Japanese Subtitles

[Vathraq]

I am trying to add Japanese subtitles to a movie that will end being on a DVD. It is an American title for which I downloaded an .srt file. I am sorry I do not recall the website, but I found the link in a different Videohelp thread. In VLC I can add my movie file and add the subtitle file and the only thing I have to do is change the font to a unicode font such as Arial Unicode MS or Lucida Sans Unicode and touch no other settings and subtitles work.

I then opened up AVStoDVD added my video file. Imported that same subtitle file and changed the font as indicated above. Let AVStoDVD do its thing. Opened up the .ISO in VLC and the subtitles will not display when selected. I also tried changing the encoding to UTF-8 with Notepad++, but this causes it to display as squares. I used many different encoding and font options in VLC and was never able to get the subtitles to display correctly.

I read about exporting the subtitles to VobSub (sub/idx). I imported the files into Subtitle Edit. Here is a pick of the main window after import.



Subtitle Edit crashes with the following error when trying to export the file to VobSub (sub/idx).



I was also hoping for a selectable subtitle instead of hard subtitles, but I guess I may be running out of options and I have not even tried putting it onto a DVD yet.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Vathraq

[Bjs]

1: Demux your source to video and audio separate files
2: Remux video / audio / subtitle using muxman to folder named VIDEO_TS
3: Play resulting VIDEO_TS folder via vlc should show subtitle, if all good go to 4
4: Use imgburn to burn the VIDEO_TS folder to dvd
5: During playback on dvd player use the sub button to access subtitle playback

Should be all you need to do.

[manono]

2: Remux video / audio / subtitle using muxman to folder named VIDEO_TS

Which subtitle is that? Muxman accepts only SUP and SST format subs and he hasn't mentioned either. If Subtitle Edit can save VobSubs as DVD SUP files, then that might be one way to get them. I don't know as I've never used that program. If the DVD he made has subs he could mount the ISO and extract the SUPs using PGCDemux. If he created chapters then, for sure, he'll want to demux using PGCDemux. Or he can convert VobSubs to SUP in SubtitleCreator. But your instructions aren't quite complete.

Should be all you need to do.

And I think he'll also have to 'fix' the subtitle colors using either PGCEdit or DVDSubEdit when all done.

[Vathraq]

So, use PGCDemux to demux the video and audio. Subtitle Edit does allow export to Blu-ray sup. I am not sure exactly what manono means by 'fix' the subtitle colors, but seems I should be able to do this with Subtitle Edit then export it as a Blu-ray sup file. If there is some other "fix" i need to do please let me know. Remux the the audio/video/exported sup file using muxman. Test in VLC. If it works, burn with imgburn. I will give this a try.


Thanks,
Vathraq

[Vathraq]

The export to Blu-ray sup resulted in the same error as above in Subtitle Edit.

I will try SubtitleCreator to change from srt to sup. I have not used PgcEdit or DVDSubEdit, but it seems these tools edit without having to demux.

1. De-mux with PGCDemux.
2. Convert to sup with SubtitleCreator.
3. Remux with muxman.
4. Edit with PgcEdit or DVDSubEdit.
5. Test with VLC.
6. Then burn with imgburn.
5: During playback on dvd player use the sub button to access subtitle playback

Maybe this process will work.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

Subtitle Edit does allow export to Blu-ray sup.

It's a different kind of SUP from DVD SUP files and won't work for DVD.

I am not sure exactly what manono means by 'fix' the subtitle colors, but seems I should be able to do this with Subtitle Edit then export it as a Blu-ray sup file.

No, and no. If the colors are 'off' when all done, they can easily be fixed after the DVD is authored. But not if you're trying to use Blu-Ray SUP files for a DVD.

[usually_quiet]

The export to Blu-ray sup resulted in the same error as above in Subtitle Edit.

I will try SubtitleCreator to change from srt to sup. I have not used PgcEdit or DVDSubEdit, but it seems these tools edit without having to demux.

1. De-mux with PGCDemux.
2. Convert to sup with SubtitleCreator.
3. Remux with muxman.
4. Edit with PgcEdit or DVDSubEdit.
5. Test with VLC.
6. Then burn with imgburn.
5: During playback on dvd player use the sub button to access subtitle playback

Maybe this process will work.

Thanks,
Vathraq

I hope so, but in case you don't know, AVStoDVD calls on SubtitleCreator to convert subtitles to SUP format.

