Game of thrones subtitles

[sikm]

I have episodes of GOT in MKV format that I wish to convert to MP4. Using Format Factory I sometimes end up with subtitles in the output file. Using VidCoder (also excellent) I have no subtitles in the output file. The problem is that with GOT subtitles are required for the Dothrakian bits (I haven't quite mastered the language yet) and with VidCoder I lose ALL subtitles.

Format Factory sometimes does a perfect conversion with no regular subtitles, only the Dothrakian bits. I'm not sure why subtitles appear when some MKV files are converted but not all.

No specific questions but I welcome any suggestions/comments.

[netmask56]

If you get a copy of gMKVExtractGUI from the Tools section you can extract the subs from the MKV file as a separate SRT file. Then in Vidcoder you can add the sub into the encode. However most modern media players will play the sub if it is in the folder as the video and has the same name. Many media players have problems with embedded subtitles not to be confused with burnt in subs that are part of the images.

You can examine the srt file with Notepad or Notepad++ and delete all the English parts if you wish. Keep a copy first!!

[manono]

You may be able to convert to MP4 without doing any reencoding and keep the subs, depending on a couple of things. Worth a try:

MkvToMp4

Next time maybe spell out what GOT is. Not everyone watches (or wants to watch) the same shows as you.

[sneaker]

If you get a copy of gMKVExtractGUI from the Tools section you can extract the subs from the MKV file as a separate SRT file. Then in Vidcoder you can add the sub into the encode.

VidCoder can directly read such subtitles from mkv so the extra extraction step is only necessary if you need/want the .srt as a separate file.

The problem is that with GOT subtitles are required for the Dothrakian bits (I haven't quite mastered the language yet) and with VidCoder I lose ALL subtitles.

Format Factory sometimes does a perfect conversion with no regular subtitles, only the Dothrakian bits. I'm not sure why subtitles appear when some MKV files are converted but not all.

What you need to do depends a bit on the source file. Open the source in VidCoder and click the "Edit..." right of "Subtitles". There you can see the source's subtitle tracks. "Foreign Audio Search" can usually be ignored, don't tick any boxes in that line. Then you need to activate the subtitle track - easiest and most safe is to tick both the left-most box and the "Burn In" box. This should be all you need to do for source text subtitles ("UTF-8"/srt, ASS, SSA). The "Default" and "Forced Only" boxes don't matter here.

If the source has bitmap subtitles (VobSub/idx/sub, PGS/sup) it gets a bit more complicated because now you need to figure out if the subtitle track has all subtitles with some marked as "forced" or not. Depending on that you need to tick or not tick "Forced Only". It is a bit complicated to explain and test so I will not explain unless you have checked the subtitles are actually bitmaps and not text.


One thing to note:
VidCoder will always re-encode the video. For subtitle compatibility this is a good thing because you can simply "burn" them "in" and they will work on every player. The downside is the whole video will be re-encoded which takes time and reduces quality. If the source video is already in a format that your player can play it could be directly copied to the mp4 container without re-rencoding. VidCoder cannot do this. The MkvToMp4 software mentioned by manono can do it, as can BOX4 and ffmpeg (I don't know about FormatFactory). But then your player also needs to support soft subtitles (either embed in mp4 or as external .srt file like mentioned by netmask56) so that's not always an option.

[redwudz]

sikm, I changed your title to make it reflect the subject. And since this thread is about subtitles. moving it to the Subtitle Forum.

Moderator redwudz

[manono]

Oh, so GOT is Game Of Thrones? I've never seen it so can be forgiven for not knowing what either GOT or Dothrakian are.

Thanks, redwudz.