[Solved] Is it possible to burn .ass file into video?

[rem]

Hi,

Sorry if this turns out to be a recurring question. I'm baffled that I receive no errors when trying to burn .ass subtitle into a video even though the output video is without it. How to do it? No problem with srt files but I need it because my TV cannot change font color (white) which is more often than not, unreadable.

Using v0.10.2.

[Woodstock]

Substation Alpha files have to be merged into the source to be burned in. If your source is an MKV file, you can use mkvmerge (google will find it) to insert the .ass into the MKV.

And yes, burning in is the best way to go on SSA/ASS files, because support for stylized fonts, let alone the more advanced features, is poor at best (non-existent usually) in most consumer devices.

[rem]

Thanks Woodstock,

I have installed, mkvmerge utility, merged the ass subtitle and now it shows when played on my desktop but, I'm still at a loss as to how to burn it into the video?

Edit: I have just tried the merged mkv video on the TV and the subtitle shows, but again in white colors and even smaller font size than when an external srt file is provided so, indeed, it should be burned-in only, being a noob, I don't know how.

[mduell]

Choose burn in for that subtitle track in HB.

[rem]

Choose burn in for that subtitle track in HB.

I did, except, that only works for srt subtitles.

[Woodstock]

I've burned a number of .ass subtitles in with handbrake - it has to be in the file when you load it into handbrake, you select it like other subtitles, and check "burn in".

Your log for the encode would be VERY handy in seeing what you're doing....

[mduell]

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[rem]

I've burned a number of .ass subtitles in with handbrake - it has to be in the file when you load it into handbrake, you select it like other subtitles, and check "burn in".

Your log for the encode would be VERY handy in seeing what you're doing....

I'm not quite sure what do you mean by "has to be in the file" - it is an existing ASS subtitle file which I add via Subtitle List tab's "Add" button. I don't see any other way. However, the resultant video file, for some reason, is invariably lacking the anticipated hard-coded subtitle...

Anyway, I just saw that ffmpeg can burn-in subtitles of this kind if -vf flag is specified which is simple enough so, I consider my problem solved.

Thanks for your replies.

[Woodstock]

What I meant by "has to be in the file" is that you combine your video source file with the .ass file to make one file, then encode the result. If your source is an MKV or MP4 file, mkvmerge can add the .ass to it, creating an MKV that handbrake can work with.

If your source is a DVD, that doesn't work... You need to rip the title first.

[rem]

^Thanks Woodstock,

I did that (combine video and subtitle via mkvmerge as per your advice) but these I were unable to see later on from within HB and burn, thereof. I don't know what is the latest release for Linux, maybe the one I've installed from Ubuntu 16.04 repos is dated and lacks the feature. Though, it was burning SRTs fine.

[rollin_eng]

You should only get HB from here:

https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archiv ... e-releases

[mduell]

Could have figured that out about 23 hours sooner if the OP had provided the mandatory log. What a doof.