Encoding VIDEO_TS to mpeg-2 SVCD

[phamtom]

Hi, first time post and first time using ffmpegX. I am adding subtitles to a DVD. Followed step by step using the guide and am encoding but it's been over 3 hours now and the ffmpegX Progress box is still showing. How long does it normally take and if there's problem shouldn't there be an error message?

The Video Codec I a selected in the Video tab is: MPEG2 [.MPG] (mpeg2enc)

Any thoughts? thanks!---

[phamtom]

Never mind---just realized that I need to convert my VIDEO_TS file to a DivX format to then use to encode a DVD with subtitles.
Still, any tips would be helpful---thanks

[jman98]

Welcome to the forums. Unfortunately, like many new people, you think that the less you tell us the better. This is completely wrong. What exactly are you doing? Are you trying to simply add subtitles to an existing DVD? We have guides on how to do that. Here is one of them:
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic275603.html

If you want to encode subtitles are hard subs (that means they can't be turned off and are always on), that's a different story. We have guides on that too.

Your subject references SVCD, which seems to NOT be what you want to create at all. Then in your 2nd post, you have a strange reference to Divx.
If you just want to add subs to an existing DVD or make permanent subs on a DVD, you don't need to convert to Divx first. In fact, that will lessen your quality for sure. So tell us what exactly you want to do and the more details, the better.

[phamtom]

Hi jman98---
Yes, my goal is to add subtitles to an existing DVD (which has been ripped and is in a VIDEO_TS folder in my hard drive). I was trying to follow this guide: HOW TO MAKE A DVD WITH SELECTABLE SUBTITLES ON MAC OSX WITH FFMPEGX---but was unsuccessful. After making all the selections and clicking Encode, all I got in the Progress window was the striped bar (instead of the growing blue % bar). Clicking on Process Information I noticed "**ERROR: [yuvscaler] Could'nt read YUV4MPEG header!" Am I missing any binaries or need to install additional stuff? I felt like I did not choose the correct encoder because it was refrencing SVCD. I really am not familiar with all the different formats. So back to the beginning.

Rereading the guide, I noticed this at the beginning:
"Opening the source movie
--You have an .AVI DivX, a Quicktime .MOV, a VOB or MPG movie and you want to encode it into a DVD with ffmpegX and add it selectable subtitles for playback on a standalone DVD player."

VIDEO_TS is not listed as one of the source movie options so I thought maybe I needed to convert it to DivX before I could continue. Thanks for pointing out that I can encode directly from my DVD VIDEO_TS files.
So I'll follow the guide step-by-step again. Anything I settings or presets I should watch out for? I mean which preset defaults are fine and which ones need a closer look.

thanks so much!---

[Levina]

First use MactheRipper to extract from your DVD a single VOB file (choose Title Only Extraction). Change the .vob extension in .mpg. Then in ffmpegX in the Tools tab choose 'Author'. Load your .mpg file, load your .srt file. Click on 'Author'. That will give you a new VIDEO_TS file with selectable subtitles.

[phamtom]

Cool, thanks Levina!
That's the step I am missing: extracting as a single VOB file from MtR. I'll try that next time (unfortunately I don't have the DVD disc with me anymore).

[Levina]

If you only have a VIDEO_TS folder on your Mac then you can use this little droplet to create a disc copy that MtR can work with:
http://geek.thinkunique.org/2007/07/17/dvd-image-utility/