Hi,
Not sure where to put this question so move if necessary.
I try to find out the best way to rip my movies with subtitle support. I want to use iOS and the Mac client for playback but with subtitles. From what i’ve read so far is that the iOS client only supports SRT, SSA and SMI. Also i’ve read something about soft subtitles with usage of handbrake. Can someone point me to a how to or explain which is the best way to rip your DVD and BLU-RAYS with subtitle support so i can use it with the mentioned clients?
Here’s what works for me:
Rip your DVD/BluRay using MakeMKV. Make sure that you leave the subtitles for the main title selected.
When it’s done, you’ll have an .mkv file. Open this file with Handbrake.
Once its open, select the ‘subtitles’ tab. Select the subtitles you want while making sure the ‘burned in’ box is selected. The subtitles will then always be present when watching the file, no matter what program you use to watch.
I hope this is what you were looking for. Good luck.
Sorry for the late reply.
Thank you for explaining! I’ll check this out.
@jimx1169 said:
Here’s what works for me:Rip your DVD/BluRay using MakeMKV. Make sure that you leave the subtitles for the main title selected.
When it’s done, you’ll have an .mkv file. Open this file with Handbrake.
Once its open, select the ‘subtitles’ tab. Select the subtitles you want while making sure the ‘burned in’ box is selected. The subtitles will then always be present when watching the file, no matter what program you use to watch.
I hope this is what you were looking for. Good luck.
What’s the benefit of ripping from MakeMKV to Handbrake? Can you get the same results using handbrake alone?
Handbrake doesn’t rip BluRays from disc - Only DVDs.
@JuiceWSA said:
Handbrake doesn’t rip BluRays from disc - Only DVDs.
I know you are familiar with HandBrake. Does it ‘burn-in’ non-text based subs? Like idx/sub or sup?
@NewPlaza said:
I know you are familiar with HandBrake. Does it ‘burn-in’ non-text based subs? Likeidx/suborsup?
Yes it does. This is covered in Juice’s excellent Handbrake HowTo https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1335697/#Comment_1335697
@OttoKerner said:
@NewPlaza said:
I know you are familiar with HandBrake. Does it ‘burn-in’ non-text based subs? Likeidx/suborsup?Yes it does. This is covered in Juice’s excellent Handbrake HowTo https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1335697/#Comment_1335697
It is - but be sure to read everything, including the latest posts.
I’ve started using 1.0.7 and have been adding to that thread.
It’s almost time to create a new thread dedicated to an update.
Still fiddling with some things.
I have never tried non-text subs. A ‘Preview’ of same would reveal what happens.
in the end it depends on your clients.
if your tv has no native support for picture subtitles, you can either burn them in (makes sense if you only got 1 subtitle) or apply some OCR to create SRTs from them (e.g. via Subler on macOS).
Benefit… in MP4 container you can assign to quite a detailed level which subtitles relate to which audio track and which are forced ones.
if your tv supports picture subtitles, handbrake only makes sense if there’s other restrictions such as video/audio codecs – in those cases handbrake allows you to use MKV which can handle the original picture based subtitles.
beyond that it’s really mostly about improving compatibility with mobile devices and improved streaming.
MKVToolNix will Extract embedded subtitle tracks and create SRT files in their original format:
https://mkvtoolnix.download/downloads.html
takes a few minutes - using MKVExtract that is bundled with the program.
Xmedia Recode will convert embedded tracks from any format to just about any format:
https://www.xmedia-recode.de/en/download.html <— UTF-8 (text) is called ‘Subrip’
takes a few minutes
Embedded sub tracks will NOT work in MP4 files - requiring SRT files.
Embedded sub tracks will work in MKV files.
UTF-8 (text) formatted SRT files or embedded tracks will most likely Direct Play on everything.
Image based sub titles (ASS, PSG, other) will most likely require transcoding on almost everything.
Handbrake will:
Burn the selected track
or
Create a Default embedded track
but
you’ll first need to identify those tracks - MKVToolNix does this quickly - Handbrake shows you have sub tracks, but doesn’t offer any clues about what they are even if they are correctly identified and tagged. If you have multiple tracks - or are importing - best to know exactly what you have and employ a post-it note to record the track number - Handbrake is fairly useless in this regard.
unfortunately
when creating an embedded sub track in Handbrake from a text sub track, Handbrake will effectively turn that UTF-8 track into an ASS track that will transcode on almost everything.
So…
Unless you have a brain tumor - or just enjoy making things difficult for yourself - it only makes sense to burn subtitles with Handbrake, or use something else to manipulate your sub tracks or files - and if you only need one sub track or file burned in, it’s probably best to remove everything you don’t need so when you get it into Handbrake you only have one track to select - no need for any guesswork, post-it notes or detective work.
@JuiceWSA said:
- MKVToolNix will Extract embedded subtitle tracks and create SRT files in their original format:
Which may end up being image based.idx/.suband not.srt.
- Embedded sub tracks will NOT work in MP4 files - requiring SRT files.
Not entirely true. MP4 Files can have a embedded subtitle track. It’s just a pain-in-the-butt to work with.
Let’s put it this way:
If you use Plex and have a Roku (for instance) and plan on using an MP4 file that you want to Direct Play - you’d better have an SRT file with UTF-8 formatting.
@JuiceWSA said:
Let’s put it this way:
If you use Plex and have a Roku (for instance) and plan on using an MP4 file that you want to Direct Play - you’d better have an SRT file with UTF-8 formatting.
Well, of course.
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