Burning an AVI to cd with 2 subtitles to choose from

[soundchaser]

Hi, sorry if this is somewhere already but my search got nowhere.
I have burned many cds with an avi file and its subtitle inside the same folder to play in a standalone DVD player. The subtitle has exactly the same name as the avi file, except for the extension which is usually either .srt or .sub. But now I want to put 2 different subtitles so I can choose one or the other for playback. Since they can't have the same name in the same folder, how should I do this ?
Thanks,

[Case]

The way to do it with software players like VLC is to add a language identifier to the filename. But I kinda doubt that many set top player will handle it like that.

folder
   movie-name.avi
   movie-name-en.srt
   movie-name-fr.srt

[soundchaser]

Yeah, thanks Case...I do it with VLC on a laptop, as you show, or just putting in the folder the desired subtitle....the thing is having it all burned on a cd and being able to switch as you do on DVDs...

[tomlee59]

This is a frequently encountered problem, and as you have discovered, there does not appear to be a simple solution that works for typical standalone players. What I've been forced to do in these situations is simply to burn two separate discs, each with its own subtitle file. Discs are cheap, and the lack of a workable alternative leaves you with few options.

[John-Paul]

I've not tried this, but according to the manual for my Pioneer DV-600 "The number of external subtitle files which
can be switched for the same movie file is limited to a maximum of 10".

Not sure how, when it supports only four (ie: srt, .sub, .ssa, .smi). Perhaps you could try this:

Movie.avi
Movie.srt
Movie.sub

Where .srt is one langauge, and .sub is the second language stream?

[Ai Haibara]

Another thing you could try is to mux the subtitle files into the AVI as subtitle streams, though I don't know offhand how you'd do that on a Mac, then the player might let you switch between the subtitle streams when you're viewing the AVI.

Also, for experimentation, it might be better to use a CD-RW for testing, until you're sure what will work with your player.

[jimdagys]

Why not turn the avi (with two srt subtitles files) into DVD using something like DVDFlick? Then you can choose either subtitle with your DVD player remote control. With DVDFlick you can also easily increase the size of the subtitles for EASY reading.

[Ai Haibara]

DVD Flick is for Windows, and normally doesn't work under OS X.

[ffooky]

What make and model is your standalone ?

[soundchaser]

Thank you all guys.
-John-Paul= I might try that, but aren't sub and srt different kinds of files ? If I have one English .srt and one Spanish .srt, can I just take one of them and rename it .sub ?
-ffooky= It's an LG, DVF-9900 N

Regards,

[ffooky]

soundchaser - I can't find a manual for your player but if you have it, check which subtitle formats are accepted. I've just checked my Philips and it accepts the 4 varieties that John-Paul listed and .txt, which would be perfect. I believe there are 4 different subtitle formats with the extension .sub and only 1 (AFAIK) is not text-based, the sub + idx combo. Jubler can convert between the text-based formats.

[soundchaser]

Thanks a lot, ffooky, but supposing it accepts all the formats, my question then still is what I asked John-Paul:

If I have one English .srt and one Spanish .srt, can I just take one of them and rename it .sub ?

[ffooky]

Convert it with Jubler.

[soundchaser]

Oh sorry, you'd said that already ! Thanks, I'll try it all out and let you know.
Cheers,

[lordsmurf]

DVD Flick is for Windows, and normally doesn't work under OS X.

Use Parallels, VMWare Fusion, or BootCamp. Problem solved.

[Ai Haibara]

Yeah, but I didn't think the OP would want to do that, when the videos already play on the player with no problem. Besides, doesn't Toast and a handful of other OSX apps do much the same thing?

[ffooky]

Surely MPEG-4 to MPEG-2 has to be nothing but a last resort ?

[Ai Haibara]

Certainly. I'd still want to see if soundchaser's LG supported AVIs with muxed subtitle streams, though.

[John-Paul]

I could only find a spanish manual for the LG DVF-9900N, but if the english equivalent is the LG DV-9900 then you may be in luck, excerpts from the manual below:

Subtitles: DVD / Divx
Press Subtitle repeatedly during playback to see the different subtitle languages.

