I don't seem to understand how to make VobSub to capture the titles on a DVD. I open the file, apparently loading the subtitle files and all, but when I press OK on the main page nothing happens. What am I missing that I am not doing?
Use software SubRip. Guide: http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/subrip.htm (part 1 is only you need to do) Guide: http://www.nanomessiah.com/dvd-backup/subrip.html
Run "VobSub Configure". Open, Browse to the folder of your DVD files and in "Files of type" Select to open IFO and Vobs. Select the VTS_01_0.IFO of your DVD, click open, then browse for an output folder, then click OK. When the "Select PGC window" opens pick the subs you want from the right window, select them with the arrow to the left window. (I can't remember what happens if you don't pick particular subs, but just click OK anyway, it might work fine that way too. It's been too long since I used Vobsub, I can't remember). Click OK, Vobsub will then rip the subs. You now have the ripped subtitles of the DVD (in sub/idx format) in your selected folder.
OK. I did that. Now I have two files, but I can't open any of them in Subtitle Workshop. I need to convert them onto srt types, which SW does... as long as the file is something it can read. Where do I go from here?
Subtitle Workshop is only designed to open text based subs, not bitmapped subs (sub/idx) which Vobsub generates. If you want to rip subs in text format that you can open in Subtitle Workshop, then you would need to use an app like Subrip, as OneMember recommended.
I never could make Subrip to work. What I need is a subtitle I can use to re-author a DVD using DVDLabPro. As in this case I am converting a PAL DVD onto NTSC, the original files are lost. So I need to capture the original PAL subtitles and use them on the NTSC version. Sync won't be lost.
Well, Subrip sounds like the right software for what you are trying to do. Try these steps to get it to work: Idenitfy the Vob files only associated with the main movie. You want to open the first one in that set with Subrip. File, Open Vob's, Open Dir, and pick the first vob file for the movie, (it will be the VOB ending in 1, not 0, e.g. VTS_01_1.vob) Then Open, Start. Subrip will then highlight the first character and then you hit the keyboard to tell it what character it is. Subrip goes to the next character etc. It's seems slow at the beginning but it gets faster because it remembers each character. When you get to the end of the movie click File, Save As, and give your .srt file a name.
I think I must be missing some program or something that Subrip needs. I load the vob file alright, they open > start > numbers run... but that's all. Nothing else, no character comes on, etc. I seem to recall there was some program that had to be installed in order for Subrip to work, but I don't remember which.
OK. At last I could get my DVD subs. But it was not easy. To start with the Subrip version I was using (1.30b8) did not work as it should. I had to download the latest version (1.50b3) and that did the job. Then came the files that I needed, which had to be srt. But when you want to export the ripped file from Subrip it will ask you if you want ANSI instead of Unicode. Try both versions and see which works for you. In my case Unicode did it.
