Hard Subtitler

[Gan]

Does anyone know a good free subtitler? The name of one? That writes the subtitle directly to the video and allows to not have to load the subtitle file seperately?

Many thanks

[leergierig]

I hope the following may be helpful to you. It is based entirely on my own limited, trial-and-error biased experiences - but at least it's 100% free.

I have assumed that with "not have to load the subtitle file seperately", that you meant during playback. I will divide the process into two parts.

Part 1: Actual subtitling

For this, I would suggest you use Aegisub . It's freeware, and I think it has sufficient functionality for most subtitling needs. With Aegisub you have an option to softsub, e.g. export your subtitles as a *.srt file and load during playback. I mainly use this for error checking before hardsubbing.

Part 2: Combining the subtitles with some footage

First off, you will need to install something like Avisynth . Apparently this allows you to load so called "filters" and other goodies to a video editing program - and your subtitles are among those creatures known as "filters". Uh, OK, that's perhaps not the most scientific explanation, but you can get that from their website.

The next step is to use a program like VirtualDub to permanently glue your prose in among the other pixels. Just make sure that you first copy the VSFilter.dll file from the "plugins" folder under the "Avisynth" folder to the "plugins" folder under the "Virtualdub" folder. Jeez, I hope this makes sense. Now rename the copied VSFilter.dll file to "VSFilter.vdf" because VirtualDub uses the .vdf extension for its plugins.

You can now open your video file in VirtualDub, and choose "Filters" from under the "Video" tab. Click the "Add" button. Select "Textsub" from the list box and click "OK". Locate the subtitle file you created with Aegisub earlier and click "OK". You can also choose which type of compression would be most appropriate from under the "Video" tab.

Almost done. All that is left to do is to process and save the generated file. Your newly created video file should now contain your subtitles (Barring dear ol' Murphy).

I hope that it enough to get you on your way.

Happy subbing!

[Gan]

Does virtualdub work with Sub Station Alpha files because I have already made them

[leergierig]

It seems it allows you to load the following (from the file type listbox):
*.sub, *.srt, *.smi, *.ssa, *.ass

I've only used *.ass before, but I see no good reason why *.ssa shouldn't work just as well.

[Gan]

Well its okay, I have subtitle workshop which will allow me to load my .ssa files and save them to all sorts of differnt types. Thanks for the program links by the way. Arigatou gozaimasu.

[tanuki]

Hahaha there is an .ass extension?

[Gan]

tanuki, i think your mind may be in the wrong place.

[leergierig]

tanuki wrote:
Hahaha there is an .ass extension?

Yup, it allows us to create very long donkeys indeed. :p

[b4d0m3n]

Actually, would you guys know of places like Silent Regrets where I could get this stuff with either soft subs or none at all? I find all the English damn distracting when I'm trying to watch a jdrama.