Subtitle Timings

[OzDrDj]

Hello,
Using Subtitle Workshop 9 times out of 10 I can load and adjust my subtitles so they fit perfect. But on the odd occasion I get one I just cant figure out.
Currently I am trying to Re-Sync Highlander II - Renegade Version.
I sync the Start and End subtitles, But the middle is about 20 seconds out.
Im Guessing this has something to do with the Frames per second.
The Movie I have originally is according to properties 23.98 FPS I am in Aus where everything is 25fps Pal.
Now at 23.98 in and 23.98 out on sub workshop with the original movie Im 20 seconds out in the middle, If I convert the movie to 25fps and set workshop to 23.98 in 25 out its still out in the middle, Reverse it, Miles out, Trying different combinations of which there are manyish, I just get worse and worse.
Im sure someone there knows what im talking about and knows how to fix this.
Cheers
OzDrDj

[ProWo]

Load the original, not modified subtitle in Subtitleedit; load the video too. There is Synchronisation (in the menu bar), change frame rate and adjust all times too. Make the conversions you need. Add the audio (waveform) and fine tune your subs.
You can also search for a new subtitle for your movie at

https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/subs

[Ennio]

I doubt that, when start- and end-timings are ok and the "middle" isn't, this would have something to do with framerate adjustment.

Assuming that you have properly synced subtitles in your videofile/dvd/blu-ray, try to import them from the source using Subtitle Edit and process from there.

Or indeed, as ProWo said, maybe there's a proper sub available for download, for your video's version.

[Budman1]

I have had this occur many times and not because of frame rate. There are often different versions of the Movie like Theatrical, TV, edited for different ratings, edited for run time, etc. The subtitles can also be variations. If you have access to say SRT subtitles to download and compare them, you find many times that the number of subtitle lines do not match at the end because they are from videos that have parts removed. If you check evey 250-500 lines you will usually see that the text does not match due to editing

Obtaining another version of the subtitles and comparing them, usually allows subtitle timing corrections for me. If you have only one subtitle file, then you will have to sync manually with subtitleedit as described by ProWo and Ennio .

[abolibibelot]

Last time I checked, SubtitleWorkshop could do that, too (synchronizing, manual editing). I switched to SubtitleEdit years ago because it had some convenient features missing in SW (like the waveform view), but it was a very good subtitling software in its own right back then, and I presume that it has improved significantly in the mean time. So why advise to use SE instead ?

[Budman1]

Personal preference. It doesnt really matter which one you use if it works for you and you are familiar with it. In the case you mention, it probably irrelevant since the middle is so far off the subtitles are probably from an edited version of the movie.

[abolibibelot]

Even if these was really the only subtitle file available for that movie, it would still be possible to synchronize groups of lines separately, while either removing extra lines, or adding what's missing. But that would be surprising — that movie may have a lousy reputation, yet the Highlander franchise has enough cult following that there should be many versions for every single edit in existence.
And it may have more underlying symbolism than meets the eye at first glance of those big shiny swords hidden in raincoats, which would make it somewhat relevant to the current state of things regarding these things... (I'm getting the bad habit of writing in Bill Gates english, it's going to be difficult to get rid of this thing if I don't think of something to quickly improve things.)