Xbox360 subtitle experiment

[BiggerJim]

hi,
i am not sure if anyone as tried it even i am quite uncertain about success rate so i request you guys to give your comments.

1. convert a subtitle file [srt/sub] to avi. i am talking abut rendering them as a full movie with area out side the text as transparent. i coudnt find any software which can do this.

2. mux this avi into an mp4 file which can be played on 360, as a second video stream.

i am not sure if mp4 can have two video streams like this but i it can and it can be be played on 360, it will be real sweet.

thanks.

[FulciLives]

Do you mean you want selectable subtitles?

Because if that is what you mean then what you said makes no sense.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BiggerJim]

did i say selectable subs? nope.
i dont want to hardsub them to avoid reencoding so i am finding someway to have them as a separate strem.

[Baldrick]

I don't think mp4 supports several video tracks and if it did you can't play both the same time. Wait for a xbox360 update with mp4 subtitle support.

[FulciLives]

did i say selectable subs? nope.
i dont want to hardsub them to avoid reencoding so i am finding someway to have them as a separate strem.

Oh my

Where to begin ...

You say you don't want "selectable subs" but that is exactly what you are saying. Saying "selectable subs" is the same as saying "soft subs" which means the subs are a separate stream from the video and can be turned on or off.

Subs are either soft (their own selectable on/off stream) or they are hard (encoded onto the video).

So please think about what you are asking for next time around :P

Anyway ... the XboX 360 does not support soft subs within the MP4 container so if you want MP4 with subtitles then you need to "burn 'em in" or make then hard subs. This does mean re-encoding the video.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BiggerJim]

aaargh...
i m NOT saying selectable.
i do know that 360 doesnt support subtitles stream in mp4. i want subs to be in a separate video stream, other than the main video stream.
to be more clear:

1st stream- video stream containing movie data.
2nd stream- audio stream
3rd stream- video stream just containing video data for subtitles, with rest of the area except the text rendered transparent

[Nelson37]

Jim, what you are describing IS "selectable subtitles". Subs are either hard-coded, meaning permanently part of the video, or "selectable", meaning a second video stream as you have described. A semi-third option might be a closed-caption stream, support for which is minimal.

Newest version of TSMuxer supports subtitles, I have not yet tested this on the Xbox360. Selectable subs do work on DVD's I have made, with standard DVD-video. That doesn't mean much for mp4.

I'm impressed it will play HD on standard DVD at all, 5.1 sound would be nice, so would selectable subs, maybe the next update?