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  1. Hello all,

    Blatant newbie here

    I have with a lot of help from the how-to subforrum managed to convert a much sought after MKV-file into a playable DVD using AVStoDVD.

    My main gripe was with a seemingly corrupt subtitle track, that simply wouldn't compile despite working fine in my VLC player.

    In the end, I had to demux the track, convert it (online, as Subtitle Workshop wouldn't eat it) to SRT, and re-import it into my AVStoDVD project rather than the internal.

    That worked - sorta... - but the result is very ugly, and the converted subtitles get cut off at the bottom of the screen on my video player (though not in VLC player on the computer).

    Original:

    Image
    [Attachment 56145 - Click to enlarge]


    After conversion into VOB:

    Image
    [Attachment 56146 - Click to enlarge]


    I don't really see any options to format and preview the text using Subtitle Workshop - or at least not the way, I have been using it (loading only the STR or ASS file in question).

    If only the damn original subtitles worked in AVStoDVD


    Added question: Subtitles Workshop 6b or 6e - why the two options? Or should I use something else entirely for formatting?
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  2. Member Ennio's Avatar
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    Not having any experience with both AVStoDVD and Subtitle Workshop, but have you tried Subtitle Edit? Assuming that AVStoDVD will accept pre-made vobsubs, SE can export srt to VobSub. The export-settings window will preview on-the-fly whatever you change on the subtitle images. Sort of WYSIWYG.
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  3. Originally Posted by Ennio View Post
    Not having any experience with both AVStoDVD and Subtitle Workshop, but have you tried Subtitle Edit? Assuming that AVStoDVD will accept pre-made vobsubs, SE can export srt to VobSub. The export-settings window will preview on-the-fly whatever you change on the subtitle images. Sort of WYSIWYG.
    Thanks for the suggestion, but Subtitle Edit seems entirely focused on sync correcting and doesn't mention formatting at all in its manual and FAQ.

    From another thread, I got the impression, I should rather try out MaestroSBT or DVDSubEdit, but I was looking for reassurance or maybe better suggestions.
    Last edited by Sonofirer; 9th Dec 2020 at 07:10.
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  4. Struggling with a similar task a few months ago, after some messy attempts with MaestroSBT, DVDSubEdit and SubtitleCreator, I got both a smoother experience and smoother results with EasySUP.

    Click image for larger version

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    [SubtitleCreator]

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    [EasySUP]

    I had the same kind of problem with the aspect of the subtitles on the DVD structure generated by DVDStyler not matching the aspect of the presumed “WYSIWYG” subtitles exported in VobSub format (wrong colors). The solution was to create a “palette”, and load it into the DVDStyler project. There should be something similar in AVStoDVD (I only used the latter to create DVD-compliant MPG files).

    As for the subtitles being cut off, it could be caused by a wrong frame size setting, e.g. if the subtitles were exported in PAL / 720x576 but the DVD is actually NTSC / 720x480. You can open the .idx files with a text editor (Notepad or whatnot) and check the “# Original frame size” field. Otherwise, EasySUP has a “margin” setting which can be used to place the lines further from the bottom edge.


    My main gripe was with a seemingly corrupt subtitle track, that simply wouldn't compile despite working fine in my VLC player.
    In what format is the original subtitle track ? Perhaps you could upload it, for someone to knowledgeable to ckeck what's wrong.
    Last edited by abolibibelot; 10th Dec 2020 at 01:39.
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  5. Originally Posted by abolibibelot View Post
    As for the subtitles being cut off, it could be caused by a wrong frame size setting, e.g. if the subtitles were exported in PAL / 720x576 but the DVD is actually NTSC / 720x480. You can open the .idx files with a text editor (Notepad or whatnot) and check the “# Original frame size” field. Otherwise, EasySUP has a “margin” setting which can be used to place the lines further from the bottom edge.


    My main gripe was with a seemingly corrupt subtitle track, that simply wouldn't compile despite working fine in my VLC player.
    In what format is the original subtitle track ? Perhaps you could upload it, for someone to knowledgeable to ckeck what's wrong.
    Thanks for mentioning EasySUP - pic-based subs may be the way forward, but aren't they burned in, then?

    My original file was in ASS-format, and my woes are outlined at https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/353284-AVStoDVD-beginners-guide-Any-video-to-DVD-Video/page8
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  6. Member Ennio's Avatar
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    I highly doubt that SUP can be muxed into dvd compiant folder structure, if that would to be the end-result of AVStoDVD.

