[MPlayer-users] subtitle problems

[D Richard Felker III]

On Thu, Mar 17, 2005 at 01:49:24PM -0500, MJH wrote:
> On Thursday 17 March 2005 11:08 am, D Richard Felker III wrote:
> > > > In the mean time, is there a way to get the subtitles back into the
> > > > ripped video? (I hunted through the docs but couldn't find anything).
> > > > Or do you have to keep video, sub and inx files around?
> 
> > > You can render permanently the subs in the video stream adding
> > > the option -sid to mencoder (you need to reencode the video, -oac copy
> > > wont work). This works if your source is a DVD. If you have an external 
> > > vobsub file you need to patch mencoder (there is a patch flying around).
> 
> Any idea where I can find the patch? (google didn't help for once).

Somewhere in the mplayer-dev-eng list archives I guess. I wonder why
it was never applied..??

> > > For text subtitles, I think it's not possible.
> > It's also possible for text. However with both, it will seriously
> > reduce the quality of your encode. 
> 
> Why? What's so different about including the subtitles that degrades the 
> encoding?

Motion estimation won't work around the subtitles because the stuff
behind them is moving but the text is staying in place. Also they just
tend to have sharp edges, which don't encode well.

> > Rendering subs into the movie is a very stupid idea, except for special
> > cases like vcd that don't support anything else. 
> 
> Or in the case where you always want the subtitles - I don't know enough 
> Japanese to watch anime without them, so why keep seperate files?

Because someday you might, or you might want to loan your discs to a
friend who does, or you might find out the subtitles are horribly
mistranslated and want to use alternate subtitle file. As long as you
keep the subs separate everything is flexible and you have many
options open. As soon as you burn them in you're stuck with them.

Rich