Need help with subtitles...

[Pyromonkey83]

Howdy you wonderful MacRumors peoples.

I am currently in the process of making a home movie of my family's trip to China/Japan. It was filmed in 1080p and I will soon be finished editing, and as such will be transferring it to Blu Rays for family and friends. There are quite a few moments in the movie where Chinese/Japanese words are said, and I would like to add subtitles to those parts to help with comprehension. There is a problem with this, however.

So far as I can tell (with tests on my own personal blu ray player) there is no support for .SRT subtitles. This means I need to convert to either VOBSUB or PGS and/or remake them in one of those formats. My first idea was to use Subtitle Creator as I've heard a lot about it. I found a significant problem, however, which is that it appears to not support 1080p VOBSUB subtitles (actually, I don't even know if this is possible?).

When I ran the final movie through handbrake as a test with VOBSUB's burnt in, my subtitles were tiny and off to the left as if it expected only 480p resolution.

Does anyone have a program where I can write my own subtitles in either PGS or VOBSUB format specifically for 1080p resolution?

Thanks!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If it's a home movie, you could just use the text tools in your movie editing software to lay the subtitles right onto the frames and "burn them in" when you render the movie. This would be just like overlaying a title. It would allow you to pick the exact size, font, font color, etc you desire and put it wherever you want on the screen. If you are looking for the combination of easy and works with everything, this is probably THE way.

 

[Pyromonkey83]

I have considered this option.... I would prefer not to just so that I can keep the full movie untarnished. I know it is weird, and I may be out of luck in this department, would just love to know if it is possible!

 

[mic j]

I have considered this option.... I would prefer not to just so that I can keep the full movie untarnished. I know it is weird, and I may be out of luck in this department, would just love to know if it is possible!

Would Jubler be an option?

 

[Pyromonkey83]

Would Jubler be an option?

I could be wrong, but i was under the impression Jubler only did .SRT subtitles? Is there a VOBSUB export function?!

 

[priitv8]

I could be wrong, but i was under the impression Jubler only did .SRT subtitles? Is there a VOBSUB export function?!

Nope. But if I'm not mistaken, text subtitles are also part of BD spec, not just the PGS subs.
You just need the BD mastering program, that will let you mux in the SRT subs into BD video stream.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I have considered this option.... I would prefer not to just so that I can keep the full movie untarnished. I know it is weird, and I may be out of luck in this department, would just love to know if it is possible!

Understood. Consider rendering 2 versions then: untarnished (no subtitles) and tarnished. I still think it will prove to be the easiest way to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Yes, you can jump through some hoops to create blu-ray like subtitles as SRT files or vobsubs but if this is a home movie, that's a lot of work (lots of identifying accurate times for insertions) for non-broadcast video. It certainly can be done though… if you want to go to that much trouble.

 

[Pyromonkey83]

Understood. Consider rendering 2 versions then: untarnished (no subtitles) and tarnished. I still think it will prove to be the easiest way to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Yes, you can jump through some hoops to create blu-ray like subtitles as SRT files or vobsubs but if this is a home movie, that's a lot of work (lots of identifying accurate times for insertions) for non-broadcast video. It certainly can be done though… if you want to go to that much trouble.

I'm not worried about the time required to do this. I plan on having other instances where this may be required down the line as well, and learning how to do this now would prevent me from having to reconvert with an inferior program (AKA iMovie) and lose out on the quality of my camera's original footage. Also, with the amount of stuff I convert on a daily basis, keeping two copies will not be viable in the long run. There is around 16 hours of RAW footage, and I planned on keeping about 12 of it, which takes up nearly 45 GB even after my original handbrake encode (closer to 90GB prior).

I understand that the time required to find timestamps and write each individual subtitle out will certainly be an endeavor each time, but I'd rather do it the right way and feel better about it in the end.

P.S. - I still have not found a program which can actually do this =[

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

With this added information, I suggest ignoring iMovie and stepping up to FCP X or similar. Your shooting too much video to be using the "toy" version of a video editor.

If you don't care about your time investment, you can create the time index + subtitles in a text editor. See a simplistic description here: http://www.ehow.com/how_6901846_create-srt-file.html, then use Handbrake or Subler to "attach" the file to your video. Jubler is a good option too. But again, it's a lot of work for your purposes. You'll likely find it much simpler/quicker to use the video editor text tool and just burn your subtitles into the video. Even the pros do this in some movies.

Some of your comment makes me think you might be shooting in something beyond 1080p and are concerned about having to redo the above solution in the future when the rest of your playback gear might "catch up" to what you can shoot now. If you are worried about maximizing resolution quality in the future, render the max resolution now as a kind of master file and then render a second version as the present day file (resolution). For example, if you are shooting with a 4K or 8K camera, render a master file at 4K or 8K. Then, from that master you can convert a second file down to current playback standards (maybe 1080p). Keep the 4K or 8K version for the future. Enjoy the 1080p version now.

Steps: perfect your footage exactly as you want it in the editor. Render it to it's max as a Pro Res file. This will be a HUGE file. Then, run that through Handbrake to compress it down. Use HB to render a compressed master file (same max resolution, etc) as well as a version that fits whatever (less than max resolution target) you want today. Store both. Use the latter today and have the former for tomorrow.

Since both will have been compressed by HB, you won't need the Pro Res render anymore (freeing up lots of space) and you can jettison the raw footage in the editor as you'll have already perfected the video by creating your master version. This will free up lots of storage space while retaining a polished master file at the max resolution at which it was shot. Eventually- when playback hardware catches up with that max resolution- you retire the 1080p version and replace it with the master file.

All that said though, if you still want to maintain "pristine" (separation of video & subtitles), you can do it with a text editor or Jubler, then HB or Subler or similar tools.

 

[priitv8]

I understand that the time required to find timestamps and write each individual subtitle out will certainly be an endeavor each time, but I'd rather do it the right way and feel better about it in the end.

Actually, Jubler will do this an easy & visual task, but it has to play back your clip in the first place. In my experience, it's not always the case for Jubler, at least under OS X because Jubler relies on Java JRE.

 

[Pyromonkey83]

Thanks to everyone for their assistance. I finally managed to stumble upon a modified version of subtitle creator here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/djj3zznixnm/Subtitle.Creator.2.2.HD.IDX.SUB.PETERD.rar

This happens to do EXACTLY what I was hoping for and works perfectly with my blu ray player (tested last night)! Also, @HobeSoundDarryl, I really want to try using FCP X but I sadly don't have $300 laying around to purchase such an expensive program for something as piddly as my uses. iMovie for the most part does the trick as I can just crop out what don't want and keep what I do want.

I am also only shooting in 1080p by the way, I have a Sony Handycam HDR-XR160 and also a Canon EOS Rebel T2i both of which shoot in 1080p. The Handycam does most of the work @ 60fps while the T2i does it @ 30fps, and generally in the final Handbrake encode I will crop out half of the frames anyway to save space (especially because I can't seem to tell for the life of me the difference when watching it on my TV).

Either way, for future reference for all involved parties, if you are looking to make your own VOBSUB or SUP files @ 1080p or 720p resolutions the link above will work for you!

EDIT: Also just an fyi it is windows only, thank god I have parallels...