Dvd-lab pro subs problem

[Makokozane]

Hi
I'm using dvd-lab pro to author a dvd with soms mpg files, with subtitles.
Everything worked fine, and I tried it on powerdvd. Except that the subs were a bit ugly they were ok.
So I burnt the dvd and tried it out on te dvd player. Now they did look fine, but they were a bit under the middle of the screen.
I tried changing the margins and the alignment a bit, but it seemed it was impossible to get the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. If it was in the right location I wouldn't see it at all. I also tried locating them between the middle and the bottom and I could see the subtitles being cut off at a certain point, like there was some sort of invisible rectangle thing at the bottom where the subtitles should be shown.
Anyways can anyone help me with this problem, it's very frustrating all this stuff.
thanks very much.
(not sure if i'm supposed to post this here or in dvd authoring, sorry if it's incorrect and can someone move it then please)

[abc-123]

If it was in the right location I wouldn't see it at all.

I'm assuming you want to see your subs when you turn them on and you don't want to push them right off the screen for good...

Every tv will cut a few pixels off the edges of the screen, but I'd think you've made enough movies to know that by now. And there is an invisible rectangle.... it's the margins you set for the subs.

Go back into the subs screen and select the change margins button again. Set the base alignment to be bottom margin (not middle). Then set your margins with left 36, right 36, top 28, bottom 28. Then go back to the main sub screen and change your font. Here you can make them prettier and also change the size. Dvdlab has a rather large font as default and if you have alot of 2 line subs, they will seem to take over the screen. I set mine to 20 and it looked ok. Then click on the text of one of the subs and see it in your preview window.

And if you *don't* want to automatically see your subs, at the top right of the sub screen under where it says "subtitle stream", untick the white box that says "set this subtitle always on by default."

[Makokozane]

Thanks for the reply. The margins don't seem to be the problem, I've even tried setting the bottom and top one to 0. I think the problem has something to do with the settings in aspect ratio, setting it to widescreen 4:3 etc. I've been trying all kinds of combinations with those things and sometimes one of the subtitles works fine, but the other one(I have 2 of them, english and dutch) gives that stupid problem. Even though they have the exact same settings.
I really don't understand why all of this happens, I mean if they have the exact same settings(even size, font etc, also alignment and margins), then the result should be the same.
So.. can you help me, maybe the program is just installed wrong of something like that, i don't know.
thanks

[abc-123]

Hold on, I'm confused. You have a widescreen 4:3 encoded movie?

Do you have a widescreen tv or a square one? Is the video encoded to display at widescreen or regular? Do you see black bars at the top and bottom of the movie when you play it on your tv?

Try this: In the subs screen under language, click the MAP button and then hit the default button. Do you see x's under all those formats? Check both sub streams.

[Makokozane]

I have a square tv, and I haven't tried the dvd on a widescreen yet. Also the movie is in 4:3 and is encoded that way too, so I don't see any blackbars. What I think the problem is is that somehow the subtitles seem to think it is, I've tried lots of settings in the subtitle MAP, encluding default. And some times one of the subtitles works well, but then the other doesn't work.
It's really strange. Putting the x's on default on both streams doesn't help, that way both of the subtitles don't work well.

here's a drawing of the situation
normal situation(what i want)

---------------------
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|  Subtitles        |
|  Subtitles        |
---------------------

now

---------------------
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
|   Subtitles       |
|   Subtitles       |
|                   | <--- subs at this hight get cut off
---------------------

It's like the subtitles are acting as if the bottom of the screen is somwhere in the middle of the screen. So if I set the bottom margin to 0 the sub is still way too high, and when setting middle margins they just get cut off at a certain point going down.
I hope this clears things up a little bit, and that you still have some ideas that could help me

[abc-123]

So if I set the bottom margin to 0 the sub is still way too high

This makes no sense. But I get what you're saying.... (I think).

In the main subs screen you see the text for your first sub, right? On the right of that you see the little open folder icon right? on the right side of that there is a little - icon. Click that. That will show you the positioning of the subs. Choose middle bottom and tick the box that says apply to all subtitles.

In the main subs screen click margins and set the margins like I said above. Choose "Bottom Margin" for under Base Alignment.

Now how does that look on the preview screen? You should be able to see the black edge at the bottom where the screen would get cut off.

Now just because you changed the settings for one sub doesn't automatically mean you changed it for the other so check the second sub and do the same thing.

If that doesn't work, I don't know what the problem might be. Quickfix: Add a hard return to every line of the subs?

By the way, what is your video resolution? 720x480/576? Could it be a NTSC/PAL thing?

[Makokozane]

The positioning was still set on default in my settings, but i'll try to set it again. Also the preview screen on the right doesn't show the problem, according to that thing everything should be fine.
Ill just try to do all of your settings once more, and compile. If that doesn't work I'll just reinstall; I haven't read of any problem of this sort anywhere else searching on google so maybe it's just some kind of installation problem.
the problem isn't PAL/NTSC, the video is in PAL and i've tried compiling it in both ways, both having the same outcome.
thanks for your help.