    When it is possible to use SUP, I would prefer Subtitle Edit over EasySup for converting text-based subs into PGS. EasySup - even setting enough bottom offset - produces an image that doesn't look good at the bottom-end of the images. SE does that better, IMHO. Thereby, EasySup has a 24fps bug that can cause sync problems, if not handled properly.
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  7. Thanks for mentioning EasySUP - pic-based subs may be the way forward, but aren't they burned in, then?
    Not sure if I understand correctly — if the goal is to create a standard DVD, aren't the subtitles gonna be “pic-based” anyway ? And no, they're not burned in, they can be enabled or disabled, just like on a standard commercial DVD.

    I highly doubt that SUP can be muxed into dvd compiant folder structure, if that would to be the end-result of AVStoDVD.
    When it is possible to use SUP, I would prefer Subtitle Edit over EasySup for converting text-based subs into PGS. EasySup - even setting enough bottom offset - produces an image that doesn't look good at the bottom-end of the images. SE does that better, IMHO. Thereby, EasySup has a 24fps bug that can cause sync problems, if not handled properly.
    Not sure if I understand this correctly either. I'm not tremendously versed and experienced when it comes to subtitling formats, tools and methods, but EasySUP allows to export to “DVD SUB” format, which is the standard VobSub format, i.e. one IDX file + one SUB file. As for the result, see the screenshot above, to me it looks good, significantly better than subtitles generated with SubtitleCreator or anything I tried before. I haven't tested the generated DVD on a standalone DVD player, though, I hope that there won't be a cut-off bottom issue like what was described in the original post. And EasySUP worked just fine for 29.97 FPS content, so I was “content” (“content” means “happy” in french, uh-uh-uh). I did have a synchronization issue with SubtitleCreator, as mentioned in the afore-linked thread (had to resort to a tedious trick whereby I had to export subtitles (for 7 videos, and several revisions of each) both in PAL and NTSC then associate the PAL IDX file with the NTSC SUB file then edit the IDX file — then I switched to EasySUP and didn't have any such issue).
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  8. My original file was in ASS-format, and my woes are outlined at https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/353284-AVStoDVD-beginners-guide-Any-video-to-DVD-Video/page8
    I checked the ASS file — don't have much experience with this format, but this one seems particularly complex, making full use of the format's advanced features, many of which can probably not be implemented into standard DVD subtitles (like intentionally overlapping subtitles, rotated subtitles over a white background like those newspapers titles at 10:42, I had never seen anything like this...).
    EasySUP accepts that file. Dialogs appear normally, but other subtitles like the credits and place indications get shifted to the right, outside of the screen area, unless the resolution is set to 1080 — and indeed that is the resolution set within the ASS file : “PlayResX: 1920 / PlayResY: 1080”.

    But this raises the question — if the source if a high quality MKV file with such sophisticated subtitles, why do you want to convert it to the antiquated and much lower quality DVD format ?
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  9. Originally Posted by abolibibelot View Post
    But this raises the question — if the source if a high quality MKV file with such sophisticated subtitles, why do you want to convert it to the antiquated and much lower quality DVD format ?
    Good question. It’s mainly because of my puny hardware. My Panasonic DMR does only show the movie, not the subtitles - some limitation in its mkv-playing software, I guess. My computer can’t burn blu-rays, only DVD’s. And the movie in question has never been released on any media outside of Japan and never with official subs. I’ve seen it once years ago on a film festival, and I went down this rabbit-hole of DVD authoring just so I could show it to my daugther. But it’s OK, I’m happy to learn something new every day
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  10. Alright then. But can't the MKV be played as-is on the computer ? (And then the image sent to the TV through HDMI if needed.)
    Or what happens if you try to play the MKV on the Panasonic standalone player with the subtitles added as a separate file (both having the same name minus the extension) ? I would try first the ASS file (which is likely to be either not recognized, or incorrectly displayed), then the converted SRT.

    And I would be interested by the movie itself... (It could also interest my bipolar / schizophrenic / Japanese neighbour and his left-winger former bank employee French partner / lover / whatever. Although both seem to have a severe case of attention deficit disorder, even though they're in their mid-40's and late-50's respectively and therefore not natives of the “virtual insanity” generation.)
    Can that MKV be downloaded somewhere ?
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  11. Member Ennio's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=abolibibelot;2603601]
    I highly doubt that SUP can be muxed into dvd compiant folder structure...
    Not sure if I understand this correctly either
    My apologies. As I've been using EasySup in the past for BD SUP only, I didn't realise it could also be used for dvd subtitle creation. I stand corrected.

