Subtitles in dvd studio. How to implement ?

I have created several video tracks in DVD Studio 4. Each one has two subtitle tracks (English and Spanish)
I can select them via my DVD player remote control. But that implies that the viewer knows or is told that there are multiple languages.
I want to create two buttons, just like I did for the chapters, but to select either language. I dont know how to link the button to the corresponding subtitle track. Also, if a language is selected, I would like to be valid for ALL the chapters, even after returning to the main menu. How do I do that ?

To provide menu level access to control the visibility of the corrresponding subtitle streams, you will need make use of GPRMs (variables in the DVD spec).
You will have to set a value for playback of the track with no subtitle streams enabled, a value for playback of the track with just the English subtitle stream enabled and a value for playback of the track with just the Spanish subtitle stream enabled. An initial value is set at First Play and corresponding values can be attached to button activation on your menu (usually a "Setup" menu). Then, a script can check the current GPRM value that controls which streams are to play when a user jumps to the track (video stream, audio stream and/or subtitle stream). A similar script can check the current GPRM before jumping to the Setup menu such that the corresponding button is pre-selected when that menu loads. You would use the same approach to control audio streams (like a mix with English dialog and a mix with Spanish dialog or a mix with a Director's commentary).
This is actually advanced programming and goes beyond what the manual covers (as far as I am aware).
You may need to seek training, consultation, or hire a programmer who can do it.
-Warren. :)

Similar Messages

How do I prevent errors importing foreign characters into subtitles for DVD studio pro?

How do I prevent errors importing foreign characters into subtitles for DVD studio pro?
I have figured out just about everything necessary for creating subtitle tracks in several foreign languages, but the only problem is that some individual characters in some languages (like the "open quotation mark" symbol in Lithuanian!) do not import properly into the subtitle track. I can type or paste the symbols in manually, but this means doing it hundreds of times in several different languages, and defeats the purpose of using the system I've created.
Does anyone know how to import some of these odd characters.
I import characters using a text file saved in Unicode-16, and I set the language of the track to the proper language (for instance, Lithuanian).
I can't find the answer anyway, and really am stumped!!
Thank you!!

i think i might have figured out a solution. it's a quirk in the program. i noticed that sometimes the quotation marks DO actually import, but only if they are in the middle of a sentence. they only FAIL to import at the beginning of a sentence. so, what i did was to paste a space before the beginning of every sentence with a weird low-down quotation mark, and it imported fine.
and it also seems to kill two birds with one stone, because sometimes it seems that DVD studio pro cuts off a few pixels at the beginning of a line -- so with a space inserted it just cuts off...nothing.
so far so good. thank you for trying to help, Tom. MUCH APPRECIATED. this stuff can be very frustrating. i'm already going bald fast enough....erg.

Exporting subtitles from dvd studio pro

i know how to import subtitles from a txt file
but i want to know if there is a way for me to export the subtitles from dvd studio so that i have the timeline and the text
i.e.
after exporting id have a file that has ...
$FontName = Arial
$FontSize = 65
00:00:00:07 , 00:00:02:01 , I Hope This Works.
00:00:02:01 , 00:00:03:27 , If Not im ******.
and so on
is this possible?

Sorry nope!
Hopefully you have the file you imported and didn't do all the work in dvdsp.
Tools: [Annotation Edit|http://www.zeitanker.com/content/tools/zeitankertools/zeitanker_annotationedit] or [Bell Nuit Subtitler|http://www.belle-nuit.com/subtitler> might be worth a look. You could also mux the project and use [ripping tools|http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/subtitle] to try to get the output you want,
-Jake

Subtitles using dvd studio pro

Hellos everyone, i was wondering if anyone could tell me how can i add subtitles on dvd studio pro? how can i add the option subtitles or to add the subtitles to a dvd? is there like a tutorial on how to do this?

hi this is really easy to do in DVD SP.
first create a menu card for subtitle. in that have buttons like
ON, OFF, PLAY, MENU. as per your requirements
and you need to do small scripting works for ON & OFF
ON button scripting.
add new script from the tab.and in the script editor add the following script
set system streamst(subtitle stream1)(on)
jump(subtitle menu- play button)
jump can be as your choice. this script will activate the subtitle
OFF button scripting.
add new script from the tab.and in the script editor add the following script
set system streamst(subtitle stream1)(off)
jump(subtitle menu- play button)
this script will deactivate the subtitle stream.
make sure you assign the scripts to the desired buttons
regards
senthil
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Exporting Subtitle from DVD Studio Pro

Is there a way to export subtitles from DVD Studio Pro or Is there a tool somewhere that will generate an STL file from a DVD Studio Pro subtitle stream?
Thanks for your help!

