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  1. Member
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    Nov 2019
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    Latin America
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    I've been writing programs to run tests and process subtitles of different formats, and for now it's been very useful even though I also use Subtile Edit and Aegisub. However, I'm usually just processing files that tend to have correct formatting, and I'd like to make sure all format errors—and inconsistencies—are handled in the most accurate way. Unfortunately, it seems that there is no formal documentation for SRT subtitles. There is some documentation here but it's far from complete, and I found an old post in another forum in which a user said they interpreted some specifications from the source code of the SubRip program. Maybe I'm missing something very basic, but I really haven't been able to see that source code.

    Given this situation, I'd like to know which video player or subtitle editor would be more reliable to use as a reference. I've manually introduced some changes that could result in errors in a .srt file to run tests in Aegisub, Subtitle Edit and VLC media player, and found different behaviors. Please see the following examples:

    Error: No empty line between subtitles.

    1
    00:00:10,343 --> 00:00:15,246
    This is the first subtitle.
    2
    00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:22,246
    This is the second subtitle.

    In this case, Aegisub and VLC media player don't see two subtitles, but one subtitle with four lines. You see the '2', the '00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:22,246', and the 'This is the second subtitle.' lines as the second, third, and fourth lines of the first subtitle, respectively. But Subtitle Edit decodes the file as if there was an empty line between the subtitles. This may seem like a good guess and be "helpful" in many cases, but it also seems to contradict the part that says, "4. A blank line indicating the start of a new subtitle" here.


    Error: Text lines without subtitle number or timestamp line

    1
    00:00:10,343 --> 00:00:15,246
    This is the first subtitle.

    This is some "orphan" line.

    2
    00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:22,246
    This is the second subtitle.


    In this case, VLC media player ignores the "orphan" line, but Aegisub and Subtitle Edit see the first subtitle as having three lines—it's actual line, an empty line, and the "orphan" line—which seems probably not very accurate, according to that documentation by Matroska.


    There are other cases, but I think those two are enough as examples of what I mean. I'd like to know which one of these is more reliable as to how these "errors" should be interpreted, or if there is another video player that I can trust more. Even pointing me to a place where I can see the SubRip source code would be helpful—although more time consuming.


    Thanks in advance.
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  2. I've tried a bunch recently on Linux Mint.

    KDenlive even got the speech recognition setup but it would just freeze my computer once I hit start. It's just way too unstable for me. I tried latest and also stable both appimages and crashes way too often or freezes up.

    Shotcut said they'll eventually include subtitle support but might be a few years.

    SubtitleEdit - Had to install mono-complete what a mess to get SubEdit to work and it does have that Fix common errors feature which is nice and seems like it's the most advanced but I don't recommend it for Linux users just window users.

    Subtitld-master played around with installed from source and ran the python program but figured out how to add subs but not quite yet with the keyboard. Yes the keyboard shortcuts do work but I mean like navigate to the next or previous subs with keyboard not sure yet. This one on their website has a UFS specification listed cuz they use that as their default subtitle. I know you want specs to SubRip SRT but reading that document does explain how it's changed it recent years.

    In guessing right now subtitld might be the one if I can figure it out.
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  3. Member
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    Originally Posted by mrbass View Post
    I've tried a bunch recently on Linux Mint.

    KDenlive even got the speech recognition setup but it would just freeze my computer once I hit start. It's just way too unstable for me. I tried latest and also stable both appimages and crashes way too often or freezes up.

    Shotcut said they'll eventually include subtitle support but might be a few years.

    SubtitleEdit - Had to install mono-complete what a mess to get SubEdit to work and it does have that Fix common errors feature which is nice and seems like it's the most advanced but I don't recommend it for Linux users just window users.

    Subtitld-master played around with installed from source and ran the python program but figured out how to add subs but not quite yet with the keyboard. Yes the keyboard shortcuts do work but I mean like navigate to the next or previous subs with keyboard not sure yet. This one on their website has a UFS specification listed cuz they use that as their default subtitle. I know you want specs to SubRip SRT but reading that document does explain how it's changed it recent years.

    In guessing right now subtitld might be the one if I can figure it out.

    Thank you very much for your reply and the information, mrbass.

    Well, of these I think I can try SubtitId, since the others, as I have seen, are video editors. They very well comply correctly with SRT "specifications" but I may find some behavior similar to what I found with Subtitle Edit, Aegisub and VLC.

    Subtitle Edit is great, but I'd like to get some confirmation about the correctness of what it does in the cases I mentioned.

    Thanks again.
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