How do I insert chapters into a VOB file with subtitles?? URGENT!

[wozo]

I have a DVD without chapters and need to rip it and add chapters.
It seemed easy, I imported the VOBs to Sony Architect, but the subtitles disappeared.
So I tried many solutions to get the subtitles back in (Subtitle Workshop, Virtual Dub, DVD Decrypter...) but still can't get the subtitles to appear!
My last attempt was through VobSub, but it only works in Media Player (I recompressed the VOBs through Vegas into mpg, and put it in the same folder as the new .sub files). Architect says there is an unknown error when importing the .sub, and so does Subtitle Workshop.
I am completely fed up and desperate, and need a simple solution fast! Help!

[manono]

Hi-

Well, one solution is pretty simple in principle, but will take some work. Demux the movie or whatever it is using PGCDemux. Make sure to check the video box so it demuxes the video as well. When done you'll have a video M2V, the audio (whatever it is), the subtitles in SUP format, and a couple of other files. Then create some chapters in a celltimes.txt file. Create them with framenumbers, taking into account that PAL is 25fps. So 25fps x 60 seconds x the number of minutes for each chapter. The first chapter will come at the beginning, so no need to create one there. So, if you have chapters every 5 minutes, the inside of the celltimes.txt file will look something like this:

7500
15000
22500
30000
.
.
.

Then remake the DVD using Muxman. Add the video, the audio, the subtitles, and the Celltimes.txt file (File->Import Chapters). Give it a destination and "Start". Wait 10-15 minutes for it to mux (for a full movie). It'll seem to freeze or quit, especially if you are doing something else while it's working, but it's still grinding away and will show up with a message when done.

Test it out. If there's no menu, then except for maybe the wrong subtitle colors (fixed in PGCEdit or DVDSubEdit), you're done.

[wozo]

OMG! This is simple? Not for my brains it isn't... I would definitely require something more... user-friendly.

[guns1inger]

There is no simple way to put chapters into an already authored DVD. Vegas and DVD Architect are completely the wrong tools for what you are doing.

If you go slowly, the advice given in the post above will work, and isn't that difficult.

[AlanHK]

OMG! This is simple? Not for my brains it isn't... I would definitely require something more... user-friendly.

You need to do two things:
1) demux -- extract the video, audio and subtitles as separate files.

2) reauthor -- load the above files in an authoring app, add a menu and chapters to taste, create new VOB fileset.

You can do 1) with PGCdemux, DVD Decrypter, etc.

You can do 2) with DVD Architect (I assume, though I don't use it myself), as you seem to have that. Or GuiforDVDAuthor, etc, etc.

[wozo]

thanks for all the tips.
Alan's solution was what I tried doing. I demuxed the DVD. Still, I can't seem to find a file that would be subtitles only.
This is what I got in a file called Strem Information:
0x20 - Subtitle - English / Normal Captions - [SubPicture 01: Normal] / LBA: 10 / PTS: 00:00:00.680 / Delay: 400ms
0xC0 - Audio - MPEG-1 / 2ch / 48kHz / 16bit / Polish / LBA: 13 / PTS: 00:00:00.280 / Delay: 0ms
0xE0 - Video - MPEG-2 / 720x576 (PAL) / 4:3 / LBA: 1 / PTS: 00:00:00.280 / Delay: 0ms

The problem is I can find a Video file and an Audio file, but no Subtitle file. Is it the IFO? Or a smaller VOB that is there? or an SFVX file? Or SFK? Darn, I'm soo lost. If only I had a file that would be just subtitles. But even an ".SUB" file I managed to get is... unrecognized by the several authoring programs I have.

[guns1inger]

muxman will recognise the sub file. The sub file contains the images that make up the subtitles. Most authoring tools expect to get text based subtitles, and will then create the images for you. To get these files you have to run an Optical Character Recognition tool over the sub file, then correct all the scanning errors and typos. Then you have a text based file, such as an srt file.

Using muxman is far simpler

[manono]

It looks to me like he demuxed using DVD Decrypter. As far as I know it's not going to give you a subtitle file that Muxman (or any other authoring program) can use. Unless by "SUB" he meant to write "SUP". I could be wrong, though, as I don't demux with it, but only decrypt. I use PGCDemux for demuxing.

Edit: I just did a test demux with DVD Decrypter. He's right, it's a "SUB" file, whatever that is. Unless AlanHK knows something I don't, that file is good for nothing.

[GeorgeW]

I did this a couple of times in DVDLab Pro (not a "free" solution, but in case you happen to have DLP).

Going from memory, I imported the VOB (without demuxing).

Then I added some chapter points and wrote out the new DVD.

After writing the new DVD, I had to open it up in either IFOedit or PGCedit to "activate" the subtitle (it was there, but DLP did not have it turned on).

Regards,
George

[AlanHK]

Edit: I just did a test demux with DVD Decrypter. He's right, it's a "SUB" file, whatever that is. Unless AlanHK knows something I don't, that file is good for nothing.

It's the subtitles in graphic format.
There should also be an IDX file.
If you have the IDX and SUB, use SubtoSup to make these into a SUP file which you can use for authoring.
Rejig can save a SUP file directly out of the VOBs.

There are ways to convert to text and get an SRT, but the OCR is often imperfect and no point in doing this unless you want to edit them.

[manono]

It's the subtitles in graphic format.
There should also be an IDX file.

No, there's no IDX along with the SUB file. Have you ever gotten any useful subtitle files out of DVD Decrypter?

No, better would be to put the DVD files on the hard drive and then use PGCDemux to demux the VOBs and get the subs in SUP format for use in Muxman, unless wozo finds GeorgeW's method more appealing. Again, that assumes he doesn't have or want a menu. If there's a menu, there will be the extra PGCEdit step afterwards of getting the now chaptered DVD back into the source DVD with the menu.

[AlanHK]

It's the subtitles in graphic format.
There should also be an IDX file.

No, there's no IDX along with the SUB file. Have you ever gotten any useful subtitle files out of DVD Decrypter?

No, I was just following the post that said a SUB file had been extracted. I assumed if it did that, it should also extract an IDX, as VOBSUB Config does.

I use PGCDemux or Rejig myself, either of which can extract directly to SUP files.