How to embed Chinese subtitles .srt file into short video

[Elenaki]

Hello! I have an .srt file with Chinese subtitles, which I need to embed into a short video (avi, mpeg, mp4, etc. I have converted it to many formats).

Initially, my OS did not support Asian languages, so I had to install additional Windows packages. I tried to embed the file using VLC, Subtitle Workshop, Aegisub, SubtitleEdit, Moviesubtitler, and some more, but I got gibberish characters. Then I did exactly what mentioned here:

"I was having the same problem, but after much searching, I found some things that helped solve it for me:

First, I think the reason your .srt file is garbled is because it isn't encoded right. On the advice of another forum, I downloaded the trial version of NJStar, http://www.njstar.com/cms/ (incidentally, this program can also do Japanese & Korean.) Use this program (it's Universal Code Converter) to convert your .srt file to UTF8 --- it will create a new file in a separate folder (easy to find), with the same name as your original. Now when you open the *new* file in Notepad, you should see the Chinese characters.


Next, you need to set up VLC: Go to preferences, and in Subtitles/OSD, change Default Encoding to UTF-8. Set the preferences to "show all," and then go into Video - Subtitles / OSD and change "text rendering mode" from "default" to "Freetype2 font renderer." Now, expand the Subtitles/OSD menu and go down to "Text Rendering." Choose a Unicode font to display. (You may have to type out the file path for the font; I wasn't able to browse for it anyway. Of course, you'll want to choose a font with Chinese characters. I chose SimHei -- C:\Windows\Fonts\simhei.ttf).


Finally, save preferences, and restart VLC. When you begin your movie, simply choose the .srt file NJStar made for you via the Video menu, Subtitles track, Open file.


Worked for me, hope it works for you too."

In fact, it worked. I was able to view the Chinese characters in the video applications. However, while trying to embed the file, no success. Again, non sense characters. Any idea what can be wrong? I have been searching where the problem is for more than 2 days.

Thank you!

[Budman1]

I extracted Japanese (all I had) from a video with subtitle edit and saved as SRT/UTF8 from Subtitle Edit. Then I used Virtualdub's TextSub plugin to add the SRT and they came out ok. I do not have any additional languages on my Windows 7 computer except English. Perhaps it is the converter you are using to embed the subtitles or they are not in UTF 8 format.

[bouncerxy]

I have been having the same frustrating issue. I do not like using VirtualDub because it is pretty complicated, needs many additional plugins to work and most of all, it doesn't support .mp4 format which is all I use.

Does anyone know of a program that will recognize chinese characers and encode them properly without messing with Windows native language settings?

[El Heggunte]

If you convert your non-Unicode subtitle files to Unicode (either UTF-8 or UTF-16),
you will have no problem with using VSFilter's TextSub() or ffdshow subtitle filter.

[Budman1]

The newer versions of VirtualDub save in many formats with the external encoders feature. I posted a script on my web site budmansite.com a while back if you are interested. The example above shows it works with Unicode (either UTF-8 or UTF-16), and VirtualDub and the subtitle filters mention by El Heggunte.

[jman98]

Does anyone know of a program that will recognize chinese characers and encode them properly without messing with Windows native language settings?

I have personally NEVER been able to get VSFilter to work at all. Your mileage may very, but if I can't get it work and I'm hardly a newbie, you may have problems too.

The easiest way to do this is to use Xvid4PSP. I've used it to successfully hardcode Chinese subtitles into Xvid output. My PC runs Win 7 Ultimate and I do have CJK support so I haven't had to mess with the native language settings. I do advise getting your subs into Unicode format as El Heggunte mentions. This will definitely give you the best chance of success.

[Budman1]

If you wish to use the VSFilter (VSFilter.dll renamed to VSFilter.vdf and placed in plugins32 folder of VirtualDub), use the 2.23 version.

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/VSFilter-DirectVobSub

More information and other downloads:
Download the old VobSub 2.23 if you want the old Virtualdub Vobsub Plugin.

That will give you TextSub() which is is a much better VirtualDub filter and handles more subtitles formats.

[bouncerxy]

The newer versions of VirtualDub save in many formats with the external encoders feature. I posted a script on my web site budmansite.com a while back if you are interested. The example above shows it works with Unicode (either UTF-8 or UTF-16), and VirtualDub and the subtitle filters mention by El Heggunte.

[Attachment 25856 - Click to enlarge]

Haha again I'm not prepared to use any scripts to do this. This is beyond my ability level.

For those that get messed up formatting from an .srt subtitle file, it is usually not your fault. The creator has just forgot to use UTF-8 encoding and instead has used ANSI. The way to convert the .srt file so it displays properly is a small pain in the ass. You will need a program called NJStar, and Subtitle Edit. NJStar is a notepad like text editor, but the nice thing is that is reads the gobbily-gook from incorrectly encoded chinese and japanese characters, and instantly displays them in the correct way. The only thing is that is can only save the file then in .txt format, so you need Subtitle edit to then convert .txt to .srt.

As far as hardcoding the subtitle to a video, for playback on a DVD or PS3/Xbox etc: the only 100% reliable program that I was able to find (that is not difficult to use, and doesn't require special configuration) is Xilisoft Video Converter. The only issue I'm having with it is that there is no setting to copy the original size settings of the video you are using. You have to instead pick a predetermined scale. I've noticed that the output file is usually considerably larger, and the video quality is lower than before.

[jman98]

Actually, you shouldn't need Subtitle Edit at all, as bouncerxy suggests. SRT is a completely text based format so simply renaming the .txt file to .srt should be enough unless something weird happened with the .txt file.

There is another way to get from CJK type encoding to UTF-8, but involves using a browser to open your SRT files in the right encoding so that it displays correctly, copying that into a Word file and choosing encoded text and saving it as UTF-8. I prefer to use the free Libre Office for this task rather than Word.

[Budman1]

Notepad also has the Unicode as well as UTF-8 save feature.