Best settings for encoding with subtitles and then re-encoding for PS3?

[bish73]

I'm working on taking some Japanese Godzilla DVD's I own burning in subtitles that I found online and then making MP4's that will play on my PS3.

Since it seems there is no encoder on ffmpegx that will make playable PS3 files AND allow you to burn in subtitles from a file (correct me if I'm wrong) I believe I will have to take the VOB from the DVD, encode it into something else with the burned in Subtitles and then use that file to re-encode it into an MP4 that will play on my PS3.

Now my questions are this, number one what would be the best codec to use to make the first file with the burned in Subtltles. I guess I would need one that compresses very little or well enough so that I don't lose much image quality.

Secondly, would it be more beneficial to upscale that first file with the subtitles to 1280x720 and then either keep it at 1280x720 when I make the MP4's for the PS3 or should I just leave it at it's native rez of 720x480.

Essentially I am trying to minimize the amount of compression artifacts and have the best looking final files I can for these circumstances.

Hard Drive space is not so much an issue so the first file can be as big as it needs to be but the drive that the PS3 uses is FAT 32 so the final file will have to be under 4gb.

Any other suggestions on this process and what I can do to make it look better would be appreciated

-bish

P.S I only have access to a mac right now so Windows tools are not an option. I have Virtual PC but since I can't use files above 4gb with that program, that rules that out. And it's slow on my G4.

[tomlee59]

There are many ways to do this, and I'm sure others will chime in with their preferences. Here's what I do: I use D-Vision 3 to convert into DivX with burned subtitles (D-Vision also supports X.264, but the transcoding speed is very slow). If you use a high bitrate, you'll lose very little in the transcode. I use rates around 1.8-2Mbit/s, and two-pass encoding. As personal tastes vary, you may wish to experiment a bit with short clips to find settings that are acceptable to you, but at least that gives you a starting point.

Ffmpegx generally does well when given the DivX version created by D-Vision3. From there, you can convert to many other formats.

[bish73]

Thanks, I will take a look at D-Vision although from what I've seen I don't think it allows .ssa formated subtitles. Slow encoding isn't a problem I can just leave it going as I'd rather be slow then look bad. I'll try some of your suggestions thanks again.

-bish

[tomlee59]

Yes, that's unfortunately correct. The current version of D-Vision3 does not support ssa subs yet.

There was an earlier discussion here about ssa to srt conversion. Here's a link to that thread:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/ssa-to-srt-t285102.html

It references a URL for an online converter. That may be clunky, but hey, if it works...

Good luck!

[bish73]

Great thanks so much for you help, I'll look into that. I also found an interesting program called Mpeg2works http://www.mpeg2works.com/ It costs $25.00 but it may make it so that I can mux the subs into the disc which was what I've been trying to do for quite awhile but was having no luck on the mac side. So far I haven't gotten it to work but the author seems pretty responsive on his forum so I'll see if he can help as well.

Anyway thanks again for your help I'll post whether I've been successful at either method hehe.

-bish

Edit: Your link to the SSA to SRT online converter was what I've been looking for and it looks like that it may have fixed a lot of the issues I've been having! I've had these dvd's and subs for a long time and every few months tried a new method and you've brought me that much closer. So a BIG THANK YOU!!

[tomlee59]

I'm glad that it seems to have solved your problem! Hopefully, D-Vision 3 and ffmpegX will soon support ssa subs. Until then, it looks like there's a workaround.