Easiest/simplest tool for frame rate conversion of SRT subs?

[DRP]

I've got this movie in a 23.976 frame rate c/w subtitles file in SRT format which I want to convert to 25fps. The movie itself I have no problem with, but how do I convert the subtitles to match the frame rate conversion I will be doing to the video/audio? What's the simplest & easiest tool that will do this?

Below is an example of what the SRT subtitle file looks like.

2
00:01:41,701 --> 00:01:45,535
I open my eyes and I see nothing.

3
00:01:49,776 --> 00:01:54,611
I only remember there was some accident.

4
00:01:54,681 --> 00:01:59,516
Everyone ran for safety as best they could.

5
00:02:00,153 --> 00:02:04,954
I just can't remember what happened to me.

[FulciLives]

Use an AviSynth AVS script to read the subtitles into the video stream thus hard-encoding them. If the video is 23.976fps and the subtitles are the same then they will sync if you put AssumeFPS (25.000) after reading the subtitles into the AviSynth AVS script.

Works like a charm but the subtitles are hard encoded into the video but who cares? For non-English films you need the subs anways so I don't see no big deal in making them permanent thus loosing the useless ability to turn them off.

Plus this way you can use just about any DVD authoring program since so few support seperate subtitle streams.

Anyways I've done this with VobSub (again through AviSynth AVS scripting) although I've always used subs I've first ripped with VobSub so I'm not sure if SRT format works with VobSub or if it needs converted to another format. I know there are many different subtitle formats but I know very little about them all.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DRP]

Use an AviSynth AVS script to read the subtitles into the video stream thus hard-encoding them. If the video is 23.976fps and the subtitles are the same then they will sync if you put AssumeFPS (25.000) after reading the subtitles into the AviSynth AVS script.

Works like a charm but the subtitles are hard encoded into the video but who cares? For non-English films you need the subs anways so I don't see no big deal in making them permanent thus loosing the useless ability to turn them off.

Plus this way you can use just about any DVD authoring program since so few support seperate subtitle streams.

Anyways I've done this with VobSub (again through AviSynth AVS scripting) although I've always used subs I've first ripped with VobSub so I'm not sure if SRT format works with VobSub or if it needs converted to another format. I know there are many different subtitle formats but I know very little about them all.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

Thanks for your reply. I have no problem with making the subtitles permanent. This was my intention anyway. I don't want to author the result back to DVD as I don't have a DVD burner. My intention is to convert the result to SVCD for watching.

I'm afraid though that AVIsynth is beyond me (and quite frankly it scares me with all those settings in there that I just don't understand). Is there any tool I can download that will do this conversion apart from AVIsynth?

I'd like to be able to follow the simple Baldrick guides to adding subtitles to a film using only TMPGEnc & VirtualDub if at all possible.

[FulciLives]

AviSynth is REAL simple. It really is.

Just download the AviSynth 2.5x (the version number changes but has been 2.5 and then another number so we generally call it 2.5x until it breaks that and becomes 3.0 or whatever) installer from the DOWNLOADS section of the DOOM9 website. I think it has everything you need in an easy to install fashion.

In fact the best thing would be to download the GORDIAN KNOT package because not only does it include AviSynth 2.5x but also has just about ALL the files you would need to go along with it including VobSub and Gordian Knot will let you import an AVI or DVD2AVI D2V project file and help you create the AviSynth AVS script including plugging in the subtitles.

Then you simply add this to the end of the script:

AssumeFPS (25.000)

That will change the frame frate of the input video from 23.976fps to 25.000fps and if you are using TMPGEnc then that is all you need to do.

You really should learn how to use it because it comes in hand ALL the time for all kinds of video tasks.

Although Gordian Knot is tuned toward DivX/Xvid creation it is ... as I just pointed out ... a great tool for other things including getting you started on your way to using and understand AviSynth AVS scripting.

That is how I first learned how to do it all.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DRP]

I hear what you're saying and I've even downloaded AVIsynth again but I'm still VERY unkeen. I really don't want to have to learn a whole new scripting language just to be able to put some subtitles in a video. There has got to be a simpler way.

Can I use VirtualDub exclusively to do the conversion and frameserving?

