Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

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bpleat
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:13 am

Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by bpleat »

Description of problem or question:

I'm trying to loop, via batch file, through all my folders and, where subtitles are present, merge them into existing files.
Subtitles could be srt/sub/idx/etc., basically any format.
Most are English, but a few are other languages.
The video files could be MP4, MKV, AVI.

I don't want to "burn in" the subtitles, I just want them available.

I don't want to reencode any of the files, just add in the subtitles so I don't need the separate subtitle files.

I'd appreciate it someone could share the proper-syntax command line to do this.

I have the (however inelegant) framework (batch file), basically:
For /R %%A in (D:\Movies) Do (
If Exist %%~dpn.srt (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%~dpn.srt
)
For /R %%B in ("%%~dpn.?_Eng.srt") Do (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%B
)
If Exist %%~dpn.ITA.srt (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%~dpn.srt
)
For /R %%B in ("%%~dpn.?_Ita.srt") Do (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%B
)
If Exist %%~dpn.sub (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%~dpn.srt
)
If Exist %%~dpn.idx (
[awaiting HandbrakeCLI synax]
Del %%~dpn.srt
)
[repeat for each subtitle format]
)

What I'm missing is a simple clear understanding of the CLI to only embed (but not "burn in") the subtitles, without otherwise re-encoding each file.

Appreciate your help in advance.

HandBrake version (e.g., 1.0.0):
1.2.2

Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Windows 10 Creators Update):
Windows 10

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s55
HandBrake Team
Posts: 10350
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:05 pm

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by s55 »

HandBrake is not the tool your looking for. We don't support pure muxing, nor AVI, Not all of the above subtitle options.

Try ffmpeg command line instead.
Deleted User 11865

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Or mkvmerge CLI, if your output is MKV.
bpleat
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:13 am

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by bpleat »

s55 and Rodeo, thank you for your view.

(Realizing this is out of normal scope for this forum) Thoughts on the syntax for ffmpeg and mkvmerge? I've been unsuccessful with both...

s55, why can't I use HandBrake for this? (I don't know what "muxing" is.)
(I understand I might need to specify a new (temp) target file and then move the temp file on top of my original.)

Again, thank you in advance.
rollin_eng
Veteran User
Posts: 4840
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 11:06 pm

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by rollin_eng »

HB is a video converter, therefore it always reencodes the video.
User avatar
JohnAStebbins
HandBrake Team
Posts: 5712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:21 pm

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by JohnAStebbins »

bpleat wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:44 pm I don't know what "muxing" is.
Muxing is the process of putting raw media streams (audio, video, subtitles, etc) into a container. Demuxing does the reverse, extracts them from the container. Remuxing demuxes and then muxes. HandBrake also transcodes the video. I.e. it decodes the raw video stream into raw frames composed of pixels and encodes those raw frames to a new format.

HandBrake also only supports muxing to 2 container types, mp4 and mkv.

What you want to do is called remuxing. You want to keep the original media streams and add a new stream. This requires demuxing the original file to get the original streams, then muxing those original streams plus your new stream to a new file.
mduell
Veteran User
Posts: 8187
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Re: Batch/bulk merging/including of subtitles

Post by mduell »

bpleat wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:44 pm(Realizing this is out of normal scope for this forum) Thoughts on the syntax for ffmpeg and mkvmerge? I've been unsuccessful with both...
They have their own support forums.
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