New SUBtools beta

Hi All,
I just wanted to send out an FYI for MP4tools users that have registered for the VIDEOtoolbox suite of tools. SUBtools, the 4th tool in the suite, has finally undergone some serious revisions and should prove of actual use as an accessory to MP4tools. Newly added/fixed functionality include:

• Convert graphics-based subtitles (vobsub and pgs) to text based subtitles (only SRT for now). It's still rough, with only an English dictionary supported, but this will be expanded with future updates. It does let you edit the OCR "guesses" though.
  
• Convert SSA/ASS subtitles to SRT subtitles. Includes tools to fix common problems like time conflicts that can crop up with these types of conversions due to the nature of SSA/ASS subtitles.
  
• Open SRT files and fix common problems including time conflicts created by poor conversion from another format, "blank line" errors, and converting the text encoding to UTF8 which is needed by MP4tools. It'll also cycle through different encodings to find one that will open the file properly if you don't know the encoding used.

You'll find it on the EmmGunn website. As always, feel free to use the beta e-mail address to submit feedback.

 

FYI, a new beta was just uploaded:

• The OCR was updated so the accuracy should be greatly improved when converting PGS or VOBSUB to SRT.
• Spell checking was added for graphic to text conversions.
• The speed of the graphic to text conversion should be improved.
• It's still only english and there is some tweaking still needed (it seems to love the "|" character ).

Keep the feedback coming. As always, the beta e-mail address works best.

Cheers.

 

There's a new beta.

• Can now specify characters to ignore during vobsub/pgs subtitle conversion
  
• Helper Applications/Tools are now copied to an EmmGunn Folder in the user's Application Support Folder
  
• Fixed multiple Mavericks bugs
  
• Fixed multiple thread related bugs

Keep the feedback coming.

Cheers.

 

Integration between apps in the VIDEOtoolbox suite has finally been implemented (in this case between MP4tools and SUBtools). You can now send subtitle tracks back and forth between MP4tools and SUBtools. So you can, for example, open an MKV in MP4tools, send a vobsub track to SUBtools, convert it to SRT, check the conversion, spelling,... and then send it back to MP4tools to mux it into an m4v video. Note you must be using the latest betas of both apps.

Bug reports have been diminishing, so if you are seeing a major bug and are assuming someone else will report it, that's not happening. So be sure to submit a report if needed.

Cheers.

 

For now, SUBtools will only output SRT subtitles. I'm working on some pesky memory/threading bugs and once those are taken care of, the plan is to add SSA/ASS output so that subtitles can be formatted for burning in MP4tools. I hadn't planned on adding VOBSUB output, but if there is demand for it, I'll take look at the feasibility of adding that feature.