Subtitle Sync Error

[Jo The Veteran]

The subject title may appear common however i assure you it is not.
I encountered the error in vob riped subtitles from mkvs which i converted into srt ussing subrip.
Somewhere in the sub (it's random-differs from sub to sub) happens a strange desynchronization. The next line of the subtitle pops out of nowhere, in a wrong time value, and the other lines following it take it's place in the time values. I'll let the picture talk for me for a while.(Please save the picture and use an external editor at 100% size in order to see it if you use a resolution of 1024x768 or lower).



The underlined "Mm. I see." line (101) that shows on the screen, should actually say the content of line 100.
Reasonable to assume that i've tried to sync the whole subtitle ussing the two timevalue points, first spoken line and last, but due to the oddity of this error this was impossible. It is logical from a point of view because when i try to sync the lines with the speech, it's like i try to sinc a right line in a right subtitle with the wrong sound.
So what i need is a tool that will transfer the whole subtitle 1 or more lines of time values up or down.
Any ideas?
One last thing. Pleeeeasee.. don't tell me to keep the subtitle in vob format, i would rather eat my pc and kill myself with a shovel by digging my own grave. Needless to say what is my opinion about this format.

[Bjs]

I don't work in subtitleworkshop ... it's not that smart ... it's a good conversion tool , and that's about all .

Visualsubsync is much better at looping the video point of interest , so you can set the different timing value for the sub from this point accurately .
You then use the tool's , and allow it to adjust the sub timing value's from this point till end ... you supply the shift amount ... done .

You may only need to reset the time for this area , so it dose not affect those that follow .
In this case , use those "time" feature's down to the left of subtitleworkshop and readjust the timing for it only , then save when happy .

[AlanHK]

If you have Excel:

In Subtitle Workshop, load your sub and convert to MicroDVD format.

You'll get a file like:

{1}{1}29.970
{992}{1064}Last orders, please.
{1259}{1319}Shaun.|-- Yeah?
{1322}{1418}Do you see what I'm saying?|-- Yeah, totally.
{1451}{1531}I know he's your best friend|but you do live with him.
{1534}{1578}I know...

The important thing is that each sub is on a single line, linebreaks are |, the figures in braces are the timings in frame numbers. This way you won't lose sync with the times.

Open this file in a text editor.
Search and replace
}
with
}\

Now select ALL (control-A in most editors),
Now you open Excel.
Paste.
You now have one column full of text.
While this is selected, choose "Data|Text to columns"
Select "Delimited"
Next: Select "Delimiter" as "Other", type the \ in the box, make "text qualifier" NONE.
Choose "Column Data format" as TEXT for every column.
Now you should have three columns, col 1 and 2 the times, col 3 the text.

Select col 3 from line 99 on and cut, then paste one row lower ( I think that's what you want to do?)

Now select all three columns, copy, paste into the text editor.
Search and replace for TABS (probably ^t) and replace with nothing.
Save as file.sub.

Load this in Subtitle Workshop, save as whatever format.

[Jo The Veteran]

I'll try both, thanks you guys

[Jo The Veteran]

AlanHK, although your method works, i've stumbled uppon some unpredictable behavior. It seems that what started as a problem in subrip in line 100 had it's sideffects spread out the whole time values collums, little changes here and there. The sub, althought corrected by your method is now full of wrong times values that i couldn't detect previously because or the desync. I'll try to subrip again and see if anything happens. Althought what you said might help me in the future, i'll check Bjs Visualsubsync solution as well.
Thanks again.

[Jo The Veteran]

It's confrirmed! Subrip messes up the sub beyond repair. I got errors about the times codes in the end of the rip. Any ideas? I'll also try newer versions of subrip if there are any. I used 1.50b3 for the rip.

[AlanHK]

Try DVDSubedit.

It can show you the subtitles in the VOBs. Perhaps if there are errors you can see and fix them with that (it can change times, positions, etc).
It can also rip them to SRT with OCR.

[Jo The Veteran]

But the subtitle is not in .vob format from a DVD. I just uses the same system that dvds use as subtitle. It's actually inside an .mkv file and when i rip it with mkvextract 2 files emerge, one .sub and one .idx.

[AlanHK]

Try SubtoSup, which (not surprisingly) converts Subs to Sup files.

Then you can open the Sup in DVDSubedit, or Subtitle Creator, or Supview.

[manusse]

No need for SubToSup if you want to open sub files with SubtitleCreator because version 2.1 can directly open sub/idx files. You can then save them to sup if needed (for DVDSubEdit for example). Try it!