Perhaps _MrC_, AVStoDVD's author, would have some ideas on what is causing AVStoDVD to fail when converting your subtitles. Post your question in https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/277852-AVStoDVD-Support-Thread

[Vathraq]

There must be something in the process I missing. Everything seemed to work well. I demuxed. I converted to .sup. I re-muxed with muxman. I however did not do any editing to fix colors. Tested it VLC and subtitles worked. Burned it with imgburn. Put it in the player. The player lists the subtitles but there are none displayed after the selection. Maybe its the old player I am putting it in?

Also I noticed when I added the original .srt to AVStoDVD that it says there are errors. Maybe it has something to do with them not working in AVStoDVD. Is there some kind of software I can use to find and correct these errors?

Thanks,
Vathraq

[usually_quiet]

There must be something in the process I missing. Everything seemed to work well. I demuxed. I converted to .sup. I re-muxed with muxman. I however did not do any editing to fix colors. Tested it VLC and subtitles worked. Burned it with imgburn. Put it in the player. The player lists the subtitles but there are none displayed after the selection. Maybe its the old player I am putting it in?

Also I noticed when I added the original .srt to AVStoDVD that it says there are errors. Maybe it has something to do with them not working in AVStoDVD. Is there some kind of software I can use to find and correct these errors?

Thanks,
Vathraq

Subtitles can be one solid color (green is common) or totally transparent unless you correct the colors. If they are transparent, that would explain not being able to see them. As I recall, DVDSubEdit will allow you to look at subtitles, in the vob files or as sup files from SubtitleCreator.

You should ask _MrC_ what the errors mean. AVStoDVD creates a log file each time it authors a DVD or converts a file. You will need that for the support thread.

[manono]

Or upload the SRT subs here and one of us can convert them for you to a format suitable for Muxman, guaranteed to work.

The player lists the subtitles but there are none displayed after the selection. Maybe its the old player I am putting it in?

No, all DVD players are required to play subs. Your remote control has a 'Subtitle' button, right? And that's the one you're pushing to try and get the subs to turn on?

[Vathraq]

Subtitles can be one solid color (green is common) or totally transparent unless you correct the colors. If they are transparent, that would explain not being able to see them. As I recall, DVDSubEdit will allow you to look at subtitles, in the vob files or as sup files from SubtitleCreator.

The subtitles show up as white with black and grey borders in VLC. Maybe VLC preferences are overriding the transparency?

No, all DVD players are required to play subs. Your remote control has a 'Subtitle' button, right? And that's the one you're pushing to try and get the subs to turn on?

Yes. I have to press the the button multiple times to scroll through the subtitles available. So, I press it one time it will show what subtitles you are using now. In my case its Subtitles Off. I press it again and it will show Japanese 2/2 or something. Anyway, once I do that it toggles those subtitles on to be displayed. In my case nothing is displayed.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

I don't think the white, grey and black would all be transparent. I get the background color being opaque sometimes from Muxman (it's supposed to be transparent) and my anti-alias color being transparent, so I fix them. You can check by 'Open full domain' in DVDSubEdit and note the transparency of the different colors ('All pixels' drop-down box) over on the right side.

My guess is that there's something wrong with the subs you created.

Or give us your SRT to let us have a look.

[Vathraq]

I used DVDSubEdit. Here is a look at the main window.



I am unsure if you are supposed to be able to view the subtitles in the preview pane while scrolling through the video or not, but I do not see any.

A copy of the srt file. It was downloaded from opensubtitles. I am not sure if that makes any difference. I also included the sup file just in case that helps.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[Vathraq]

Here is a couple of pics of the windows from PgcEdit.





I have also included the text from the PGC Info.

I do not know if any of this helps. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

I am unsure if you are supposed to be able to view the subtitles in the preview pane while scrolling through the video or not, but I do not see any.

Yes, the first line of subs is supposed to show up immediately upon loading the 'Full Domain'. Based on the PGCEdit pic, there are subtitles, although nothing in the first stream, apparently. One thing you might try is in DVDSubEdit, in the upper right, where it says 'All Streams'. Hit the drop down box and highlight the individual streams and see if one of them has subs.

Busy now, but will check out the SRT later on. Thanks for making it available and perhaps someone else might want to have a look at it in the mean time.

