.sub to .srt subtitle conversion

[baldiepie]

I have an .avi video file with .sub subtitles in a separate folder. I am using vsoCopyXtoDVD to convert this file to .vob. vsoCopyXtoDVD stipulates I use .srt subtitles for insertion. What is the
(best) program to use for this conversion please.

[SanderMan]

It depends what kind of sub file it is. If it's text based I use Subtitle Workshop fro conversion. Otherwise I use Subrip if I need to OCR the subs.

[baldiepie]

It depends what kind of sub file it is. If it's text based I use Subtitle Workshop fro conversion. Otherwise I use Subrip if I need to OCR the subs.

How does one determine if its a text based subtitle. "OCR the subs" in Subrip, is that necessarily superior?. Thanks

[SanderMan]

If it's text based you can open the file in notepad and see the subs.

[euggoh]

Hi guys,
i got a case with .sub subtitle too. As mentioned, there are 2 kinds of .sub, text and picture, and i'm dealing the picture kind. By using the VobSub\subresync.exe, I can convert the .sub to .srt by type in the character letter by letter. Is there any better method to directly convert the .sub into .srt? Because typing letter by letter is too time consuming and there are more than 10 files I wish to convert. Pls advise and Thanks you very much.

[manono]

Hi-

Because typing letter by letter is too time consuming and there are more than 10 files I wish to convert. Pls advise and Thanks you very much.

SubResynch or SubRip or DVDSubEdit. However you do it, you have to do some typing. With luck, after typing in each letter once (once for caps, once for smalls, maybe once each for italicized caps and smalls), when it comes to that letter again, you don't have to type it. Ideally, you type each letter only once, and although it's slow going in the beginning, it picks up speed later until it's whizzing along. Shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes per movie.

There's an advantage to using SubRip. One is that it has many character matrices included. Another is that you can save them, and when you come across another movie using the same matrix, you'll have to do very little to no typing.

[euggoh]

Thanks manono. I understand that too, I'm just wondering is there any software that can do the job faster and less effort. Meanwhile, I guess I can only use the primitive way to convert the subtitle.
You are really a fast typist, 10-15mins for a movie. Fast and furious. Haha!

[manono]

Hehe, actually I'm a very slow typist. If you don't have italics, it goes much faster. Sometimes the letters aren't exactly the same for the same letter, so you wind up typing in the same letter multiple times. That can really slow you down. But otherwise, I think 15 minutes max is realistic. Lots of people can confirm.

Oh, you're in Singapore. I'm talking about the English alphabet. I have no idea what happens with Chinese, Indian, or Malayan characters.

[Faithful Follower]

OCR-ing is a major pain in the butt. I've been using a different method for a while, it takes a little bit of learning in the beginning, after a few jobs, it'll become very easy. Only it might take a little bit longer for the authoring process.

You'll need these programs:

VobsubStrip http://www.free-codecs.com/download/VobSubStrip.htm
SubToSup
DVDAuthorGUI
DVDSubEdit

1. Strip the individual subtitle stream(s) from your Vobsub file. Even if it only contains one stream.
2. Convert to sup files with Sub2Sup.
3. Author the DVD with DVDAuthorGUI.
4. Fix the subtitle colors with DVDSubEdit.


Notes:
DVDAuthorGUI only accepts elementary streams. Also make sure to choose the correct format when input the sup files. Remember to delete the temps located in the DVDAuthorGUI program folder.

The time it takes to author is about 50% longer than a similar project comparing with DVDLabPro.
But it still is much better than to OCR.

[AlanHK]

i got a case with .sub subtitle too. As mentioned, there are 2 kinds of .sub, text and picture, and i'm dealing the picture kind. By using the VobSub\subresync.exe, I can convert the .sub to .srt by type in the character letter by letter. Is there any better method to directly convert the .sub into .srt? Because typing letter by letter is too time consuming and there are more than 10 files I wish to convert. Pls advise and Thanks you very much.

There's a chance somene else has already done it for you.
Try http://www.opensubtitles.org/. For Asian titles, http://www.kloofy.net/ (you have to sign up for the latter).

But quality is variable, sometimes the text is gibberish, and you need to check sync (using Subtitle Workshop for example).

However you get them, always spellcheck, OCR is notorious for things like confusing l, 1, I, for instance.

[SanderMan]

If you don't want to type as much you can download the Characters Matrix for Subrip here: http://foxyshadis.slightlydark.com/random/CharMatrix.rar
Supposedly it works for 90% of the dvds.

[euggoh]

Thanks alot guys. You guys are very informative and great.

Oh, you're in Singapore. I'm talking about the English alphabet. I have no idea what happens with Chinese, Indian, or Malayan characters.

Actually I editing the japanese anime subtitle. So the subtitle all in english, no other language. However, I prefer .avi format, those I download are in .mkv format with .sub subtitle, in order to convert my video into .avi, I have to convert .sub into .srt. By the way, I been using WinAVI to convert my video, so only accept .srt! Hope I doing this right, or actually there is a shortcut to convert .mkv to .avi without converting the subtitle, I really don't know. I new in do video editing, but I found fun in it. Haha!

[handyguy]

Why do you need to convert it? Most divx players should play it in SUB format too.

[euggoh]

Why do you need to convert it? Most divx players should play it in SUB format too.

I want to keep the video in .avi format instead of .mkv, when I converting the .mkv file to .avi in WinAVI, the subtitle not there. Is there a way to overcome this?