Cheers
Manusse

[Jo The Veteran]

I converted the idx into sup with subtosup, then opened it with DVDSubedit and got this error "Inconsistent data in subpic at LBA 0. Unknown command 218". After the error box i could see the sub and OCR it into srt until the line 30 or something (31-32), i'm not sure cause it's then when it crashes, and it crashes every time.
I couldn't do anything with SubtitleCreator because it doesn't operate sups or idxs as far as i saw.

[AlanHK]

I couldn't do anything with SubtitleCreator because it doesn't operate sups or idxs as far as i saw.

Tools/Manipulate Sup

Otherwise, with that or DVDSubedit, can you just resave the sup? Maybe make a minor reversible change, like moving a subtitle up?

[Jo The Veteran]

Ok, i used the SubtitleCreator 's tools to open the idx. I located somewhere between the lines 2 of them (95 and 168) which cause an error when i focus/underline them. I deleted those 2 and the sup managed to save fine (before that it would reach that point and then crash and by doing that create a dummy sup). Then i used DVDSubedit to OCR the sup and get a srt. I no longer have the problem i had at the begining however the sub is a bit off in sync.

[AlanHK]

get a srt. I no longer have the problem i had at the begining however the sub is a bit off in sync.

I find Subtitle Workshop very useful for resyncing.

The interface isn't very obvious, but read the help file to work out the buttons and shortcuts and it will be very easy to fix. Often just resetting the first and last times: Edit/Timings/Adjust; and the (1) and (2) buttons, gets it in sync.

Also, spellcheck your subs. OCR isn't perfect. Eg, common errors are confusing I (cap i) with l (small L) or 1 (number); etc.

[Jo The Veteran]

Ok, thanks for everything. However i can't help from wondering why did Subrip made all that mess? I use this program whenever i rip subs from dvds and never have i stuck so much.
Thanks again.

[AlanHK]

Ok, thanks for everything. However i can't help from wondering why did Subrip made all that mess? I use this program whenever i rip subs from dvds and never have i stuck so much.
Thanks again.

Since you were getting errors in every program that tried to open the sub, obviously it was corrupted in some way. You're lucky to be able to salvage it.

[Jo The Veteran]

Figured that already, however i don't believe it's corruption. I believe it's either rip-protection (if there is a thing like that for subtitles), or peculiar format used in the subtitle. You see i get similar errors in most mkvs i've got with an idx subtitle, and none in subtitles from dvds. Suffice it to say it kinda looks a bit suspicious.
It's an anoying procedure though, and i wouldn't do it is it weren't for the fact i'm a persistend/perfectionist son of a bitch. In any case someone else is also, here's the complete guide, just for the record, assembled by me (with serious help from AlanHK) on how it's done.

Rip the subtitle with mkvextract, load it into SubtitleCreator (tools tab),check the lines in the bottom right and delete those that bring out front errors and then save it as a sup file, then open it with DVDSubedit and OCR it to get an srt out of it, open the srt and the video file together with Subtitle Workshop and do some mini corrections if required, save and you're done.

Only 4 programs to get a sub from an mkv file into text file, you've gotta love it!

[manusse]

If you have Office 2003 installed, you can OCR the subtitle inside SubtitleCreator itself (it uses Office 2003 OCR) Tools->Recognize...
This means it could be possible to do it using 3 tools only.

Cheers
Manusse

[Jo The Veteran]

SubtitleCreator doesn't work, tried it. When trying to OCR the sup it crashes. Talking about a really fu$#@ up subtitle here... that or amazingly good rip-protected.

[AlanHK]

SubtitleCreator doesn't work, tried it. When trying to OCR the sup it crashes. Talking about a really fu$#@ up subtitle here... that or amazingly good rip-protected.

F***ed up I think. It's not like an MKVS is a commercial release, and screwing up a couple of subtitles is most likely accidental rather than deliberate.

[manusse]

When trying to OCR the sup it crashes

Probably because Office 2003 is not installed on the same PC.

Cheers
Manusse

[Jo The Veteran]

It so hapens that this is my machine and i know for sure that office 2003 IS installed. There's just something wrong with the subs inside those mkvs, no other way around it.

[Jo The Veteran]

Finally i find the 3rd post the most helpfull of all. After the procedure with excell you do a little tweaks here and there with subtitle workshop, originating at the points where the error first apears (the wrong line at wrong time value that is) and i can get a clean, syncronized sub.
Thanks everyone but mostly thanks AlanHK.