[vdr] Burning DVB (non-Teletext) subtitles to the video prior to editing and transcoding

[Samuli Seppänen]

----- Original Message -----
From: Petri Helin <phelin at googlemail.com>
Date: Saturday, July 14, 2007 1:52 pm
Subject: Re: [vdr] Burning DVB (non-Teletext) subtitles to the video prior to editing and transcoding

> Samuli Seppänen wrote:
> > I did not find anything definite about this subject from LinuxTV 
> wiki, mailing list archives or google, so here it comes. Please 
> point me to a previous thread if there is one - I did check the 
> mailinglist archives for the last 12 months or so.
> > 
> > Ok, so I'm using VDR as the software for my dedicated VDR box - 
> see http://users.utu.fi/sjsepp/gentoo_vdr/gentoo_vdr.html for more 
> information. There are some recordings that I like to archive. The 
> process which I use currently is like this:
> > 
> > 1. Fix / demultiplex the recordings with ProjectX
> > 2. Multiplex the recordings with mplex
> > 3. Edit and transcode the videos (to xvid) with Avidemux
> > 
> > Now this works just fine for those recordings that don't have 
> separate subtitles. Here in Finland we do have separate subtitles 
> on some channels. The subtitles are not s.c. teletext subtitles, 
> but "normal" dvb subtitles. VDR can record these just fine and 
> ProjectX can extract them as well. The files ProjectX creates for 
> the subtitles are .sup and .sup.IFO.  I tried selecting the 
> subtitle export format in ProjectX, but it did not seem to have any 
> effect - I guess it's only valid for teletext subtitles. The DVB 
> subtitles don't seem to be that well supported, so I can't edit the 
> recordings at all unless I want to break the timings in the 
> subtitle files.
> > 
> > So I was thinking of a couple of approaches:
> > 
> > - Convert the subtitles to some other (bitmap) format (dvd 
> subtitles, for example) which is better supported and which the 
> editing software (avidemux) can understand
> > - Converting the subtitles as above plus streaming them IN the 
> video stream with vlc (I guess this is possible?)
> > - Burning the subtitles into the video stream prior to editing 
> and transcoding with avidemux - this is what I'd prefer
> > 
> > Could someone point me to the right direction - I don't really 
> care how to get to my goal, as long as I get there. 
> > 
> > All guides I've found make use of Windows programs, which do work 
> in Wine at least to a degree. I'd rather do this 100% natively in 
> Linux, as I haven't got any Windows boxes around.
> > 
> > Best regards to all,
> > 
> > Samuli Seppänen
> > 
> 
> 
> What you could do is take a recent enough ProjectX cvs which has 
> support 
>  for exporting dvb-subtitles in Vobsub format. Then just demux the 
> video, audio and subtitles with projectx, encode video and audio 
> with 
> your preferred method and combine video, audio and subtitles in to 
> a 
> Matroska envelope.
> 
> To get the right subtitles in right format, ensure that your 
> ProjectX.ini file contains these definitions (PageId=1 makes sure 
> you 
> select the finnish subtitles in case there are more than one 
> subtitle 
> stream present):
> 
> SubtitlePanel.PageId.Value=1
> SubtitlePanel.SubpictureColorModel=YLE
> SubtitlePanel.SubtitleExportFormat=SUP
> SubtitlePanel.exportAsVobSub=1
> 
> 
> And, since you speak finnish, I'd point you to www.linuxtv.fi, 
> which 
> contains relevant information in finnish (e.g. 
> http://www.linuxtv.fi/viewtopic.php?t=2283)
> 
> -Petri

Thanks a lot, Petri, I'll try ProjectX CVS + Matroska to see what happens.

Samuli