[Vathraq]

One thing you might try is in DVDSubEdit, in the upper right, where it says 'All Streams'. Hit the drop down box and highlight the individual streams and see if one of them has subs.

I did try that. No subtitles showing for any of the options.

Busy now, but will check out the SRT later on. Thanks for making it available and perhaps someone else might want to have a look at it in the mean time.

I was determined to figure it out so I could overcome the issue in the future. Only reason I did not supply the srt earlier. Clearly, I wasn't going to get it done myself.

So, yet again. Thanks for all your help.

Vathraq

[Vathraq]

I was wondering about something. Seems I read somewhere about editing an ifo file after remuxing. Does muxman modify the ifo to display the subs, or is this a step In need to do?

Thanks,
Vathraq

[Vathraq]

Well, it seems this was a very simple problem. I was reading through this guide: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic338721.html

Then I found these tidbits from monano in the comments for that guide.

Yes, that's correct. Did you check the muxman.log to make sure they were muxed in? It's in the root of the C drive. Unless you've used Muxman again since then, (thus overwriting it), if you open it and if something went wrong with the mux, there should be some sort of a message.

Next, let's make sure they're there, but not showing up for one reason or another (transparent, maybe, or too low to be seen). Open the VOBs in DVDSubEdit, all of them at once. Do you see them? Checking the SubPic/Transparency slider, is it all the way to the left, to "Clear"? Let's check their position. Does moving the "SubPic Vertical Position" slider bring them up into view?

If either of those things helps, then after changing one go into Edit and "Apply Last Modifications To All", before File->Save All Modifications.

While in there, you can also change the colors to whatever you like, unless using the PGCEdit method I outlined earlier.

If neither helped, make sure the SUP file you made is actually good. Open it in SubtitleCreator (Tools->Manipulate SUP or VobSub->Open Sub) and see if you can read the dialog, and the timings look OK.

It was very good advice. I adjusted the vertical position in DVDSubEdit and the subtitles popped up. Let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

If you mux with subs, then when you turn them on with the remote control they should display. However, I think I figured out the problem. They're too low to be seen. Maybe they're fom a PAL DVD and being added to an NTSC DVD? Open the 'Full Domain' in DVDSubEdit and raise them about 70 pixels in 'Subpic vertical position', Then Edit->Apply Last Modifications To All->DO IT!, followed by File->Save All Modifications.

Maybe this happens because I muxed your SUP file (which is fine) with an M2V and AC3 audio I had on the hard drive. If what I suggested doesn't work for you, then demux video, audio, celltimes.txt and subs using PGCDemux, reauthor with Muxman, followed by raising them as described before. Or maybe they were too low to be seen by me because I was adding a PAL subtitle to an NTSC video (all I have), in which case remuxing them should solve the problem. In any event, they play fine for me now in MPC-HC and will (I'm sure) on my standalone.

In the off-chance it really is a problem with your player, maybe test out on a different player, maybe one at a friend's house.

Testing the SUP file alone in both DVDSubEdit as well as SUPViewer shows all the subtitles.

Edit: Oh, I see you discovered the same thing while I was writing. Good going. I'm sure you've solved the problem.

[usually_quiet]

The subs were in SRT format originally, so I think SubtitleCreator was the source of the problem. As I recall, it is set up to position the subtitles for PAL by default, so if making subtitles for an NTSC DVD, the default setting must be changed to NTSC.

[manono]

That makes sense. Thanks for the probable explanation. So they're not from a PAL DVD but he accidentally created PAL-positioned subs for an NTSC DVD.

[Vathraq]

I thought I had changed from PAL to NTSC in SubtitleCreator, but I have had it open and closed so many times through out the process that I can not remember for sure. My first attempt, after adjusting the vertical position, in DVDSubEdit was successful, but I did not adjust them enough. Part of the bottom line or single line are partly cut off. I will attempt this again re-checking my options in SubtitleCreator and verifying it in DVDSubEdit.

Couple more questions.

If the subtitles are in fact still low when I verify it in DVDSubEdit how do you determine what vertical position to put them at? I adjusted them until both lines were clearly visible in the pane and the bottom line was stil partly cut off.

I also do not like the size and the font that much. I was wondering if there were any recommendations you guys have for font and size that looks good for both English and Japanese/East Asian Characters?

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

I adjusted them until both lines were clearly visible in the pane and the bottom line was stil partly cut off.

