DVD encoded from subbed MKV files has no subtitles??

[Akhet]

I'm confused because the MKV files I used to make the DVD had subtitles when played but the DVD does not. I'm using DVD Flick to make the DVD and it does give you the option to add subtitles to each file, but I believe the MKV files don't have separate subtitle files so how to I extract the subs from them?

[Baldrick]

Extract the subs from the mkv with mkvextractgui2 or gMKVExtractGUI

[Akhet]

That seems to have helped thank you! Strangely the image file that is produced from 2.5 hours of video is only 1 GB and runs only maybe 15-20 minutes. What happened to the rest of the video?

I'm getting an overlapping timestamps may truncate the video message about the extracted subtitles. Maybe this is why?

[Baldrick]

Try instead avstodvd. DVD Flick hasn't been updated for a long time now.

[Akhet]

I keep getting this message

[Kerry56]

^Let AVStoDVD use ffmpeg in this case.

[Akhet]

Ok so DVD Flick did not produce files with the subs visible in spite of me adding them. AVStoDVD results in an error in encoding. I respond yes to the above warning but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Are there other options in terms of programs to try?

[Baldrick]

Convertxtodvd($$) or some adware like freemake video converter, format factory.

[Akhet]

Is there a way to make the subs hardsubbed to save the files that way so that I wouldn't have to add subs in DVDFlick? The subs are part of the MKV files but they were not being read by DVDFlick so I had to extract them and manually add them to each file. If I could have them become hardsubbed the problem would be solved.

[orsetto]

All-in-one DVD conversion tools like DVDflick and even AVStoDVD can run into problems with MKV files that are off-spec, and many that you download from various web sites are VERY off-spec. Short of reconstructing each element of the MKV from scratch, it can be difficult or impossible to make a standardized DVD. You may have to settle for playing it as a file on your PC or perhaps in a BluRay player.

Where did these MKV files come from? Did you create them yourself, or download them from somewhere? If they were downloaded, you will need to work around the flaws as best you can. It seems DVDflick was willing to make a complete DVD for you with audio, but no subtitles, so the extracted subtitles are causing an issue. Are these MKVs sourced from commercial movies, anime or TV shows? You can usually find multiple versions of independent subtitles in various languages for these via "free subtitle" sites. Download someone else's pre-made .srt files, add them to the DVDflick project, and see if that works better than the subs you extracted.

Also double-check the subtitle options in DVDflick: these can be tricky. Upon adding the subtitle srt file, you will see it highlighted in blue. Click the Edit button to the right of the window, and a bunch of options will appear. The first thing you probably want to do is activate the "force subtitles to appear immediately upon loading disc" button at the bottom of the list: this will automatically load and display the subtitles as soon as you put the DVD in a player. (Some players have trouble finding the subtitles on a DVD flick disc unless you pre-program then to automatically appear.) Next, look at the other options that let you adjust subtitle size, font, color, outlining, and background. DVDflick normally defaults to settings that will give readable white subtitles with a black outline, but sometimes it trips over itself and uses settings that make subtitles invisible. Check to be sure it isn't doing that.

Both DVDflick and AVStoDVD can encounter trouble with certain audio tracks. If you continually get alerts about incompatible audio, or the conversion takes six hours instead of 20 minutes, there is an issue with the audio. This can be fixed by extracting the audio track to an AAC file with a utility like AvantiGUI. You add this extracted audio file to your DVDflick title in the Edit Audio window, then delete the original audio track that was causing a problem. The DVD conversion should then go much faster with no alerts or crashes.

All the above assumes the problematic MKV file was download from somewhere: if you made the MKV yourself, it would be best to re-examine your workflow and the settings/tools you used to create the MKV.

[Akhet]

Thank you all or the help. I finally understand why DVDFlick was giving me so many problems. When I tried to add the subtitles it would say that there was overlap and that it would attempt to fix it but if not successful the file would be truncated. This explains why the file was so short.

The file has certain parts in the video where there is explanatory text in addition to the subtitles. This is the source of the problem. Short of manually going through and deleting all such occurrences is there anything I can do?

[videobruger]

Load the subtitle in Subtitle Edit. Use Tool -> Fix common errors