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Embedded Subtitles, how can i tell

Discussion in 'DVDR' started by rogue212, Dec 16, 2007.

  1. rogue212

    rogue212 Guest

    Hi again, is there a quick and easy way to tell if the subtitles from a avi or video file are embedded or hard burned on to the file and if they can or can't be removed, thanx
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 16, 2007
  2. pryme_H

    pryme_H Regular member

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    rogue212,
    Are you asking this to distinguish AVIs containing embedded subtitles when downloading so you can avoid them? If yes, then the answer is "no." There is no way of telling. If this isn't the case, then depending on what media player you have, make sure subtitles are turned on before playback. As far as removing hard burned subtitles, I think one way of purging them is to crop them out. However, this will leave hazy outlines on where the subs used to be.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2007
  3. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    I think you meant that you want to know if the subtitles are "switchable" in AVI you downloaded? Virtually always the subtitles are, with .avi files, delivered as separate files -- I've seen embedded (i.e. the subtitle stream has been muxed to the AVI file itself) very, very rarely with .avi files. The reason for this is mostly the fact that .avi is an ancient wrapper format and doesn't officially support stuff like subtitle streams -- and most players would simply ingore such options anyway, even if you'd mux them into the file. Thus, "switchable" subtitles are almost always delivered as separate .srt (or other "standard" subtitle format) files.

    But if you wish to create video files that do allow embedding (==muxing / multiplexing) subtitles directly into the video file wrapper, you should look into more "clever" wrappers than .avi -- .divx, .mkv and .ogm all support subtitle streams within the wrapper file itself (obviously, their support isn't as universal as .avi files' is).

    And to actually answer your question, I think GSpot should tell you what streams the .avi file has when you open it with GSpot. Another software that does the same thing is Avicodec.
     
  4. Rotary

    Rotary Senior member

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    some subs are embedded and cant be taken out, just play the avi to see if there or not...

    some avi have subs embedded for say a few chinese part speaking and not all way through, sometimes you get separate subs file for all way through aswell in a certain language... your choice to use or not, and some converting apps can make the subs switchable or hard coded via dvd player. (avi to dvd)

    virtualdubmod can blur out set areas to help hide subs from hard coded/embedded writing/subs
     
  5. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    I think the guys question was to know how to determine whether the downloaded video file has either

    a) embedded, i.e. muxed, "switchable" (you can turn them on and off, as they're stored as a separate data stream within the file) subtitles

    or

    b) hard-coded, "burned" subtitles that are made as part of the video and thus can't be switched on/off (but, obviously, with re-encoding, can be blurred)

    And to determine this, GSpot or Avicodec can be used.

    Even tho I live in a country where most people use subtitles to view movies, etc (we don't dub anything), I've seen maybe 1 or 2 cases of switchable, muxed subtitles as opposed to thousands of files that have been distributed with separate subtitle files (and, luckily, hard-coded subs are sorta "no no" for most people).
     
  6. rogue212

    rogue212 Guest

    Hi, sorry i couldn't respond earlier, i download some AVI files that contain Asian subtitles, i now most of them will have been hard coded into the AVI file but just wondered if there was a quick way to tell because i don't want to convert them to dvd with subtitles.

    At the moment the files i'm interested in can be downloaded in the USA for a small fee but this service isn't avaible in the UK, i will try G-spot but not sure how to use it for this task, thanx for all your help.

    Please have a look at my new thread concerning scanning downloaded free programs from Afterdawn with VirusTotal, i'm not sure where to post it but i'm very concerned and need some advice about the results.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 18, 2007

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