Subitles that can be turned On/Off

[maubp]

Anything requiring OCR like methods to turn DVD subtitle tracks (which are bitmaps - pictures rather than text) into plain text would certainly be nightmare.

I would hope that "simply" dumping raw DVD subtitles into an mp4 file directly "Nero style", looking at the gpac / MP4Box (LGPL) code for clues, would just be a lot of work (rather than an awful lot of work)

For those of you wanting to use the results in iTunes, on the Apple TV, or an iPod then as kneeslasher said, we really need to wait and see exactly what Apple have decided to support...

[hawkman]

a lot of work (rather than an awful lot of work)

Well, indeed. There are different degrees of impossibility.

[kneeslasher]

Agreed: OCR is a pain. But many R1 DVDs have proper CCs as text. I remember using McPoodle's tools for extracting them (as text, no OCR) years ago.

Since iTunes now has CC support (so far unwitnessed though), iPod support should hopefully be the logical next step for Apple.

[mrluohua]

I would hope that "simply" dumping raw DVD subtitles into an mp4 file directly "Nero style", looking at the gpac / MP4Box (LGPL) code for clues, would just be a lot of work (rather than an awful lot of work)

@maubp, or anyone else, do you know any windows (or linux) based tools where I could manually rip/extract the subtitles in the "picture" form (not OCR) ..?

I have a little script that I use to rip all titles using handbrake .. it would be great if I could add in my script to also rip all subtitle tracks, hopefully that would be playable by VLC.

This would be an ok workaround until there is enough need for the handbrake authors to write it into handbrake.

Again, thanks !!

[kneeslasher]

The old vobsub tools surely still work?

[kneeslasher]

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthre ... adid=78694

"...and has a setting for turning on closed captions. That apparently would only work on iTunes purchased content that specifically supports captions. None of the content I've downloaded supports captions, and there is no standard way to add captions to video, so perhaps Apple will be announcing new accessibility features to its iTunes content in the future."

[kneeslasher]

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... ID=5297086

The ability exists. It is just (for now) limited to the new Nanos.

[eddyg]

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... ID=5297086

The ability exists. It is just (for now) limited to the new Nanos.

The last post on that thread points to the fact that this feature may be limited to when displaying the video on a TV and not on the Nanos own screen.

Cheers, Ed.

[kneeslasher]

Yeah: I saw that too, I do hope it isn't the case.

[zindi]

i would also like to request the feature of "soft" subtitles in an mp4 container and the ability to have more than one set of subtitles.
overlaying subtitles just don't work for multiple languages.

please.

thanks to the programmers for all there hard work!

[kneeslasher]

How to almost get soft subs working without bothering the developers:

http://handbrake.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4172

[phase]

IMHO it would be great if there was just an option to specify some paths to .ttxt/.srt/.sub files together with a description of the language, so that one could package timed text subs within the final MP4. Granted, it would still require some effort, but developers would not have to mess around with OCR and users would have the option of including subs that they have personally verified, in a standardized manner.

I mean, if we are going to start packaging VOBsubs, why not also allow for AC3 audio in MP4 containers? IIRC, that's just as Evil. The way I see it, we are using these high-end codecs to save precious real-estate, right? The average Timed Text filesize for subtitles of a 2-hour movie is about 150-200 KB per language, where do VOB'd subtitles start off, a few hundred megs? Just a curiousity...

[jbrjake]

The way I see it, we are using these high-end codecs to save precious real-estate, right? The average Timed Text filesize for subtitles of a 2-hour movie is about 150-200 KB per language, where do VOB'd subtitles start off, a few hundred megs?

?!

...

.vob subs are like 4 megs, including both the bitmaps and the timing index.

[phase]

?!

...

.vob subs are like 4 megs, including both the bitmaps and the timing index.

As stated, just a curiousity. Thanks for satisfying! No need to get all #$^(*! ...

Still, being able to store text as text remains bliss!

[s55]

There is always
http://www.amazon.com/C-Dummies-2nd-Dan ... 914&sr=8-1

[phase]

There is always
http://www.amazon.com/C-Dummies-2nd-Dan ... 914&sr=8-1

Thanks for the hint, Scott. But being the lazy ass that I am, think I'll just stick around and wait for you slackers to mellow out and write soft sub support anyway... in another ... 5 years or so.. Or even later, since I started [Censored] about it?

[dynaflash]

Or even later, since I started [Censored] about it?

Sounds about right .

[kneeslasher]

http://handbrake.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4172

I just got it working. We can now take Closed Captions or Subtitles from a DVD and slap them into a Handbrake ripped m4v. This gives the Holy Grail of soft subs on the iPhone/iTunes/QuickTime/iPod. Check it out, I just tried it with a sample file.

Other CC/subs thread similarly notified.

[wunderbaren]

Where can we find information about the new subtitle feature in Quicktime/iTunes? Is that someting that's going to be implented in Handbrake?