Trying to add subtitles to .avi file

I confess to being new at this, so please help me over the learning curve. The goal is to convert my DVD collection to .avi files that I can store on an external hard drive, with subtitles that can be turned on or off, and viewed on my tv using a Western Digital WD TV media player. So far, this is what I have done:

I use DVDFab to rip a DVD to my hard drive. This gives me a VIDEO_TS folder containing several different .BUP, .IFO and .VOB files. I can play this VIDEO_TS file on my computer with PowerDVD and the subtitles work fine, so I know that they are there.

Using HandBrake, I rip the .VOB files to create a single .avi file of the complete movie. So far, so good; the .avi plays on my media players (in addition to the WD TV, I use Windows Media Player 9 on my computer after installing FFDSHOW to get the right codec). But I can't get the subtitles to appear unless hardcoded, in which case you can't turn them off.

I use SubRip to extract a subtitle file from the VIDEO_TS folder which has a .srt extension, and rename the file with the same file name as the .avi file obtained above, and put both into a separate folder. That folder now contains 2 files: moviename.avi and moviename.srt.

By the way, I opened the .srt file in Notepad and see that the subtitles are indeed there with time tags.

I drag and drop that folder into AVIAddXSubs which combines the two into a single .divx file that is supposed to play with subtitles that can be turned on or off at will. But when I play the .divx file (I have even tried renaming it to .avi) it still plays audio and video but the subtitles can't be turned on. I have Windows Media Player set to display subtitles if available and get nothing. WD TV says "no subtitles".

Like I said, I am new to this so I must be doing something wrong. Any suggestions?

 

I don't think your doing anything wrong.

AviAddXSubs aren't viewable on the PC using WMP, VLC or MPC.

AFAIK, XSubs are not supported on the WDTV player - certainly they don't work on mine - although a .srt file with the same name as the video file works O.K.

Edit:
The XSubs don't work with a USB stick - I haven't tried it with an external HD - but I don't expect any difference.

 

Thanks attar, I was hoping you would weigh in on this. You seem to be very knowledgable on this stuff. I admit that my "geek-ness" may not be up to this.

I am glad you are familiar with the WDTV. It is new to me and I am still learning, but it seems to be just what I need to archive my movies like I want to do.

So is there no way to do this? Why does the WDTV player even have a subtitle menue? Are there formats other than avi or divx that the player supports which do support subtitles? Please point me in the right direction.

Thanks again for your help.

 

There's a new firmware that I tried.

http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/

Edited, the XSubs still don't work for me.

It will play subtitles like .srt as long as the subs have the same name as the video - and they can be turned on/off using the 'Option' button on the remote.
The same goes for idx/sub format files generated by AviAddXSubs.

 

According to the AviAddXSub site -

http://www.calcitapp.com/AVIAddXSubs.php

 

If you want to keep everything in one file,instead of muxing into an .divx container, you can try an MKV. You can use Mkvmerge GUI and mux the avi+srt into a new MKV file. This way I can watch the movie with subtitles using VLC or MPC(I don't know about WMP), or streamed to TV using XBMC.
The muxing is pretty quick, a minute or two. I looked at the WD player and it seems to support MKV.

 

Thanks guys. I haven't given up on the idea, but nothing seems to work the way I had hoped. No surprise; nothing in computers ever does the first time - for me anyway!

Like attar, I found subs to work if the .srt file has the same name as the video but not muxed together. I tried it with an .avi file and a .srt file together on a thumb drive just because it was the easiest way to test them. It worked one time, then not the next. I had problems with the timing for the subs, but that can be worked out. I would prefer to have the 2 files muxed into 1 just for simplicity if I can make it work. Eventually, the hard drive will have 200 or more movies on it. Don't know if it will associate separate .srt files with the correct .avi/.mkv files when you get a drive full of them. Will just have to try it and see.

I currently don't have the divx player on my computer, but may have to get it or VLC. I like WMP (version 9 at least - I refuse to upgrade. Typical for Microsoft, they took a good product and "improved" it to the point of garbage). After installing FFDSHOW, it works but without subs. I may have to give up on getting subs on the computer. No big deal, this project centers around the WDTV player anyway. That is the critical part.

