Making subtitle from DV

[ils]

I tried to search the forum for help on what I want to do and tried a lot of them. But so far, no luck.
So, here is my question: I captured an hour of *.avi video from my DV camcorder to my hard drive. I want to put this video onto DVD but I want a way I can tell by displaying on TV when the video was captured. Each tape of mine was made over a period of any where between several weeks to several months. I wanted to make something like a subtitle of the tape with just the time and date. The programs I have are: Microsoft Movie Maker, Premier Pro, Pinnacle Studio V8, Ulead VideoStudio V7, TMPGEnc Plus, TMPGEnc DVD author, and something like Sub Maker. I spent way too much money and can't do what I want to do.
Some one please help me before the bank take my house, my car, my wife and my kids. Thank you much in advance.

[Tommyknocker]

You only need Video Studio 7. Load a captured video into it, and select Title. Select Create Title. A box will appear in the screen along with a cursor. Type the subtitle. Input how long the title should last. Click Create Title again. If this all the editing you will do, Click Share-->Create Disk. Name the working file. Select DVD from the pull down menu, and the rest is self explanatory.

[ils]

Tommyknocker, thanks for your reply. What if I have like 75 starts and stops in an hour of tape, is there an easier way of doing this?

[Tommyknocker]

Well, you can also use Sub Station Alpha and Virtual Dub mod. Using a text program like Notepad or Wordpad, you can write each title, as long as each title is started on a separate line. Load the text file in to SSA, then input the start and stop times of each subtitle. There is also a guide on this site for using it.

[ils]

Thank you much again for your quick reply. Too bad there is no easy way.
Have to work harder, I guess.

[donpedro]

There is an solution. Not cheap one and not the best one and not even applicable to you, but here it is.

When I use Philips DVDR 75/17 (recorder) to record my MiniDV tapes through FireWire connection, it records date/time as an subtitle stream.

[SoupStain]

ils,

DVSubMaker creates subtitle files from the date code of the DV tape. It can be found at http://www.divx-digest.com/software/dvsubmaker.html

Perhaps you this would save you some of the work?

[dlawedor]

... but there is no way to handle subtitle-streams with tmpgenc dvd author ... i guess ... or is it ...

is there something like a cookbook that explains how to work with dvsubmaker and other utilities to make a subtitle on a dvd with date/time of recording ?

i tried it ... but no results ...

thanx, dlawedor

[ils]

donpedro, I hear what you are saying. I just bought this external Sony DVD burner and would like to play with it a bit before buying something new.

SoupStain, that is the program I used to make the subtitle with the date and time. But like dlawedor, I am confused with how do I use this information file.

I downloaded VirtualDub and SSA. However, I am having trouble with getting VirtualDub to open file because I don't have the required Codec (or may be my file is type 2 and VirtualDub only like type 1).

Anyway, thank you much to all that tried to help this slow guy. I hope to have this resolved soon.

On the side note, how come none of the software developer out there can incoporate this feature into their program, or may be I am missing something.

[eskimojan]

Have a look at this post: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157521

Regards EskimoJan

[ils]

Have a look at this post: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157521

Regards EskimoJan

Thanks for the link. There's still a bit of manual work though.
I am lazy so I wish there is a way that it all can be automated in one (or may be two) program.

[dlawedor]

i knew the link ... but i have the following software:

Ulead MediaStudio Pro for capturing and editing, TMPGenc for encoding and Ulead MovieFactory 1.0 for authoring. Also I have DVSubMaker and I'm able to generate the sub-files. And now ... what I've to do ?

Thanx in advance ... dlawedor

[ils]

O.K. I finally managed to get something to show on the computer screen. It only lead to a few more questions.

1. The test video segment only last 6 minutes and 32 seconds long. I used Premiere and captured it to avi format and it's about 1.36 Gig in size. After I made the subtitle with DVSubMaker, I used Subtitle Workshop to convert it to Sub Station Alpha format. I used Sub Station Alpha to finalize the cosmetic part of the subtitle and saved it again. Here's the catch: the video is only 6 minutes and 32 seconds long but the subtitle shows 9 minutes and 17 seconds long. Can someone explain why is this happening?

2. The test video is about 1.36 Gig in size in avi format. After I ran VirtualDubMod, the final file with subtitle in avi format is almost 12 Gig. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?

3. If I want to make subtitle that I can turn on/off with the remote control when playing with a standalone DVD player, what do I need to do?

Thank you much in advance for any pointers.

[ils]

i knew the link ... but i have the following software:

Ulead MediaStudio Pro for capturing and editing, TMPGenc for encoding and Ulead MovieFactory 1.0 for authoring. Also I have DVSubMaker and I'm able to generate the sub-files. And now ... what I've to do ?

Thanx in advance ... dlawedor

My previous post listed the software I used to make the subtitle and it also listed my concerns. After I get everything straightened out, I can give you a little more detail of my steps. I don't want to give wrong advice at the moment. Hope you understand.

[donpedro]

3. If I want to make subtitle that I can turn on/off with the remote control when playing with a standalone DVD player, what do I need to do?

You need DVD Authoring sofware that allows authoring subtitles to DVD and you need to create some kind of file that that sofware understands so you can upload it to sutitle track. Sonic ReelDVD and Pinnacle Impression DVD-Pro comes to my mind.

[ils]

donpedro,
Thank you much for that piece of info. I will look into it.
I still like to get help with the first two questions I had.
If some one know the answer, please advice.

[Tommyknocker]

To make a title, use Video Studio 7.



1. Once you have it up and running, load your first clip, and drop it into the first Storyboard slot.



2. While the video thumbnail is highlighted, ensure you are at the beginning of your video, select Save as still image. The first frame will be saved as a frozen frame clip.



3. A thumbnail representing the new clip will appear. Drag it to the spot left of your original video and drop it there. This inserts your frozen video in front of your main video.



4. Select Title. The storyboard will change to a timeline.

5. Click and hold the blue cursor and move it near the beginning of the timeline (far left).

6. Click once on the "T+" symbol in the upper left corner. A rectangle will appear in the preview window with a flashing cursor. Type in your subtitle and select the "T+" symbol again to exit entering titles. If the subtitle does not appear in the preview window, move the blue cursor from step five a little to the right.





7. Select the gray button next to the top movie reel symbol to return to the Storyboard mode. Highlight the small transition effect symbol and hit Delete. You will not need a transition effect for the video portion.



8. Select Project and then the Play button. The video will be frozen as the Title is shown. Once the title disappears, the video runs normally.

[ils]

Tommyknocker,
Thank you for taking the time and post the details.

[Tommyknocker]

My pleasure. Hope this helps.

[lal]

The official site of DVSubMaker says it only works for PAL. Anybody
tried it for NTSC?

[Tommyknocker]

For .sub subtitles the prevailing wisdom is Virtual Dub and either TextSub or VobSub.

[ils]

The official site of DVSubMaker says it only works for PAL. Anybody
tried it for NTSC?

I have tried it with avi i made from the Sony Digital 8. It made a sub file. From that point, I used Subtitle Workshop to open it and convert to other formats as needed.

[better life]

To add subtitles in Chinese, I still cannot do it with Video Studio. Could any one please teach me how to do it or tell me a link to a website or a software, I have used Mediastudio but I don't know how to use it. Thank you.