Background transparency problem (DVD => .sup => .sub)

[Kaede]

Hi,

I'm currently encoding a part of my DVD collection to h264 and would like to copy the subtitles but keep them in image format (kind of a lossless copy of the subtitles).
I don't want to OCR them, that'll save me some time and avoid any typo, etc.
I am using meGUI but I think it enforces OCR so I was using other tools for the subtitles (and keep subtitles separate or merge later with mkvmerge, )

The problem is the .sup => .sub conversion goes all wrong.

What I do is:
- (DVDSubEdit) File>Open Full Domain>Open the first VOB in the series
- (DVDSubEdit) File>Save Selected Subpics as .SUP file
- (SubtitleCreator) Tools>Manipulate SUP or VobSub
- (SubtitleCreator) click the "Open sub." button. When prompted to select an .IFO file, select the original IFO file from the DVD
The problem is approximately 50% of the subtitles have missing transparency on the background.

I have uploaded the extracted .sup file there. It is from Future Boy Conan DVD1, a custom authored DVD I think (not authored by myself). The subtitles are fine when playing the DVD with PowerDVD or VLC. I have tried with a few other DVDs and I have the same issue.

I have continued in the process (save as .sub with SubtitleCreator and merge the .sub in the container file) but the transparency problem appear all the same. It also alters the subtitles position: once played in VLC, they are vertically centered.

Thanks for your time.

[sambat]

I have this problem too in Windows 7 (not in XP).
When the file is saved as sup or sub/idx from SubtitleCreator the colours and background is messed.
The way I got around it was to open the IDX file in Notepad and replace two sets of palette information with generic information from another file.

This:

# The palette of the generated file
palette: 0300e3, e83f07, 000000, ffffff, 12ea11, eb12eb, faff1a, 0b5c76, 7c7c7c, e0e0e0, 701f05, 077108, 01006c, cd0be9, d2aa10, 730972

# Custom colors (transp idxs and the four colors)
custom colors: OFF, tridx: 1000, colors: 000000, ffffff, 000000, 000000

Replaced with this:

# The original palette of the DVD
palette: 000000, cbcbcb, 000000, 000000, 000000, d6ec38, 000000, 000000, 000000, cbcbcb, 000000, 000000, 000000, cbcbcb, 000000, 000000

# Custom colors (transp idxs and the four colors)
custom colors: OFF, tridx: 1001, colors: 000000, 000000, cbcbcb, 000000

[Kaede]

Thank you.

Yes I'm using Windows 7 x64.
I think I'll just stop using DVDSubEdit, it should make things easier and I have wasted too many hours trying to figure if that was a bug or just me. I have tried editing the IDX with your values but although that changes the colors, it didn't solve my transparency problem.
For the record, that is what I had displayed:
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/5742/vlcsnap2013010420h42m41.jpg => OK
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/573/vlcsnap2013010420h41m32.jpg => not OK

What about Vobsub (rundll32 Vobsub.dll,Configure) ? I have tried to do extract the DVD subtitles with it (=> idx+sub) and :
- The position of the subs is okay
- No more transparency problems. YES !
The only remaining problem is the colors aren't quite the original colors.
Here is the result in VLC when opening the Vobsub generated subs:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1623/vobsub.jpg
I can probably modify the colors in Vobsub, but if possible I would like to understand why it slightly fails and avoid manual editing (I'm have more than 50 DVDs to process so I would prefer to find the most efficient process and painless process, even if that takes me a long time)
EDIT : I have tried with another DVD and the color seems ok. I'm going to try with a few others to confirm it has to do with this DVD only

[manono]

Why not just extract the VobSubs directly using VobSub Configure?

Edit: Nevermind, when reading your second post I see you've tried that. I don't see why it's so hard to adjust the colors to whatever you like. It doesn't take long, especially if you find out what the original colors are (if it's important to you that they be the same as the original). And especially given that you were willing to spend all that time doing it using your original screwy method.

[Kaede]

I didn't mean to offend you.

Whatever, yes it's not complicated to change the colors, but it's not possible to have a realtime preview (unless I have missed something). But I agree that after all it doesn't seem too much of a headache.
Anyway, it seems I only have the default color problems with this DVD (and a few others from the same series), it seems to work okay with the others, so everything is fine

Thank you again for pointing out that nasty bug.

[manono]

Not offended. But I was wondering why you were taking the long way around when getting the VobSubs.

To be honest, I didn't know there was a bug and I'm still not convinced there is, having never experienced it myself. But I'll take your word for it. Every time I've ever gotten VobSubs using VobSub Configure after opening the IFO, I've gotten colors exactly like those on the DVD.

You might try VSRip to see if it's more to your liking.