Your television probably has significant overscan. If you make NTSC subs to begin with, they should turn out fine. I make mine with a vertical position of 60, but that might be too low for you (I like mine low). Maybe try 80. But only you can determine what's good for your television and for your 'sensibilities'.

I also do not like the size and the font that much. I was wondering if there were any recommendations you guys have for font and size that looks good for both English and Japanese/East Asian Characters?

Someone else may have to help as I don't (and won't) use SubtitleCreator for making subs and I don't make any using Asian languages. I use the Tahoma font and size 23 usually, but that's in a different program (MaestroSBT).

[Vathraq]

I finally was able to get the DVD authored with the subtitles viewable at the bottom. Tahoma at size 22 worked well. I did try out MaestroSBT, I guess , I am not smart enough to use it, as nothing seemed to happen after selected the srt file. I also seem to download a few files that Subtitle Creator errored on. Wondering if there is a way to minimize this kind of thing. Different software or process of choosing the file.

Thanks again.
Vathraq

[manono]

MaestroSBT only accepts SSA subs as input. There are some guides to its use around here. If you decide you want to give it a try and can't figure it out, just post again. I'm glad you got results you're happy with.

I also seem to download a few files that Subtitle Creator errored on. Wondering if there is a way to minimize this kind of thing.

Not sure what you mean there. You sometimes download SRTs that SubtitleCreator doesn't like? Sometimes, if there's something wrong with the subs, you can try opening them in SubResynch (included in the VobSub package) and then just resave them. It might work to make them 'good' again. SubResynch can also do an instant conversion from SRT to SSA.

[Vathraq]

Not sure what you mean there. You sometimes download SRTs that SubtitleCreator doesn't like?

I have encountered a few different errors when trying to open srt files with SubtitleCreator. For example one error was something about a line in the file being wrong for the array or something. Sorry I do not remember. I have also received the "Subtitle contains illegal characters, e.g. non closing brackets <. Please fix before continuing!" a bunch of times when saving as sup file.

Wondering about using a tool such as Txt2Sup instead of SubtitleCreator?

I will give the Subresync and MaestroSBT method a try, but I was having trouble opening the srt file I posted earlier in Subresync. I was not able to use it to convert to SSA subs for use with MaestroSBT.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[usually_quiet]

Not sure what you mean there. You sometimes download SRTs that SubtitleCreator doesn't like?

I have encountered a few different errors when trying to open srt files with SubtitleCreator. For example one error was something about a line in the file being wrong for the array or something. Sorry I do not remember. I have also received the "Subtitle contains illegal characters, e.g. non closing brackets <. Please fix before continuing!" a bunch of times when saving as sup file.

Yes, SubtitleCreator has trouble with unpaired brackets since SubtitleCreator uses a series of characters enclosed in brackets to represent some special characters like musical notes. It also doesn't recognize all possible characters.

Unpaired brackets are common in srt subtitles generated from N. American closed captions using something like CCExtractor GUI. Closed captions may use a series of unpaired brackets as a way of representing different speakers in a dialog, or use brackets in escape sequences which are meaningful to a closed caption decoder, but not SubtitleCreator.

[manono]

And I got SSA through Aegisub after the SRT didn't open in SubResynch, and saved as UTF-8, but the Japanese characters were either screwy or gone entirely. So, unless someone knows how to make Japanese characters appear properly in SSA subs, just keep on doing it the way you have been.

[Vathraq]

And I got SSA through Aegisub after the SRT didn't open in SubResynch, and saved as UTF-8, but the Japanese characters were either screwy or gone entirely. So, unless someone knows how to make Japanese characters appear properly in SSA subs, just keep on doing it the way you have been.

When I very first started doing this using Subtitle Edit and Aegisub. I changed the format to UTF-8 but was forced to use Arial MT Unicode or Lucida Sans MT Uni fonts. I think thats that right names. Anyway forced to use a unicode font for proper character display. Tahoma is a Unicode font, but I still had issues with itfor some reason. Not sure that would help.

Thanks,
Vathraq

[manono]

Oh, right, I forgot about the fonts, that not every font can be used for Asian text. You know better than I.

Anyway, Aegisub can be used to save SRTs as SSA, in UTF-8, although you'll probably have to set up a style with a good font. I discovered it's not the 'Save' you need, but 'Export'.