synchronize sub and movie

[volam]

I have srt sub and xvid movie from 2 sources. they are not synchronized. How can I fix this? thank you

[jman98]

You can try to do this, but I am going to be very blunt about it so you understand what you are getting into. It's nothing personal - I want you to completely understand what is involved before you start.

Download and install Subtitle Workshop. If (and it's a big one) you are VERY lucky and the subs are off because your video is PAL and the subs are NTSC or vice-versa or if they off by a constant amount everywhere, you MAY be able to fix it easily. Subtitle Workshop has functions where you can convert from NTSC to PAL or vice-versa or move everything forwards or backwards by an amount you specify. My experience with this tool, which is not extensive, is that most likely it will NOT work. But perhaps you will be luckier than me. If you are unable to sync the subs with those methods, you will have to fall back on adjusting small groups of subs by specific amounts. I had a video like that and after 1 hour of working on it, I wasn't even 10% done. I gave up and never tried again.
If you aren't lucky enough to sync them easily, it will take forever to adjust the times in small groups. Some people place no value on their spare time and will spend 10+ hours doing this crap, but for me, it's just not worth it.

[volam]

Thanks for your response,
I hope/think my issue is quite simple. the srt file starts when the main movie does but the video file starts with a bunch of scences before the main movie. I'll try and see what happens.

[jman98]

In your case, you may be able to just add a delay to all the subtitles and have it work. I'd say that you have a chance of it working since the only issue really is some extra video at the beginning. I am highly skeptical about PAL-NTSC (or vice-versa) time conversions for subtitles as I've never had that work correctly, but again that could just be me. In any case, be sure that you select ALL of your subtitles before applying the time offset to them and save a copy of the original subtitles so you can go back to it just in case.