Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
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jsCP94
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:13 am

Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

Post by jsCP94 »

I'm trying to add soft subtitles and encode them into the mp4 file using handbrake, but when it's encoded, the formatting I used is ignored.

This is what I'm wondering: can you embed subtitles (that has formatting) into an mp4 file using handbrake, or can I only play an mp4 file using VLC, then open the subtitle file separately?

This is what I did prior to this point:

1. Created an MKV using "MakeMKV"
2. Used "gMKVextractGUI" to extract the .sup file
3. Used "Subtitle Extractor" to OCR the .sup file and save as .srt (later as .ass file)
4. Used "Aegisub" to format the text so it closely matches the original subtitles in the .sup file
5. Used "MKVToolnix" to mux the .ass file into a copy of the MKV made in step 1
6. Encode with Handbrake
Woodstock
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Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:39 am

Re: Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

Post by Woodstock »

If you aren't burning the subtitles in, you're at the mercy of the player, and I have only found 2 that will probably handle the formatting... Handbrake (when it burns them in), and VLC. There may be others, but those are the only two I have. Everything else just displays something resembling subtitles, including things embedded as translator comments.
jsCP94
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:13 am

Re: Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

Post by jsCP94 »

Are you the same Woodstock that's in the MakeMKV forums? If you are, and you're saying this...then crap.

I wasted the last 3 days creating subtitles for soft coding because there are some files that I have with more than 1 audio track. So I want to switch to the appropriate subtitles based on the audio track that's playing. I spent so much time making the .ass subtitles resemble the subtitles from the original .sup file.

I suddenly feel MUCH more tired.
Woodstock
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Re: Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

Post by Woodstock »

The Woodstock over there is my evil twin with whom I share two mothers. Oh, wait - that excuse doesn't work on this planet. Sorry.

Subtitles are a pain. Within MakeMKV, you can't do anything about them, because you're going to get a copy of what is on the DVD or Bluray.

Handbrake does give you options, but MP4 takes some of them away (can't have BD subtitles), and players take even more away (hardware players are especially bad about text-based subtitles). There are dazzling effects that can be done with Substation Alpha format subtitles; but, if the player doesn't support them, that dancing karaoke-style kanji/romaji/english subtitle timed to the theme music is ugly text sprawled across the picture.

This is true if the output is MP4 or MKV; faced with that, if the formatting in important, you need to render the subtitle in something that can draw it properly. Handbrake can do that with a burn-in; the subtitle "engine" is very flexible. It even understands invisible comments within the stream.

What would be really nice is the ability to convert the .ass into a VOBSUB that could be included. VOBSUB support is an "add-on that isn't always available" for MP4 files, but it would make sure that the PICTURE of what you want is present and switchable. Handbrake can't do that.
jsCP94
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:13 am

Re: Can you add soft subtitles (.ass file)?

Post by jsCP94 »

After looking through VLC's settings, the best I can do is to get VLC to autodetect the subtitle files, then put the mp4 file and the subtitle file in the same folder.
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