Playing a Divx Movie Disc

Playable Subtitle Formats:
SubRip(*.srt/*.txt), SAMI(*.smi), SubStation Alpha(*.ssa/.txt), MicroDVD(*.sub/*txt),TMPlayer(*txt), Dvd Subtitle System(*.txt), VobSub(*sub) -> sub/idx.

This would seem to indicate that multiple subtitles can be achieved for Divx playback on this unit, its just a matter of identifying the correct approach...

I'd also be interested to hear whether something like AVIAddXSubs would work, but you may need some sort of crossover to work on a mac.

[Ai Haibara]

AVIAddXSubs might work, if the LG has DivX Ultra support.

[soundchaser]

I have he manual, but of course it doesn't mention how to organize the multiple subtitle issue to burn the Divx -if it did I wouldn't be posting !- it just mentions that you can press repeatedly the subtitle button to switch among the available languages, as on a DVD. And also lists the formats supported, which are the ones John-Paul wrote and another one called SubViewer.
I'll burn CD's and try them out on the LG during the weekend and let you know. Thanks again folks !

[John-Paul]

The other alternative (which I tried today and works on my Pioneer) is to extract the two subtitle streams via vobsub into sub/idx format.

- Vobsub configure
- open the relevant ifo
- in the drop down ensure both languages are included
- ok.

Then burn your cd folder as:
*.avi
*idx
*sub

Then when you select the subtitle button on the remote it should switch between the two subtitle streams.

[soundchaser]

The way to do it with software players like VLC is to add a language identifier to the filename. But I kinda doubt that many set top player will handle it like that.

folder
   movie-name.avi
   movie-name-en.srt
   movie-name-fr.srt

The quote of Case's post above this worked. So, to round it up=
Mac OS 10.4.11 (TIger) / Toast 9 / Data DVD recorded as DVDROM-UDF.
Amongst other data files, a folder containing=
-MovieName.avi
-MovieName.ENG.srt
-MovieName.SPA.srt

This, with an LG DVF-9900 N plays fine, and switching between English and Spanish subtitles worked perfectly, as if it were a DVD video. I didn't watch it all, but the first part and fast forwarding somewhere halfway through still worked ok.
So then, thanks Case and of course all the rest of you guys ! "Case" closed, though I'll be glad to give any more details if anyone requests.
Cheers,

[ffooky]

[mr_burns]Excellent[/mr_burns] Which format of .sub did you use ?

[soundchaser]

Oh, .srt actually...I already corrected my previous post which said ".sub"

[sorrycharlie]

The way to do it with software players like VLC is to add a language identifier to the filename. But I kinda doubt that many set top player will handle it like that.

folder
   movie-name.avi
   movie-name-en.srt
   movie-name-fr.srt

The quote of Case's post above this worked. So, to round it up=
Mac OS 10.4.11 (TIger) / Toast 9 / Data DVD recorded as DVDROM-UDF.
Amongst other data files, a folder containing=
-MovieName.avi
-MovieName.ENG.srt
-MovieName.SPA.srt

This, with an LG DVF-9900 N plays fine, and switching between English and Spanish subtitles worked perfectly, as if it were a DVD video. I didn't watch it all, but the first part and fast forwarding somewhere halfway through still worked ok.
So then, thanks Case and of course all the rest of you guys ! "Case" closed, though I'll be glad to give any more details if anyone requests.
Cheers,

I've been having the same problem. I did what soundchaser did, as quoted above, except in my case the folder is like this:

MovieName.avi
MovieName.EN.srt
MovieName.PT.srt

Except, this didn't work for me. It plays only the English subtitle and won't let me switch to the Portuguese one. In VLC, it works fine! But on my DVD player, it doesn't. Do you guys have any suggestions for me?

[Ai Haibara]

Are you sure your player supports more than one external subtitle stream per video? Most standalone DVD players I encounter usually only support one. (Check the manual.)