Videopad video ruined by subtitles?

[pixisticks]

I have a Japanese movie downloaded, and because my mother doesn't speak Japanese, I've had to add subtitles. I took someone else's subtitles file and added it into the video using Videopad Video Editor. I didn't like the majority of the subtitles, and they overlapped in some places, so I went through and fixed them to my liking. In the preview and in the program itself everything looked to be perfectly fine, but after I saved the movie and waited for hours while it encoded, the end result is completely messed up. I don't know how to describe it, so I've taken some screenshots to show you just what happens.

http://i27.tinypic.com/s2sj0n.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/30dgtc6.jpg

http://i26.tinypic.com/ak8gi8.jpg <--the preview

http://i32.tinypic.com/jaz76b.jpg <--what the actual result ends up being

The audio is okay, but the video output is just completely wrecked, and I don't know what to do to fix it. The original video, without subtitles, was originally in several parts, and I pieced them together to make one file in Videopad and that worked fine. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I've spent a really long time on this and I don't want all my effort to go to waste.

And if you need it, my video output setup is this:

Computer/Data
Preset: Traditional TV
File Format: .avi
Resolution: 768x576 TV PAL
Frame rate: 25.00 (standard)

Thank you! I'm posting this in the newbie forum because I'm not quite sure what section it would go under, but I'm also still a complete beginner at this stuff, so I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot.

[filmboss80]

There was never any need to hardcode your subtitles into the movie. (Major waste of time encoding it.) Most downloadable .avi movies are Divx/Xvid, and any player that will play them will also allow you to switch subtitles off and on. Use a program like Subtitle Workshop to change your subs. The subtitle file must have the same name as the movie file (with the only difference being the file extensions) and they will play together without encoding them into a single new video file.

If your movie is in several parts, you can easily link them together, without re-compression, using VirtualDub or AviDemux. Again, make sure the end .avi file has the same name as the subtitle (usually .srt or .ssa) file.

Videopad is not the correct tool in this case.

[pixisticks]

There was never any need to hardcode your subtitles into the movie. (Major waste of time encoding it.) Most downloadable .avi movies are Divx/Xvid, and any player that will play them will also allow you to switch subtitles off and on. Use a program like Subtitle Workshop to change your subs. The subtitle file must have the same name as the movie file (with the only difference being the file extensions) and they will play together without encoding them into a single new video file.

If your movie is in several parts, you can easily link them together, without re-compression, using VirtualDub or AviDemux. Again, make sure the end .avi file has the same name as the subtitle (usually .srt or .ssa) file.

Videopad is not the correct tool in this case.

Okay, I went and edited them in Subtitle Workshop like you suggested. But when I go to encode the DVD (I use DVD Flick) before I burn it (using Imgburn), it screws up. Is there a better program that won't mess with them? It gives me a warning and says it will try to autofix the errors (which I don't want it to do), but it messes up the DVD entirely, so... I'm not quite sure what to do.

Just so we're clear, I'm trying to burn this entire thing to DVD so I can watch it on my television with my mother. I've never done any of this before, I always just downloaded the video and subs and watched them in VLC, but since I'm trying to burn it to disc...

[filmboss80]

Two things...

1. It would have been nice if you had mentioned that you wanted your final output as a DVD; and...
2. When you join the VideoHelp forum and list your location as "here," you may think you're being witty, but it leaves the rest of us clueless as to whether you live in an NTSC or PAL country. We cannot help you if you handicap us.

I know your source video is PAL, but is your mother's DVD player PAL or NTSC? And is DVD Flick outputting to PAL or NTSC? For example, if you are in North America, you can watch a PAL .avi easily on your computer, but not on most home DVD players.

[pixisticks]

Two things...

1. It would have been nice if you had mentioned that you wanted your final output as a DVD; and...
2. When you join the VideoHelp forum and list your location as "here," you may think you're being witty, but it leaves the rest of us clueless as to whether you live in an NTSC or PAL country. We cannot help you if you handicap us.

