DirectVobSub, embedded VobSub in AVI or MP4

[j3di]

i have some xvid avi's with vobsub embedded. it uses directvobsub as the filter in windows. anyone encounter this? or know how to get the subtitles to show up in xbmc?

[Flusterphonic]

if this is an avenue that you've been down before, i'm sorry-- did a full search of everything i could think of (subtitles, embedded subtitles, directvobsub, etc. etc. etc.) and couldn't find a clear answer on this.

i (and plenty of other users, apparently) have a lot of embedded subtitles in .avi files that we'd rather not have to extract to play through xbmc-- is this something that would have to be integrated/supported by mplayer or some other component indirectly, or is this a feature that could be directly added to xbmc?

as it stands, i'm unable to watch about 20% of my video collection and don't really want to go through and make subtitle files for every single .avi that wont play on xbmc. it would make me the happiest man on earth, really.

[pike]

this is something that i'm pretty sure would need to be added to mplayer, and thats the tree you need to bark upon.

good luck!

[Flusterphonic]

ouch. i was afraid of that. thanks anyway. :tear:

[Flusterphonic]

an almost immediate shoot-down from one user on the mplayer users mailing list upon my request for adding this feature:

"the root of the problem, i think, is that avi files are *not* supposed to be able to contain subtitles. it's not necessarily a bad idea to make it possible for them to do so, although it is probably outside the avi spec - but to do so by embedding not a separate subtitle stream (the way every other subtitle-supporting container does) but an entire, contiguous, unmodified text file is just ugly.

iow: the problem is alleged to be with whoever created a program to do something so broken. i could probably track down to about the week or month the point at which that program hit, but i don't know what program it is, so i don't know who to complain to.

if the subtitles-in-avi were done 'properly' as a separate stream,
rather than a single massive chunk, then supporting them in mplayer should i think be a comparatively simple matter (though one probably beyond my skills); as it is, it would seem to require either duplicating the read-subtitles-from-a-separate-file code (so that you can pass a pointer to the right place in the avi file, rather than just the filename/file handle) or doing some ugly hacks to make the existing code accept either type of data. that's not to say that it's impossible, or even that it'll never get done, but no one with the coding ability to really try seems to be interested; if you want support for "a separate subtitle file encapsulated in an avi file", you probably need to write the code yourself. if someone submits a proper patch to add that capability, i don't know of any reason why it inherently would not be accepted. "

figured as much-- the files are rare enough to be considered pointless-to-support, or at least, too rare to go to the specific effort of supporting them. i guess i'll just have to watch those files on a system other than my xbox.

[Smannesman]

this question has been asked before, but i'd really like some good help on this subject.
i've got loads of avi files with the subtitles embedded in them using directvobsub. is there any way to show these subtitles ?
since the mplayer project is as good as dead i'd really like to know. perhaps it's possible using a tsr ?
or by temporarily extracting the subs when playing the file ?
i'm just brainstorming here because mediacenter is my favorite way and basically only way to view movies, series, cartoons, etc.

[deltop]

mplayer certainly isn't as good as dead.

the story on their frontpage is basicaly a scare tactic.

mplayer is still being actively developed.

[Smannesman]

riiiiight, doesn't really help.. but at least somebody reads the forum.

[pike]

but mplayer doesnt want to add support for muxed in subtitles. a user on our forums asked them, i'm sure you can find the thread with a bit of http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/forums/non-cgi/skin/default/images/m_search.gif love

[deltop]

here it is:

http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....vobsubs (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=st;f=4;t=13032;hl=mplayer+vobsubs )

basically vobsubs in avi is an ugly hack. very few people seem to use it because of this. although there are always people who will strive to put anyting into avi, it's generally a bad idea.

much better to use say mkv which was designed for such a purpose.

if your stuck with a bunch of movies on dvdr there's very little you can do as it seems highly unlikely you'll ever have support for them in xbmc. you'll either need to extarct the subs and put them in the subtitle dir on your xbox. or convert and reburn to mkv.

now converting to mkv or to seperate video/sub files and reburning might sound like an arduous task but it'll at least ensure that you'll always have support for these files.

[Smannesman]

well i'd already pointed out that i'd seen the topic before..
well if there's an easy way to extract the subs, i'd love to hear it.. although it'd be even better if it was done in xbmc with a little hack or workaround.

[Smannesman]

okay developers, i've found a tool that does what i want in less than a millisecond, avi-mux gui.

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~noe....ng.html (http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~noe/video-zeug/avimux%20gui/index-eng.html)

it allows you to simply remove a directvobsub subtitle as a .ssa file. the guy that made it also posts the source code on his site, so perhaps you could contact him and see if you can use the extracting part in xbmc.
it would make an awesome addition to an already great program. and i think people would be quite grateful if you would at least look into it. (me for one)

[w0rd48]

i have burned a collection of episodes of anime on to dvd and for some reason the video and sound play's perfectly but it doesnt seem to show subtitles at all. (my pc shows subtitles).... the files do not have a seperate sub files, it's just an collection of avi files..could that be the reason why?

[deltop]

yes mplayer doesn't (and isn't ever likely to) support subs muxed into avi.

your only option is to demux them and put them in the external subtitle dir which xbmc can use, you can define the location of the sub dir in xboxmedficenter.xml.

you just name your demuxed subs the sme as your avi file and xbmc will recognise it.

[gambit00]

i have tried to get some avi files i have with soft subs to play the subs in xbmc.but it has been fruitless is media center able to play this kind of subs.any help would be greatly appreciated.if it helps i have the latest version of media center.

[TiaoMacaleh]

put same name of the movie on the subs

example

movie.cd1.avi
movie.cd1.srt

[gambit00]

thanks for your reply but that wouldn't help any as the subs are embeded on the video file.the codec used on the pc to view the subs is some vsfilter.dll.

[Sylph]

thanks for your reply but that wouldn't help any as the subs are embeded on the video file.the codec used on the pc to view the subs is some vsfilter.dll.
yes but that is on the pc. on your xbox you must give your avi and srt the same name exept the extention.
see second post.

[senergy]

if the subs are encoded into the actual avi file then they are called "hard subs", "soft subs" generally mean a seperate file with timing instructions.

[elupus]

actually.. hardsubs are only those that are encoded into the videoframe.. softsubs could still be contained in the same file.. we only support mkv, ogg, vob for that.. avi's embedded softsubs is not supported.

[Gamester17]

please submit seperate feature request for "directvobsub, vobsub embedded in avi" and "srt subtitles embedded in avi" to mplayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu) (small sample is required!)
you can do this via mplayer's bug-tracker (http://bugzilla.mplayerhq.hu) under 'severity' "enhancement", and/or via their mplayer-dev-eng mailing-list (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/info.html#mailing_lists) if you put "[request]" first in the subject.