All I really need to be happy are subtitles...

[gretak]

I am trying to add subtitle files sent me by a friend (in .ass format) for movies I have in vcd format. I've figured out how to convert the (usually 2 for each film) .dat files to .avi using Emicsoft Video Converter, and then used ffmpegX to combine the subtitle files and the .avi files. I then end up with two VIDEO_TS folders for burning to DVD. When I preview each VIDEO_TS folder using the standard DVD player for Mac, the subtitles show up (they are soft-coded I think since I can turn them on or off). I've then been using DVD2oneX2 to combine the two dvd folders into one img file, and I use "Burn" software to burn the dvd (my DiskUtility will no longer let me burn dvds for some reason).

But the final product doesn't have subtitles Am I missing a step (or ten)? The subs are disappearing between the ffmpeg step and the final burn. Is there different software I should use to combine the two separate dvd folders (if I merge the two .dat files into one .avi file, I don't know how to then combine the two separate .ass files with the one .avi file)...

If there's an easier way to accomplish it with hard-coded subtitles that would be fine with me too but I haven't tried that yet...

At the end of the day I just want a dvd with subtitles that I can watch on my television. (I don't even much mind that the video and sound go out of sync sometimes for some reason during the dat-avi conversion.)

Thanks for any help you can give this newbie to the world of fan subbing!

[Baldrick]

Doesn't ffmpegx make switchable subtitles? And you might have to click on subtitle button to enable them.

Or maybe ffmpegx doesn't support ass subs, then convert to srt first.

[gretak]

The problem doesn't seem to be with ffmpegx---the vob files which come out of it have subtitles which are soft-coded and work on my computer with dvd player...it's when I try to burn those files to an actual dvd that the subtitles disappear.