Anybody got any suggestions - I have a Eng movie that had a lot of criticism when it came out as dvd because there were no subtitles for any of the south american dialogue which took up a good deal of the movie. Anyway, I found the only subs for this are in two files (meant for two cd's of course) and I only have one avi. I joined these two with subtitle workshop and I wonder if it is possible to try and adjust them to fit the avi!!!!!
When I had to make subtitles smaller I did it in DVDlabpro, but I would guess that any subtitle editor would do it.
Many thanks for replying so quickly. The problem is not the size but trying to get them to start at the appropriate time, because it is basically English audio (The Emerald Forest) and the subs only appear when the "natives" are talking to one another makes it more difficult. I tried running the video and subs through subtitle workshop, but the subs in various places, then appeared big and over the top of the smaller text, most odd. I will try again before I give up completely.
You will need to adjust the timestamp (proper term?) either by manually chagning when a subtitle appears or by doing an offset. If you want to move all subs by say 5 seconds ahead, then offset by 5 seconds and all sub will move the same amount. I do not have much experience with subtitles, so I cannot solve the problem, but I can give you a theoretical solution: What you can try is to split the avi and separate the part that needs the subs. Then open the subs in a sub editor and delete all but the subs you will need for that part of the movie. Then generate a new subtitle file (do not overwrite the old one). After that you can do the same for the other parts of the movie. Make sure the start times are correct with the subs. You can then re-author the movie in something like DVDlabpro. Make a menu for subtitles just in case you have problems pulling up the subtitle change with your DVD player.
Thanks for your information. I like the idea of offsetting as that sounds the easiest to start with. I reckon I will need to offset by around 10 mins!! I will also try and get hold of the two programs you mention. I have never done anything like this before so I daresay I am trying to walk before running. Thanks again
Well, I downloaded sub edit, nice program, thank you for suggesting it. I thought I had figured it out and got the first sub starting more or less where it should, so hit the sync button and saved but when I played with the avi file, it was even worse than before and the subs started right at the beginning as the metro lion was roaring!!! Being a complete novice I think I have bitten off more than I can chew. I dont know how to offset, thought that would be easy and lazy, just keep offsetting until I more or less got there as it is not a proper subtitled movie, but couldnt even do that, what an idiot?? Must give it a rest for a while and take some headache pain killers!!!
Yeah, just go have an ice cream or a cold beer and relax. When trying to do stuff like this, you will usually get frustrated and start making mistakes.
well... I remember my first tries of pasting and timing 2 subtitle files to each other. It was a pain in the neck. Now I know howto do it. I have subtitleworkshop to get the offsets like they have to be and subtitle creator for pasting em and saving em to [moviename]_Joined.srt I've done it with several movies now.
Thanks for your message. If you get the time, could you please give me a simple (because I am simple) step by step instruction of how you did it, as I know absolutely nothing. Hopefully I can return the favour. I do know how to increase the volume with avi now and also adjust the audio sync, you probably know all of this but if not, will be happy to send you my instructions.
it's real easy. just download subtitlestudio and make sure part 1 is synced to the audio. then past part 1 and 2 together using subtitle creator. look at the first sentence of part 2 and look at the time of the pasted subtitle. Compare it to the avi. let's say the pasted subtitle file has the first line of sub_part2 after 00:59:33.45 and it should be after 00:59:35.40 you open the second subtitle file in subtitle studio and place a delay of 2 seconds in there. save it paste it again and you will see the new pasted part 1 and 2 will be cool. If you can't work this out. hand me the movie file (via ftp or some way) the 2 subs and I will do it for ya.
