How to backup and add new subtitles to a DVD
When I create a backup of a DVD, or when I make my own
DVDs from AVI files, I sometimes want to include additional subtitles in
another language, while keeping the original menu and other extras. Although I
could find many tips or principal approaches about how to do it, it wasn't so
easy to find a dummy's guide, so I wrote it myself. There are probably many
alternatives, but this one works for me. However, if somebody knows of a way to
do it quicker, I would be very interested.
What do you need (see www.doom9.org or www.dvdrhelp.com):
DVDshrink
(release 3.0 beta 5) Subtitle
workshop (to synchronise subtitles and convert them to SupRip *.srt format)
Srt2sup
(to convert *.srt files to *.sup subtitle streams) VobEdit
0.6b (to demux DVD *.vob files to movie and audio streams) IFOEdit
(to put video, audio, and subtitles back together again) Optionally TMPGEnc
and BeSweet
(the first to demultiplex an avi-file to MPEG-2 m2v and mp2, the second to
convert the audio from 44.1 to 48kHz sampling frequency) DVD burning software At least 9Gb
available on your HD
The main steps are explained below:
1. Copy the original DVD to your hard disk using DVD
Shrink 10110i822k (see Figure 1).
a) Open disc
b) Deselect everything you don't need. As shown in the
figure, here I tried to keep the original menu, which might work in some cases,
but probably not in all. If you want to be certain, re-author the DVD and only
drag the main movie title to the new window. Furthermore, in this new window, I
only keep the original audio file, and th esubtitles I
want. DVD Shrink automatically determines how much he needs to compress the
movie in order to fit on a DVD+R.
c) In order to keep room for the new subtitles,
my last step is to set the movie's compression ratio manually to 1% below the
automatic setting.
d) Backup DVD
Figure 1. DVD Shrink is used to extract the DVD to the
HD.
2. Convert subtitles to SubRip (*.srt) format using
Subtitle workshop (see Figure 2)
While DVDshrink is creating a backup of my DVD, I
download a subtitle and convert it using subtitle workshop to SubRip format.
Note the input and output frame rate settings (2a). Knowing the length of my
DVD (from its box), I can check the time of the last subtitle to see whether it
was in NTSC or PAL (2c). Finally, save it as SubRip.
Further note that I first had some trouble to see the
special characters correctly (2b+d): I had to use the Central European font in
this tool, but I also needed to change my general computer settings (Control
panel/Regional settings/Advanced/Non-unicode language/ to Romanian).
Subtitle workshop also allows you to synchronize your
subtitles while viewing the movie (see Movie menu). In principal, for a DVD it
shouldn't be necessary, but if you are using an avi file, where the opening
scenes have been shortened, do the following. Go to the first dialogue in the
movie and press ALT-F. Then, go the last dialogue and press ALT-L. Now, synchronize
using CTRL-B. Alternatively, if the first or last dialogue
are not there, you can do the same for other subtitles, but now using
CTRL-1 and CTRL-2. If this still doesn't work, maybe the subtitles are based on
a slightly different DVD, for example an American DVD where some juicy scenes
have been removed.
Figure 2. Subtitle workshop allows you to synchronize your subtitles
with the movie, and to convert many different formats to SubRip format.
3. Convert subtitles (*.srt) to a bitmap stream
(*.sup) using SRT2SUP (see Figure 3).
a) Open *.srt file
b) Select Settings/Global settings and change the color
and font that you want to use for your subtitles. For
example, use a black transparent background, white letters, a silver outline
(or set it to 0) and silver anti-aliasing.
c) Select 'All' subtitles
d) Save the sup file - this can take some time.
e)
Write down the IFO color settings (you need this later while using IfoEdit)
Note that Srt2sup has a documented memory leak of 10kb
per line, so after generating your *.sup file, close down the program.
Figure 3. Srt2Sup converts your subtitles to a 4 color-coded bitmap
stream, which can be multiplexed with the DVD's video and audio streams.
