Ripping DVD with soft subtitles

[rbrian]

I've started ripping my DVD collection, and I'd like to do it with soft subtitles. For some reason handbrake will only add burned in subtitles, but it does let you add a .srt subtitle file. Great, but handbrake can't extract it from the DVD. Can anyone recommend an app for extracting .srt files from DVDs, or suggest another way? Preferably compatible with Lion, but I have a Snow Leopard boot drive, so PowerPC apps are possible. Of course I'd prefer free, but I'll pay a moderate amount for a properly working app.

 

[obsidian1200]

Firstly, understand that .srt subtitles are not stored on DVDs. DVDs use toggleable vobsubs (which you can toggle on and off in an .mkv container). As such, there's no way to easily extract .srt subtitles from a DVD. You would have to download a program (such as avidemux) that uses recognition techniques to convert the vobsubs (usually stored as a bitmap image) to text .srt subtitles. I personally think this process is quite tedious, so I don't even bother.

Luckily, there are plenty of websites that allow you to download .srt subtitles for free. I'd recommend checking them out to see if they have the subtitles you want before going through the hassle of converting the vobsubs yourself.

 

[slothrob]

Just be careful. After opensubtitles.org hijacked my browser I decided to skip the .srt subtitles.

 

[rbrian]

Ok, thanks for your replies. It does seem like a lot of effort to get the subs off the DVD, so I'll try downloads (with flash disabled, adblockers, etc). If that causes problems, I'll have a go with avidemux and see how that goes. I didn't realise it would be so difficult - my DVD player manages!

 

[aziatiklover]

way too much work I rather get my sub on subscene.

 

[hafr]

I've started ripping my DVD collection, and I'd like to do it with soft subtitles. For some reason handbrake will only add burned in subtitles, but it does let you add a .srt subtitle file. Great, but handbrake can't extract it from the DVD. Can anyone recommend an app for extracting .srt files from DVDs, or suggest another way? Preferably compatible with Lion, but I have a Snow Leopard boot drive, so PowerPC apps are possible. Of course I'd prefer free, but I'll pay a moderate amount for a properly working app.

If you uncheck the box "Burned in" next to the subtitles you choose, they won't be burned in...

 

[rbrian]

If you uncheck the box "Burned in" next to the subtitles you choose, they won't be burned in...

That's the first thing I tried - they weren't burned in - they weren't there at all. I tried all the options in every combination. Default doesn't seem to do anything, forced only shows only forced ones, burned in burns them in. I used the latest version of handbrake, freshly downloaded from their website, and tried playing back in QuickTime and iTunes, both the latest versions. I'm not interested in using another playback app, I want AirPlay, and easy transfers to ios devices.

 

[aziatiklover]

have you tried to rip the dvd then add the sub file? That's wat I used to do for my ps3 to read avi file with sub.

 

[hafr]

That's the first thing I tried - they weren't burned in - they weren't there at all. I tried all the options in every combination. Default doesn't seem to do anything, forced only shows only forced ones, burned in burns them in. I used the latest version of handbrake, freshly downloaded from their website, and tried playing back in QuickTime and iTunes, both the latest versions. I'm not interested in using another playback app, I want AirPlay, and easy transfers to ios devices.

I just realized QuickTime doesn't even open my rips with subtitles, and iTunes doesn't acknowledge the subtitles... How odd.

 

[dynaflash]

For apple devices make sure the suffix (extension) is .m4v instead of the usual .mp4. Then ios devices should recognize the soft subs, including quicktime.

 

[potatis]

I use D-subtitler for this, but all the words often have spelling errors, but that could depend on if it's English or not.

 

[rbrian]

I had a go at avidemux, but as there's no option to flag italics the ocr didn't work very well. I'm now transcoding one with three downloaded srt files, to compare them.

The trouble with downloads is that there are so many of them, most with no useful notes to give you a clue which version they belong to. Shouldn't be a problem with the tv box sets I'm starting with, but when I get to my films, I have several extended editions. That'll be tedious and time consuming, but that's for the future.

 

[slothrob]

For apple devices make sure the suffix (extension) is .m4v instead of the usual .mp4. Then ios devices should recognize the soft subs, including quicktime.

I didn't know softsubs would work on other iOS devices, but not the aTV2. Seems like a rather large oversight for the aTV2. Do you know if it physically isn't capable of the task or if it has just not been programmed to do it?

rbrian, adding softsubs through Handbrake (and making sure the file is named .m4v) definitely adds them, as they can be seen through VLC. They just aren't recognized by the aTV2.

On occasional disks, closed captions are included. Those can be added to a .m4v and displayed by the aTV2.

 

[Kaelbron]

Hi there,

I have at home some DVD movies and series that I would like to get down to my computer and iPad. I'm trying to learn English like to have soft subtitles so you can set whether you want subtitles or not.

What are you reading this thread, it's quite complicated, it is still the case?

 

[dynaflash]

I didn't know softsubs would work on other iOS devices, but not the aTV2. Seems like a rather large oversight for the aTV2. Do you know if it physically isn't capable of the task or if it has just not been programmed to do it?

rbrian, adding softsubs through Handbrake (and making sure the file is named .m4v) definitely adds them, as they can be seen through VLC. They just aren't recognized by the aTV2.

On occasional disks, closed captions are included. Those can be added to a .m4v and displayed by the aTV2.

All of the atvs recognize soft subs (text or 3gpp to be specific) in .m4v, including the original atv 1.

 

[priitv8]

All of the atvs recognize soft subs (text or 3gpp to be specific) in .m4v, including the original atv 1.

If I remember correctly, some version of HB did mess up the soft sub track but with the last build I've had no troubles.
The problem with ripped DVDs (and most BDs) is that they don't contain text subs at all. They are bitmaps and need to be OCR-ed to become a text first. I use Subler for this. But emmgunn has a similar tool available as well.

 

[slothrob]

If the movie has Closed Captions (CC), they are text and can be added easily without OCR. They will also have cues to tell you that there is music, that phones ring, and doors creak. If those don't bother you, they are often the quickest and easiest solution.