Yes cyprusrom, the WDTV does support .mkv, and Handbrake can rip to that container as well as .avi. I may play around with that. I'll have to get MKVmergeGUI but that is no problem. XBMC is out, this HAS to work with the WDTV player or forget it because that is what I have.

I'll keep playing with it. If anyone wakes up in the middle of the night with a flash of brilliance, please post it back. I need all the help I can get!

Thanks.

 

The easy way to see if it works on your WD TV is just to mux one of those AVIs with the subs. Mkvmerge is free and easy to use. Should have the answer in a matter of minutes.

 

cyprusrom - Will it mux an avi with a srt or do I have to rip it again as a mkv? I read your last post as MKVmerge doing with mkv's the same as AVIAddXSubs does with avi's. I was planning to go back to the beginning with Handbrake and re-rip a file as mkv to try.

 

No need to re-rip. Just use the AVI you already have, mux it with the srt, Mkvmerge will create an MKV file.

 

Thanks. Can't get to it tonight, but will give it a try tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

cyprusrom, you are the man!

I had trouble finding MKVmerge GUI until I ran across a thread that said it is part of the mkvtoolnix package, which I easily found. Downloaded that and muxed my existing .avi file with the associated .srt file. It gave me a resulting .mks file, which I tried in the WDTV and it would not recognize it. I simply renamed the extension to .mkv on my thumb drive and tried it again. WDTV recognized the file and played it with audio and video, and ---- THE SUBS WORK !!!!!! I can turn them off and on with the options button on the remote - just like I wanted to do. I'm s-o-o-o-o happy!

Haven't played with it on the computer yet to see if it works there. I may have to get VLC, but that is not a problem.

Now I have to see that I can duplicate the effort with a different movie and be successful again, but it was so easy that there should not be a problem.

You pulled the rabbit out of the hat! The trick was to use the mkv container rather than divx. I guess I will delete AVIaddXSubs as it looks like I won't be needing that one. Handbrake to get the .avi, SubRip to get the .srt, and MKVmerge GUI to combine the two.

Thanks again to you and attar for your inputs. You guys have made my day! Sadly, it means many long nights of work to finish the project - 1 movie at a time - but that was anticipated.

 

Glad you got it working.

Are you working on a Mac or Windows?

I usually do everything in one step less- I get the subtitles and the AVI in one step, no need to use SubRip or something else similar, and then another step to mux everything together.

 

I'm on a Windows pc. You? What program do you use to get avi's and srt's at once?

My son-in-law loves Mac, but I have been using Windows for a long time and it is hard for an old dog to learn new tricks. However, I am getting more and more miffed with Microsoft. The only thing that keeps me here is that all of the software I have acquired over the years is Windows based. It would cost a small fortune to replace it with Mac versions.

One of the projects I have on my "To-Do" list is that I would like to experiment with Linux. From what I have read, it seems that with a plugin called Wine, Linux can run Windows programs. Haven't played with that one yet though. One project at a time!

 

I have an Windows machine as well. Coudn't switch to a Mac, part for the same reason, the variety of software that are available for Windows.

I use FairUse Wizard. It can automatically extract idx/sub subtitles, then the video can be muxed with the idx in the mkv container.

 

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

Okay cyprusrom, I have been searching AD for FairUse Wizard, but haven't run across a download for it. I visited their main website at fairusewizard.com and see that they have a paid version and a free "lite" version. Which do you use/prefer? Will the free version do what I want to do?

I am a bit concerned with the free version since I read a thread that said the free version is limited to 700mB file size. The avi's that I have ripped using HandBrake have all been around 1 to 1.2 gB. Will I be giving up very much quality if I go the extra compression? I'm all for smaller file size, but there comes a point where the quality of the picture makes the savings not worthwhile. I haven't played with this enough to know where that point is.

Also, some of the screen shots I have run across look as if FairUse may take some getting used to. It looks like some pretty complicated stuff! Not sure I know what all the settings are for or should be set to.

Your thoughts? And anyone else that wants to chime in here is welcome too!

 

I don't find it to be more complicated than let's say DVD Shrink, or any other software that has certain options that the user might choose to use or not. You have to use it once, and after that everything is pretty much automatic.

I encode the videos using x.264, and I am very satisfied even with smaller size files.

 

So you use the lite version?

 

The full version, however, even with the full version I never make them bigger than 700MB.

Switching to a different software will only save you one step, extracting the subtitles manually.