and the new binaries to reencode in xvid/ffmpegX for my standalone players. Works like a charm, but yes, it's double the work.

I have an alias to the Application Support folder where two folders of the old and new mencoder and mplayer files reside inside the ffmpegX folder, and just drop the appropriate ones in and out of their folder and into the ffmpegX folder as required. Hit cancel when the new app asks for the newer binaries.

With the new app, losses in quality are not too bad because it follows the bitrate I choose instead of deciding for itself.

It'd be nice to do it in one step without losing anything in the areas unaffected by the subs.

[jackmannequin]

OK. I don't know if something has changed in the program, but I've figured out a way to encode movies for my iPod, without having to encode it with DIVX first. I've been working on this for a while and actually stumbled on this method accidentally. I was encoding a movie in English that happened to have a ".srt" file in the same folder and when I was checking the encoded movie, I saw that there were subtitles hardcoded into the file. It's because I was using the option "Decode with QuickTime", under the Options menu. If a movie has a ".srt" file in the same folder, quicktime will read those subtitles and FFMpegX will burn that into the movie image. This method is a lot better because it allows to avoid converting the same movie twice (which will decrease the quality) as well as makes things a bit faster.

[Case]

I've been working on this for a while and actually stumbled on this method accidentally.

This is a feature of the Perian Component for QuickTime.