    Reading about your hardware:
    My old Panasonic blu-ray player could play mkv with external srt (identical-named and in same folder as mkv) from usb-thumbdrive and memory card.
    Being a newer device I reckon, your DMR could also. Should it have such an input, of course. It might even play such from plainly burned data disc too.
    Should your source-mkv be 720 or 1080 (couldn't make out or overread), you'd also benefit a better-looking image.
    Worth a try maybe?
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  12. Originally Posted by abolibibelot View Post
    And I would be interested by the movie itself...
    I have PM'ed you with downloading details.
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  13. Thanks both for some very good suggestions.

    I couldn't get MKV to play properly with subtitles any way at all, and my attempts froze up my DMR.

    Fortunately, I found out today that my TV can play the MKV directly and read the inbuilt subtitles just bypassing the DMR unit

    I'll still see, if I can get proper subtitle to work anyway, but I'm not in so much of a hurry as before.
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  14. Well, got it (thanks!) (also found at nyaa.si, so no need to get accustomed to a brand new method just for that one file), and even started translating it (it's definitely worth sharing indeed), so now I am in trouble...
    I'm getting that kind of display for accentuated characters, but only for dates, names of places, stuff like that. Is it caused by a missing font ? As a matter of fact, there are several fonts attached with the MKV. What is the best way to fix this everywhere it's needed ? And how do ASS subtitles work outside of a MKV file when they rely on a specific font which is not installed on the system ? Are (software) media players able to play them correctly if the font file is placed in the same folder ?
    Click image for larger version

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    The code for this is :
    Code:
    {\fsp2\fs90\pos(722,850)\fnA-OTF Ryumin Pr5 B-KL\3c&H070709&\bord7\blur1}8 Aoűt
    Also, there's the issue of those fancy rotated subtitles which mimic the titles on the newspaper, and move perfectly in sync with the backward zoom plus left panning : it's impressive, but not practical (a bit like an atomic bomb now that I think of it — sorry for the black humor) ; I would prefer to change it into regular subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Problem is, the lines corresponding to those fancy subtitles are grouped in a distinct part of the file, separated from the dialogs, which may or may not be part of the ASS specifications, so I'm not sure how to do it without breaking anything.

    Beyond that, is the ASS format likely to be recognized by a recent TV or a not-so-recent blu-ray player, or would it be necessary to convert to SRT for that purpose ?
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  15. Glad you found the movie. It truly is a shame, it never was released properly to the Western world.

    I re-watched it yesterday together with my daughter, who enjoyed it very much despite its gloomy subject.

    Regarding your new-found problems, I would suspect the letter ű didn't appear in the font used, and that the letter therefore was susbstituted with your systems' standard font - which seems to be somewhat bigger. I don't think, it's a capital letter.

    But these are guesses - hopefully someone with more insight may chime in.
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  16. So, here are my french subtitles, if anyone is interested...
    https://subscene.com/subtitles/nagasaki-1945-the-angelus-bells/french/2362411 [ASS]
    https://subscene.com/subtitles/nagasaki-1945-the-angelus-bells/french/2362413 [SRT]

