Cant figure out how to make this DVD with subtitles

[TheDarkside]

I got a odd situation here.. I have a DVD in the form of VOB files on my hard drive of a foreign movie. It is in PAL format. I also have two subtitle files I downloaded somewhere, not sure why it's in two separate files... The second file's time codes reset to 0:00 even though it's supposed to start from middle of movie. The subtitle files are .srt

So how can I burn a DVD with this mess ?

I tried a guide posted here using DVD lab but I got too many things different from it's scenario. Iwould need to convert the format to NTSC, add subtitles and then burn everything. Oh and since it's VOB files the video and audio is together not sure if that affects anything I want to do though.

One thing which was weird using DVD lab pro was once I compiled my subtitles from one of the files, the preview window was not showing them. Are they supposed to appear in the preview window?

Can anyone help me out?

[manono]

Hi-

Obviously the subs were split for a 2 CD AVI. You want to join them back together again. Subtitle Creator has the ability to join 2 SRT subtitle files, but you'll either have to know how much to offset the second one (at what time it should be started) or have an AVI of the movie to help do it automatically. You could take note of the last line of the first set of subs, play the DVD at the point of the last line of the first set, and then write down the time that the next line takes place. Make any sense? Then use that time for Subtitle Creator. It may not be exact though, doing it that way. Then use the joined SRT in your authoring app.

I wouldn't do it that way. I'd make the AVI, convert the subs to SSA format, find exactly where the 2nd set of subs begins, Join the 2 SSA subs in Substation Alpha, and play around until the subs for the 2nd half of the movie synch exactly. Then I'd convert the subs to SUP format. I'd demux the audio, video, and chapters using PGCDemux, remux using Muxman, adding in the video, audio, chapters, and the new subs. Then I'd open the original DVD in VobBlanker, replace the original video without subs with my new one which has subs, and then use PGCEdit to "turn on" the subs. I'll keep the original menus and anything else that's on the DVD doing it that way, while I think you may lose the menus. Not sure, as you weren't very specific about how you're doing it.

And on top of all this you want to convert the whole thing to NTSC? And you've never done any of this before? Good luck.

[guns1inger]

The subtitles you downloaded are designed to go with an avi file that has been split into two parts, probably for two CDs. Without knowing at what point the movie was split it is very difficult to join the subtitles correctly. Combine this with converting the video to NTSC, then trying to re-time the subtitles to match, means you have a real head-ache.

In fact, the only answer that is easy to give is that DVD Lab Pro does not display the subtitles in the preview window.

Converting PAL to NTSC is not difficult using the DGPulldown method. Effectively you need to extract the video from the VOB files (VOB2MPG is one way), resize to NTSC resolution while maintaining PAL framerates, re-encode to mpeg, still at PAL framerates, then using DGPulldown's 25 fps -> 29.970 fps mode to get correct playback speed. You can then author with your original audio and will have an NTSC DVD. A more detailed, step by step discussion can be found here -> https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=300144

This still leaves you with the subtitles to deal with. Your current subtitles are no good for two reasons. The first is that if you don't know at what timecode the movie was split, it is very difficult to join them correctly. The second, is that the method for conversion that I have recommended (above) gives you an NTSC DVD that still has the PAL running time, so NTSC subtitles wont fit. You need to get hold of a single disc PAL version of the subtitles. You may still have to shuffle the running time a little, but subtitle workshop can do this very easily.

[TheDarkside]

Wow, sounds like I won't be having fun trying to do this!

Thanks so much for your guidance, just one thing I was hoping to ask in addition: since I can't preview the subtitles in the video using DVD Lab, which software could I use to do that? Subtitle Creator or Subtitle Workshop maybe? I will definitely need preview so I can make sure the text is synchronized correctly iwth video.

[Jeremiah58]

since I can't preview the subtitles in the video using DVD Lab, which software could I use to do that? Subtitle Creator or Subtitle Workshop maybe? I will definitely need preview so I can make sure the text is synchronized correctly iwth video.

I would first convert VOBs to a single MPG.
VOB2MPG can do that, or Womble MPEG Video Wizard.
Then you can load MPG in Subtitle Workshop and open your 2 .srt files (one by one), synchronize each one with video and finally join them into one subtitle file.