Video Production/Viewing subtitles

Viewing subtitle files

Sometimes Videos come with an accompanying subtitle file. This is particularly useful in a copy and distribute culture as this can be used as a base for a further translation into a different language.

These files come in many different formats. Some common ones are *.smi, *.str, *.sub

VLC (video lan player) and Subtitles

The preferred cross platform way of playing subtitles is to use the VLC player.

Download VLC player here - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

To do this you Select File > Open, and after you have browsed for your Video file you can then tick the box marked Subtitle Options [1] and then browse for the Subtitle file [2].

To make changes to the formatting of the subtitles as they appear in VLC. Select Settings > Preferences

Then Select Subtitles/OSD and there you can change the position of the subtitles on the screen vertically. You should experiment if you wish to place the subtitle files at the top of the screen.

Using Direct VobSub

This is an alternative way to display subtitle files in Windows is using DirectVobSub. This can be downloaded here http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectVobSub.htm.

It is a little bit of software that starts working when you start to play a video file which has a subtile file of the same name [different extension].

When it is running connectly you should see the subtitles appear on the screen. The settings can be configured. If you open up DirectVobSub, then you have many options for changing the way the subtitles look. You can override normal placement of subtitles to display them at the top of the screen - which is very useful if showing films in crowded locations.

Playing Matroska Files with multi-lingual subtitles

Using VLC

Open the video and right hand click on the Video screen. From the Menu select Subtitles Track and select the language track you want

Using Direct VobSub

Download and install Direct VobSub http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectVobSub.htm

You may need to install the matroska pack too http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Lazy_Man_MKV.htm

There is a sample multilingual MKV file here http://www.clearerchannel.org/docs/transmission_report_xvid_700kps_mp3_128_matroska.mkv

And then open the file in media player (classic or windows) - Media player classic is available here http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm

When you have opened the file, click on the green arrow that appears in your task bar.

Then select the appropriate language from the language dropdown menu.

The correct language should appear as the next title. You can use Media players controls to go back to the start of the file to see the complete video file.