    As a quick follow-up : I managed to solve the font issue by simply replacing the name of the problematic font (\fnA-OTF Ryumin Pr5 B-KL\) by that of a standard font which looks about as good and has all the required accentuated characters.
    Code:
    Dialogue: 10,0:10:38.78,0:10:44.59,Sign,,0,0,0,,{\fsp2\fs90\pos(722,850)\fnTimes New Roman\3c&H070709&\bord7\blur1}8 Aoűt
    I could verify the translation in one sitting with the japanese neighbour, but it was really weird...
    At times, he would start having tremors for a few seconds, as if struggling against some irrepressible force taking hold of his mind, and then made vivid gestures toward the opposite side of the room, pointing his index finger while articulating silent words, as if he were talking to somebody that wasn't there (or am I the one that was hallucinating a non-presence ?...), telling them to stay silent or something, and then he would come back to his senses and focus on the movie again as if nothing happened...
    And his older “partner” turned out to be completely uninterested, even though he had asked me the day before if I could copy it for him ; said that he didn't care for japanese animation (he said that with such a derogatory facial expression, at that moment it felt like he didn't care about anything japanese whatsoever except perhaps dudes and foods). I thought that it would be nice to share something, the three of us, watch it comfortably on his nice TV in his living room (well, not so comfortably anyway as he doesn't have a couch), it's only 80 minutes of your life dude, but no, he insisted that we shall do this in the japanese guy's bedroom (I totally understand that it felt uncomfortably intrusive for him, even more so considering his mental issues), on a small laptop computer, while he was drawing in the living room right next door (at first he was listening to classical music at a quite loud volume, at least I managed to have him turn it off). And then at times he would make random offhanded remarks, like, right before the actual nuclear explosion — an excruciatingly poignant moment, where a series of calmly cheerful glimpses of these people's simple life, linked by a sweet harmonica melody played by a child in a hospital room, on a day that could have been like any other despite the hardships of war, provide a devastating contrast with the impending doom, brought upon them in the form of a shiny star slowly falling from the sky, which a child watches with a mixture of awe, puzzlement and unspeakable dread — he came by for a few seconds and asked nonchalently : “So, what are they up to those japanese ?...”, then left ; or later, he said, from the other room, twice : “There aren't many dialogs, it's going to be quick !”. Well, that was one of my lone social moments this year.
    At least the japanese guy told me that he had really appreciated the movie (I figured that perhaps he would like to watch it again some day, but the older french partner had already decided for both of them that it was unnecessary — he's quite a decent guy otherwise, helped me in many occasions, paid me generously to take care of his cats and birds when they were out of town, but still, it all adds up to a weird, weird, weird general feeling, which I get more and more with more and more people nowadays, I don't quite get where this comes from, if it's me who have “issues” as I've been told so often, or if normal people are becoming completely fu*ked-up).
    He contributed few things, as the original english subtitles are excellent and I did my best to re-translate as well as possible on my own (and the invisible guy in the room did interrupt quite a few times), but :
    – he clarified what were first names / last names (in some instances it's quite strange, most notably when it comes to “Hayashi”, which is a last name, as Dr. Akizuki calls the child / adolescent “Hayashi-kun”, while his mother calls him by his first name, Seiichi, and at one point a character says to Dr. Akizuki that someone is “with Hayashi-kun's mother”, then later Dr. Akizuki that “Hayashi-kun's mother died on the 20th” — well, she must be called Hayashi as well... although he said that the “-kun” suffix was specific to male individuals, whereas “-san” was both more formal and not gender specific) ;
    – regarding the mention of “bellflowers”, for which the english translator left a note saying that it was unsure, the japanese neighbour said that it was probably the name of the room, considering that it's typical in Japan to name rooms in public buildings after flowers or animals ;
    – he elaborated on the “sweet balls” (at first I translated this as “meat balls” as I figured that it would be easier for foreigners to identify as a kind of japanese food which those children would be pretending to carve out of brown dirt), saying that these were a specialty snack made from rice dough with a red bean pasta filling inside, called daifuku mochi or botamochi (that's the word I put in the revised translation, as it's a local specialty with no translation both accurate and concise enough, and here I felt that it would be more interesting to leave a specific native word rather than using a generic term like the equivalent of “sweet balls”) ;
    – he explained that 1-chome / 2-chome were small town areas (“chome” being a “small district”), commonly used in the japanese adress system.

    A question if anyone subtitling-savvy cares to reply : I first translated in the ASS format used for the english subtitles, then also made a SRT version, for which I tried to retain as much information as possible from the ASS version, in particular for newspaper titles. Which means that at some points there are as many as 14 lines, with some lines left blank by adding a non-breaking space (a normal space would be ignored and the line omitted), or I used non-breaking spaces to sort-of reproduce the alignment for the credits at the very end. (I also had to add a dummy blank last subtitle after that one — which has 12 lines, with the 12th line separated by 4 blank lines with 1 non-breaking space from the group of lines above — otherwise it would be cut short.) It looks correct in SubtitleEdit, and in VLC Media Player, but I have the feeling that it breaks the rules of the SubRip standard. Is it bound to cause issues on standalone players, or even on other software players ? Are there specific limits as to what is or is not allowed within SubRip / SRT specifications ?

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    Trying to share it with my subtitles on a french private BT tracker, but it's an absolute nightmare... (It got blocked because the “prez” wasn't conform to their stupid standards, the moron who blocked it suggested that I take inspiration from another upload, namely “The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse” — I'm not kidding, it's wrong on so many levels — which has a very short synopsis copy-pasted from a database, while I wrote a proper introduction compiled from 3-4 sources, and asked me to provide the link where I got the MKV from since I labeled it as “WebDL”, even though I had already included the link to the “collectr” article provided by “Sonofirer”, where the actual downloading information is kept to a minimum probably for good reasons, besides, if I explicitly provide an alternative link allowing to get the MKV at full speed I won't even benefit from it in terms of download/upload ratio, which defeats half the purpose of sharing it in the first place...)
    Last edited by abolibibelot; 30th Dec 2020 at 18:31.
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