4. Demultiplex original DVD VOB files using VobEdit (see
Figure 4)
By this time, DVDshrink will probably be ready, and you
have a set of IFO (InFOrmation), BUP (BackUP copies of IFO), and VOB (Video
OBject) files on your hard disk. The largest IFO contains the movie.
a) Start VobEdit, and open the DVDshrink movie (*.VOB)
file. It has the same name as the largest IFO file (4c).
b) Demux the VOB: as you already have selected everything
in DVDshrink that you want to keep, you can demux all video (*.m2v), audio
(*.ac3), and subtitles (*.sup) to a new location on your HD (4a+b).
c) Optionally, if the original film was an avi-film that
you converted to MPEG-2 and demultiplexed into an m2v and mp2 file using
TMPGEnc, you may need to change the sampling frequency of the audio file from 44.1kHz to 48kHz using BeSweet in order to remain compatible
with the DVD format. In that case, you might also need to change the extension
of the audio file to m2a, so IfoEdit can see the file.
Figure 4. VobEdit is used to demultiplex the DVD's VOB (Video Object)
files, i.e. to split them in separate video (*.mv2), audio (*.ac3) and
subtitles (*.sup) files.
5. Author new DVD using IfoEdit (see Figure 5)
a) Start IfoEdit and open IFO file of movie (same file as
in step 4)
b) Save cell times under the tools menu (tells you where
a chapter begins) and CLOSE IfoEdit
c) Start IfoEdit again and select menu item DVD
Author/Author new DVD (this has to be the first thing that you do in IfoEdit,
else this item is not available).
d) Select the files created by VobEdit: first the m2v,
then all audio files (you may have to change the extension to something that
IfoEdit can read), finally all subtitles, including the one you created in step
3.
e) Set the corresponding languages of all subtitles
f) Load the cell times (previously saved in step 5b) for
the chapters.
g) Save the new VOB - this one containing your new
subtitle!
Note: If you don't have a lot of free space on your HD,
you can now delete the original VOB files used in step 4 (don't delete the IFO
file with the same name).
h) Copy the subtitle color from the original IFO to the
new IFO: open the original IFO (see Figure 6, h1), select VTS_PGC_1 (h2), and
go to the subtitle color menu (h3): copy color info. Now, open the new IFO
(h1), go to the same location (h2), and paste the color info. Save the IFO
again (h4).
Note: Depending on the color settings in srt2sup, you now
have good color settings for the original subtitles, but maybe not for your
own. I haven't figured out a solution to this yet. You can change the color
settings in srt2sup and try again (I tried several settings, and tested them
all at the same time). Or you can manually enter the color info from SRT2SUP,
generated at the end of the conversion (see Figure 3e), and enter the
hexadecimal values in your IFO file (see Figure 6). Now, however, probably only
your subs are OK, and the originals are lousy (in which case you might decide
to leave them out: the perfectionist would convert the originals SUPs to text,
e.g. by using SupRip, and back to SUP again using SRT2SUP, so all color
settings are the same). In case you forgot to write down the color values,
start SRT2SUP and use the Settings menu to show the colors again.
i) Move the new IFO, BUP and VOBs back to the original location
(where DVD Shrink wrote its output).
Figure 5. IfoEdit allows you to create new DVDs using its authoring
tool: several video, audio, and subtitle streams can be multiplexed together to
create new DVD VOB files.
Figure 6. IfoEdit also allows you to copy the original subtitle colors
from the original DVD IFO (Information) file, i.e. the file that was originally
ripped by DVD Shrink, to your own IFO file. Or you can set them manually
(scroll down in the lower window - only the first 4 colors must be set).
6. Test the output and write to an empty DVD
Using a DVD player (e.g. Nero ShowTime) that can play
from the hard disk, you can already inspect whether the DVD you authored was
correct. If you are satisfied, burn the files to a DVD (in the VIDEO_TS
folder). In case that you maintained the original menu, you might have some
troubles playing the movie (maybe there are some missing references in the new
IFO file to the menu or video_ts.ifo file). In that case, try again, but now
without the original menu. A bit unsatisfactorily, I realize, but I don't know
another solution (yet).
Comments or feedback can be sent to: [email protected]
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