Student needs help adding subtitles to Sopranos without converting

[Dains11]

I've tried to read the stickies and everything to find an answer, but I'm not too good with all this, and its really confusing. So I'm sorry if this is a dumb question.

I am trying to watch the Sopranos in Spanish audio, with English Subtitles (trying to increase my spanish comprehension). However, the Sopranos dvd does not have english subtitles included, so I ripped it to my computer with dvd shrink and now I have several vob files, and I can use VLC media player to open a vob file, and then I can search for my subtitle file and it works fine.

The difficulty is that since its a tv series, the vob files are all out of order and theyre broken up so that the episodes start part of the way through various vob files.
I am wondering if there is some way to add my sub files without having all sorts of broken up vob files? Or at least have it in order somehow...

I don't need to convert it to avi or mpeg, I just want to watch them on my computer in spanish with the english subtitles I downloaded.

Please help me!!

[Baldrick]

Maybe just try vob2mpg and see if you get one mpg for each episode. Then it should be easier to load subs for each episode.

[Dains11]

ok ill give it a shot thanks for the tip

[Dains11]

the program itself is perfect, but everytime I encode a file, when I try to play it it stutters and staggers every second..is this the program or something with my computer?

[guns1inger]

What do you mean "encode" ? Encode with what, to what ?

What are you playing it back with ?

Please fill in your computer specs so when know what you have to work with

[Dains11]

When I use the program vob2mpg to create an mpg file of an episode of Sopranos, I try to watch it with VLC and the video just staggers. I've tried it several different times, and I've used various different media players as well so its not just a one time thing.

I'm using my p4 laptop with windows xp on it!

[filmboss80]

It would really help if you listed your country of location. That way we would not have to make guesses about your source videos. The US release of the Sopranos has the option for English subtitles and Spanish language audio. I do not know where your DVDs are from, and why they would not have those options.

If you ripped the discs to hard drive, there may be issues with copy protection. DVD Shrink has not been updated in years, and Vob2Mpg first needs a properly-ripped movie to work with.

The "stutters and staggers" could be a number of possible issues (i.e.: NTSC-PAL mismatch, copy protection, etc.), especially since you mentioned "encoding."

Please provide more information, especially about the source discs.

[Dains11]

The source disks are the US release. Are you positive that they have english subtitles, because the disks I have do not have any subtitles on them for sure, and it's definitely a legit HBO US release.

The way I used vob2mpg is I put the sopranos dvd in my computer, and then searched with vob2mpg for the video_ts file on the dvd, and then the 4 episodes came up on the program. Perhaps I did this incorrectly?

Right now I am trying it with the ripped video_ts file from dvdshrink, maybe that will turn out better.

filmboss you mentioned that shrink hasn't been updated in years - is there a more up-to-date program that I should use instead?

Also, if it is a pal-ntsc mixup, how would I know?

Thank you however for posting, if I can figure this out I'll have a long supply of sopranos to watch in spanish

[guns1inger]

DVDFab Decrypter is the most current free decrypter, although I suspect that Shrink will work fine on the Sopranos. VOB2MPG should not be able to extract mpg from the disc if it is protected unless you also have AnyDVD running in the background. If you don't have AnyDVD running, and can just grab the files and play them, you may not have legit discs.

As for PAL/NTSC - this won't be a problem on your computer, only on your DVD player if it can't handle NTSC. I would be surprised if this is the case, as most PAL DVD players sold in Europe, the UK and Australia handle both formats.

[Dains11]

Ok, that makes sense gunslinger.

I tried it with the ripped file from shrink and it works perfectly.

I guess theoretically they could be fake because I bought them used off amazon, but the box and the dvds look perfect, exactly like what you'd see in a store or from blockbuster. I guess maybe that is why the files were glitching so much is because of the protection?

Thats a good tip with anydvd, I think its easier to rip it directly from the dvd with anydvd running then waiting 30minutes for shrink to rip it, and then having to use VOB2MPG.

[filmboss80]

I am in the US. I have every Sopranos DVD set. Every episode has subs in English, Spanish, and French. (Look at the back of the box -- it will list the languages options.)

Now, the "used" version you purchased may not be a set that was made for US release. Or it may even be a bootleg.

The ripping tool inside DVDFab Decrypter is free (the other features require payment). Use that instead of DVDShrink. You do not need to shrink down your files.

Play from the VIDEO_TS folder -- not individual VOB files.

[Dains11]

ok thank you all for your help. With a combo of anydvd/ dvdfab decrypter + vob2mpg it ends up working perfectly!

I really appreciate everything

[filmboss80]

After your PM message, I rechecked. My boxed set 1 of The Sopranos is Closed Captioned in English -- not subtitled. (Yep, there's a difference.) Sorry about the misinformation.

See if your player has a captions feature (instead of subtitles).