Converted (.SRT - Encore Subtitle text script) never Sync.

Question

Hi all,
I've searched for two days on the web but still no answer.
I'm making a BluRay Disc of a collection of TV Show episodes. I add these episodes as an .m4v file into Encore, which works great. These videos will be transcoded the the appropriat format at the end.
The only problem I encounter is the subtitles: I have an .srt file which runs perfectly sync with the .m4v video file (when I just play it in i.e. VLC, so no Adobe Encore is used)
But when I open the .srt file in a Subtile Editor (Subtitle Workshop, Subtitle Edit, Jubler (MAC) ) and hit ' Save As' Adobe Encore Text Script and import it in Adobe Encore, it starts of as a good sync in the first few seconds of the TV Show episode, but is way out of sync at the end of the episodes... (Sounds like me as an FPS problem?)
I've tried everything, from all different types of FPS output of the subtitle file, to all different project FPS settings.
My main project is 23,976FPS BluRay NTSC, my VIDEOFILE.m4v is 23,976FPS and my subtitles are 23,976FPS.
I really hope someone can help me out here.
Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Christiaan.

Answer 1

Allright, maybe this way is not the fastest way to calculatie it, but it works every time for me:
First of all the crucial properties are that all my videofiles.m4v are 23,976 FPS and I've set my Encore BluRay project to BluRay NTSC 23,976 FPS.
I don't know if this works when different framerates are used...
Anyhow:
I'll go through these steps with an example I used, which I'm sure of it works.
NOTE: WE DON'T DO ANYTHING WITH THE SUBTITLE.srt FILE TILL STEP 7
1)
When you import the videofile.m4v into Adobe Encore, and look at the properties, you'll see it's FPS, but also the time in frames not milliseconds. Write down what time is displayed (in example: 00:53:18:19 which is hh:mm:ss:ff frames)
2)
When you look up the duration of the videofile.m4v outside Adobe Encore it'll display in milliseconds
(I used MediaInfo on OS X, but VLC will also display time. In my case it displayed the videofile.m4v as 53min22sec, and yes this is the same videofile.m4v as the 00:53:18:19 displayed in STEP 1 )
This 53min22sec = 00:53:22:000 (hh:mm:ss:mmm milliseconds)
What we want is the difference between the videofile.m4v in Encore, and outside Encore. This difference can be converted in percentages, which can be applied in Subtitle Edit to adjust the subtitles.
3) "Calculating the displayed frames displayed in Encore to milliseconds"
So, in my case, I'm dealing with 23,976 FPS (note: FPS = Frames Per Second)
Thus;
1 second = 23,976 FPS
1000 milliseconds = 23,976
In this example 00:53:18:19. We know 1000 milliseconds = 23,976 FPS, so we also know how many milliseconds 19 FPS is:
(19*1000ms)/(23,976) = 792,.....ms.
4) "Rewrite the Encore time in seconds"
We now know that 00:53:18:19 (in frames) = 00:53:18:792 (in milliseconds)
5) "Calculate difference in seconds between time shown in Encore (00:53:18:792) and time shown outside Encore (00:53:22:000)"
Difference in seconds = 00:53:22:000 - 00:53:18:792 = 3,208 seconds
Now we have to calculate what the percentage those 3,208 seconds is in respect the the whole videofile.m4v inside Encore.
6) "Calculate percentage"
We know the total time of the videofile.m4v in Encore is 00:53:18:792 (We just calculated that). That total duration is 100%, but being able to calculate with that value, we have to convert those hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds into just seconds.
Easy: (53min*60seconds) + 18seconds + 0,792seconds = 3198,792 seconds
3198,792 = 100%, so we also know how many % 3,208 seconds is.
(3,208*100%) / 3198,792 = 0,100273472%
We know have calculated the difference between the videofile.m4v inside Encore, and outside Encore.
The subtitle.srt is synchronized to the videofile.m4v outside Encore, and not inside Encore (duh, that's the whole problem)
But when we open Subtitle Edit, open the subtitle.srt and choose for the option to resync with percentage, you'll see it's normalle set to 100%. This value has to be adjusted with our corrected % we've calculated in STEP 6.
So, 100%-0,100273472% = 99,89971214%. Makes sure that it's set to apply on all subtitle lines, and hit ENTER.
7)
Make sure the subtitle is set to 'Unicode' (can be done in Subtitle Edit, just in the main screen).
Then, hit "Save As" and save the subtitle not as .srt but as Adobe Encore NTSC.
You can now import this subtitle_Adobe.Encore.NTSC.txt in Adobe Encore, and it will run Perfectly sync.
Good luck!
P.S.
Sorry if I described it a little bit long, but this will make sure you understand it correctly. I hope.
Let me know if you have any questions.
- Chris.