Can I use the resize & subtitles filters in VDub to add the subtitles as I want them at 23.976 and then use the frame rate conversion option to output the whole thing as 25fps when I frameserve it to TMPGEnc? Will that work?

[FulciLives]

I hear what you're saying and I've even downloaded AVIsynth again but I'm still VERY unkeen. I really don't want to have to learn a whole new scripting language just to be able to put some subtitles in a video. There has got to be a simpler way.

Can I use VirtualDub exclusively to do the conversion and frameserving?

Can I use the resize & subtitles filters in VDub to add the subtitles as I want them at 23.976 and then use the frame rate conversion option to output the whole thing as 25fps when I frameserve it to TMPGEnc? Will that work?

It should work if you leave the frame-rate at 23.976fps but use a PAL DVD template in TMPGEnc and select the option entitled "DO NOT FRAME RATE CONVERSION".

TMPGEnc will resize for you (no need to do it in VirtualDub) and you will get the correct 25fps without any trickery (i.e., dropped or repeated frames).

However you audio will have to be processed seperately with BeSweet for instance.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DRP]

Okay thanks for that. I've tried it and it seems to be working from my small test. I prefer to do the resizing in VDub when adding subtitles rather than let TMPG do it because when I do it in VDub I can position the subtitles into the black letterboxing bars whereas the subtitles must go over the actual picture if I leave the resizing up to TMPG and therefore *after* the subtitles have already been added.

I have come across one new problem however. I have described it here:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=193250

Can you help with this one please? This must be a common problem, so I'm hopeful that the solution is simple.

Thanks.

[FulciLives]

I have come across one new problem however. I have described it here:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=193250

Can you help with this one please? This must be a common problem, so I'm hopeful that the solution is simple.

Thanks.

Well I went and read that THREAD and yes I see what your problem is but how to fix using only VirtualDub and TMPGEnc is beyond me.

You would NOT have this issue with the subtitles stretched if you simply used AviSynth AVS scripting as you could resize first to DVD resolution THEN add the subtitles. Even using AviSynth AVS scripting I think you would still have an issue unless you use Full D1 resolution as opposed to Half D1

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DRP]

[quote="FulciLives"]

You would NOT have this issue with the subtitles stretched if you simply used AviSynth AVS scripting as you could resize first to DVD resolution THEN add the subtitles. Even using AviSynth AVS scripting I think you would still have an issue unless you use Full D1 resolution as opposed to Half D1

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

You've just reminded me that I can in fact change the order of the filter applications in VDub too, so I've done that and yes, this goes some way to fixing the problem I was having.

By adding the subtitles first and *then* resizing I can effectively squish the subtitle text (along with the video) so that it looks right again when it gets stretched out on playback. Previously I was resizing to the legal SVCD size first and then adding the subtitles, which is wrong because then the video is squeezed but the subtitles aren't so you can never have the two looking correct at the same time - one or the other is always distorted.

The only thing bad about doing this is that by adding the subtitles before the resizing, I am unable to put the subtitles into the black letterboxing borders (which is what I really wanted to do) because the black borders don't exist before I do the resizing. I need a way of putting a negative number into the "distance from border" box in the SRT to SSA converter program.

[DRP]

I think I might have just fried my brain, but the good news is that I think I may have figured this out for myself.

I'm doing two resize filters - one either side of adding the subtitles.

Firstly I resize and crop as necessary but only resize the vertical dimension. This creates the black letterboxing below the image that I need to put the subtitles in. Then I add the subtitles. Then I resize the whole thing again this time including the horizontal dimension to a legal SVCD size before frameserving the whole end result to TMPG.

I haven't tested it yet, but it looks right from the preview windows in VDub. I hope so. I don't think my brain can take much more of this

[yhe2x]

hi.....sorry for barging-in but i just want to know if anybody of you can give me a hand in adding a permanent subtitles to a video to be converted in VCD format.

i have read all your posts in this section but didn't see the detailed steps how do u add the subtitles. Basically my only problem is adding the subtitles to the video, i have already separated the video, audio and subtitle using VirtualDubMod but I don't know how do I add the subs to the video.

would somebody be kind enough to show me how to do it, I would really appreciate it.