I know your source video is PAL, but is your mother's DVD player PAL or NTSC? And is DVD Flick outputting to PAL or NTSC? For example, if you are in North America, you can watch a PAL .avi easily on your computer, but not on most home DVD players.

I apologize, I thought I had mentioned it in the original post and I only noticed that I hadn't recently, which is why I mentioned it before. I originally posted this on a DVD burning forum and I forgot to add it in, so again, I'm sorry.

We have a universal DVD player, but I live in North America so I guess whatever works best for that. DVD Flick is outputting to NTSC. And for the record, I didn't put that to be witty, I put it because I didn't feel comfortable sharing and I didn't know it was necessary information. I'm not trying to handicap anyone.

[filmboss80]

Okay, we're getting somewhere. You mentioned the .avi movies were divided into separate files. As I wrote earlier, you must link them into a single movie file with either AviDemux or VirtualDub (direct stream copy only).

I assume you synchronized the subtitles to the movie, and checked it all the way through, with Subtitle Workshop.

Either look at the owner's manual of the "universal DVD player" or search its model number on the internet to make sure that it will play a PAL DVD on an NTSC TV set. Of course, if the TV is also multi-standard, you won't have issues.

Since your source video is PAL, you're going to need to output as a PAL DVD. Always export your finished DVD Flick project to the hard drive of your computer before burning to disc. Afterwards, point Imgburn to that file.

I'm still very skeptical about the PAL/NTSC issue. You might want to double check to see if you can buy the movie on DVD somewhere. Shelling out a few bucks can save you a lot of time and headaches.

[pixisticks]

Okay, we're getting somewhere. You mentioned the .avi movies were divided into separate files. As I wrote earlier, you must link them into a single movie file with either AviDemux or VirtualDub (direct stream copy only).

I assume you synchronized the subtitles to the movie, and checked it all the way through, with Subtitle Workshop.

Either look at the owner's manual of the "universal DVD player" or search its model number on the internet to make sure that it will play a PAL DVD on an NTSC TV set. Of course, if the TV is also multi-standard, you won't have issues.

Since your source video is PAL, you're going to need to output as a PAL DVD. Always export your finished DVD Flick project to the hard drive of your computer before burning to disc. Afterwards, point Imgburn to that file.

I'm still very skeptical about the PAL/NTSC issue. You might want to double check to see if you can buy the movie on DVD somewhere. Shelling out a few bucks can save you a lot of time and headaches.

Here is the DVD player I use: RJtech 4200 We also have another one in a different room, this one: Philips DVP1013 but I prefer to use the first one because I've always been able to watch pretty much anything on it (I got it so I could watch my Japanese DVDs as well as my American ones). I don't think the Philips plays anything but North American formats, but I can't be sure.

Oh, I would love to buy the DVD, haha. But it doesn't come with subtitles, hence why I'm doing all this. I don't need the subtitles myself but my mom does, and I'd really like her to see the movie. So I'll try changing it to a PAL output and see what happens, and let you know. And yes, I checked the subtitle synchronization and everything, though DVD Flick doesn't seem to agree with me (it says there are overlap issues, even though I've watched it all the way through--in VLC player--and there weren't any problems at all).

[jman98]

And for the record, I didn't put that to be witty, I put it because I didn't feel comfortable sharing and I didn't know it was necessary information. I'm not trying to handicap anyone.

Look at my location first before you read the rest of my comments.

It's OK to not put your true location in your profile. However, if you want help and you ask a question where it actually is important to know that, you do need to at least tell us where you live or say something like "I am trying to create an NTSC DVD". You have the problem that is common to many newer members here. You incorrectly think that the less you tell about what you are doing, the more likely you are to get help. filmboss80 was kind enough to help you and his first reply was pretty much useless because you failed to mention that you were creating a DVD. Look at it this way. You (hopefully) would not take your car to a repair shop and then say "There's something wrong with the car, but I'm not going to tell you what or where it is. I do, however, expect you to find it and fix it anyway." The less info you want to give us about what you are doing, the less we can help you. And note that I often say that I live in the USA but there are reasons why I do not put my true location in my profile. I'll mention it if it's relevant and sometimes it is.