MKV SoftSub to MPEG2 HardSub for the purpose of DVD authoring

[saturnianalien]

I've got about 72 thirty minute clips in MKV format. They're all 720p in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and use ASS softsubs. 48 of them use stereo FLAC, while 24 of the use stereo AAC and are Hi10p on the video. For the FLAC based clips, it's easy enough for me to extract and convert the audio to AAC with ffmpeg and some batch scripting. My question then becomes: what is the most painless way of hardsubbing all these videos to MPEG2, with the least reduction in quality, for the purpose of DVD authoring? They must be hardsubbed since DVD doesn't support the stylings of the softsub that I'm looking for.

[Baldrick]

Try avidemux, see https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/298094-How-to-convert-any-video-to-AVI-or-MP4-or-MK...d-in-subtitles

Or virtualdub or format factory, see https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/350877-Hard-subbing-ass-Subtitle-Files-to-mkv-Files...=1#post2200508

Most other converters does NOT keep the ass subtitle settings.

[saturnianalien]

avidemux is giving me the error "too short" and doesn't save the file. I set it to Mpeg2(ff), AC3(Aften), and Mpeg-PS Muxer(ff). Also put a subtitle and resize filter on it. It also doesn't seem to allow me to preview. If this works and there's a way to do batch processing, then this would be perfect. Don't like how it won't allow you to do maximum AC3 bit rate though.

[Budman1]

Format factory will create mpeg2 and does batch as well. I don't use it much myself but I know that if you wish to hardsub and keep the ASS formats, you will have to use AVISynth to send it to Format Factory(It supports AVS files). The canned subtitle method do not look as well and have that 'One size fits All' method of making them all the same whichdefeats the purpose of ASS / SSA subtitles. The settings are very adjustable to maintain quality also.


Notice it also does VOB. Again I have not used it much except to assist others to hardsub but it worked well for that.