Subtitles don't show in preview?

[Inkwolf]

I assume from the how-to and discussion that the .srt subtitles I loaded under the 'filter' menu are supposed to show up in the preview. If they don't, does that mean they haven't loaded properly? I know the SRT file works because I've used it in VLC. Any tips?

[Case]

ffmpegX has two Preview functions with different use. Please check if you were using the one that the developer intended for your use.

[Inkwolf]

I clicked the little button that says 'Preview.'

The subtitles seem to work as switch-ons if I save it as a DVD, but I have no software to burn it to a DVD-player-watchable disc. Can you give me any idea how to make the .srt subtitles appear in an AVI?

[Case]

I clicked the little button that says 'Preview.'

That doesn't answer my initial question. ffmpegX has two buttons labeled 'Preview'. (screenshot)

The subtitles seem to work as switch-ons if I save it as a DVD, but I have no software to burn it to a DVD-player-watchable disc.

ffmpegX has an 'Img' tool in the Tools tab to turn the .DVD folder into a UDF disk image, which can be burned with e.g. Disk Utility (part of the OS).

Can you give me any idea how to make the .srt subtitles appear in an AVI?

If you use a mencoder preset (e.g. 'XviD mencoder'), then the subtitles can be burned permanently into the converted video.

[Inkwolf]

May I say, first of all, that you are made of awesome?

That doesn't answer my initial question. ffmpegX has two buttons labeled 'Preview'. (screenshot)

I didn't even notice that one on the filters page!

ffmpegX has an 'Img' tool in the Tools tab to turn the .DVD folder into a UDF disk image, which can be burned with e.g. Disk Utility (part of the OS).

Whoa! Amazing! But every disc I've burned this way makes my DVD player crash after 3 seconds of playing, so I guess I'll stick with the iDVD-compatible plan.

If you use a mencoder preset (e.g. 'XviD mencoder'), then the subtitles can be burned permanently into the converted video.

It worked!!!!

May I ask one more pesky question, though? However I fiddle with the size settings in the video menu, even though it looks right in preview and on VLC, in Quicktime and iDVD it appears stretched out from side to side....720 pixels across where it should be 640. Any idea how to fix this?

In any case, you've been a world of help already. Consider yourself showered with rose petals.

[Case]

ffmpegX has an 'Img' tool in the Tools tab to turn the .DVD folder into a UDF disk image, which can be burned with e.g. Disk Utility (part of the OS).

But every disc I've burned this way makes my DVD player crash after 3 seconds of playing, so I guess I'll stick with the iDVD-compatible plan.

That shouldn't happen, and I have no clue why it does happen for you. Not enough file details to troubleshoot. So it does play a few seconds correctly? My first thought would be to check for DVD compliancy of the encoding. (Are your settings correctly for DVD? Frame size, bitrates, etc.) Also check playback in Apple DVD Player (Open VIDEO_TS folder from hard disk) before burning, to avoid wasting discs.

However I fiddle with the size settings in the video menu, even though it looks right in preview and on VLC, in Quicktime and iDVD it appears stretched out from side to side....720 pixels across where it should be 640. Any idea how to fix this?.

I have seen QuickTime incorrectly alter the display aspect ratio (DAR) on MP4 files, but not on AVI files. On those MP4 files it would make the frame 4:3 on files that were neither precisely 16:9 or 4:3. Those MP4 files could be fixed by inserting a 'flag' that explicitly sets the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) to 1:1 (square pixels). But AVI is always assumed to have a PAR of 1:1 (by most decoders and players, including QuickTime Player and QuickTime-dependent apps like iDVD).
I'm not sure if the above is what you were experiencing, though.