Yes, other than the manual -- which I have exhausted. It gave me the coding for a text-based caption, and the coding for a graphic, but not the coding that would put both on the same clip (same time value).
However, I can manually go into the subtitle inspector and add whatever element (the text or the graphic) each with its own offsets, and have them appear flawlessly together. I am convinced there must be coding that generates this effect I can use in the STL file, but I have found nothing on the web, nor any of several downloaded manuals (including pp. 456 - 460).
Any advice?

How to activate subtitles in DVD Studio Pro

Hi there,
So I have my subtitle track in DVD Studio Pro already done. I would like to know how I can make it so that when someone is watching the film, they can press the subtitle button and those subtitles will appear. I think I need to use scripts, but I've read numerous posts online and have yet to find one that explains it clearly enough. Can anyone help and give me a step by step guide through the process? Thanks in advance.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/subtitles_dvdspstone.html

Importing subtitles into DVD Studio Pro 4 that were created FCP Studio 6

Greetings!
So in all the DVD Studio Pro 4 documentation, I couldn't find any work flow that allowed you to create subtitles, via *Text or Boris 3D Titles* in Final Cut Pro Studio 6 and then export or import your work into DVD Studio Pro to be used in the subtitle fields... Is that possible?
After painstakingly entering in subtitles for a feature film line-by-line, timing them perfectly to picture and making them look beautiful with crisp-text & a slight drop-shadow... It would be wonderful to import those files (as graphics files? DVD Studio Pro can import those...) in our DVD for release, with optional subtitles-- Instead of making/encoding 2 versions; with & without subtitles.
What is the best way to export these files, created for the film subtitling in *Text or Boris 3D Titles* so that we can import them into DVD Studio Pro 4 subtitle tracks... Could they be exported with an Alpha Channel so that the background is transparent? And will this then be excepted into DVD Studio Pro 4 to be placed in the subtitle fields?
Please help us conquer this seemingly-necessary procedure... I would really hate to think that to achieve this task we'd have to re-enter, re-design & re-time ALL subtitles to make our DVD... All of your suggestions would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Jason

OK-- I love that I've found a way to answer my own question on this forum (but actually I must credit my buddy James for finding out about 'TitleExchange Pro') It looks pretty cool and should do exactly what I've asked about: Exporting/ Importing subtitles made in FCP to DVD SP...
TitleExchange Pro is a unique tool which makes complicated things simple.
If you ever wished to get your titles out of FCP into DVDSP (or another DVD authoring application), get titles into FCP from another source like DVDSP or STL, or ceate a QT with all your FCP subtitles without the need of rendering (and get automatic selection of language) or just "equalize" your FCP titles TEP will be the right tool.
There's a slight catch but it might be worth it, if this works as well as it states...Cost 135 EUR:) You can download a limited demo version that works for 30 days & 50 titles...If anyone wants to give their feedback on this software, please post it here-- We'd all be interested.
Download & more information about this process at: http://www.spherico.de/filmtools/TitleExchange/
Also, check out this video tutorial on the product... It explains exactly how to do the task-at-hand... http://www.studiodaily.com/main/minisites/finalcutpro/f/mtutorials/6851.html
Hope this finds you all well--
Peace,
Jason

Exportin subtitles from DVD Studio pro

Do you have an idea how can I export subtitles from DVD SP? I have created a few years ago subtitles for a documentary (PAL) and now they want it converted to NTSC. I was thinking on creating a new NTSC project and transferring the subtitles to it (hooping the placement won't change allot, and if so I'll just need to move it a bit. But I can't find a way to export the subtitles.

Sorry nope!
Hopefully you have the file you imported and didn't do all the work in dvdsp.
Tools: [Annotation Edit|http://www.zeitanker.com/content/tools/zeitankertools/zeitanker_annotationedit] or [Bell Nuit Subtitler|http://www.belle-nuit.com/subtitler> might be worth a look. You could also mux the project and use [ripping tools|http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/subtitle] to try to get the output you want,
-Jake

Blank DVD launches DVD studio- How to stop?

I'm sure this a simple setting- but I can not seem to figure it out.
It never did this before- but all of sudden- DVD studio Pro launches whenever I insert a blank DVd into the MacPro tray. Now- 90% of the time that's what I want- but I would prefer to not have it do this and open the program manually.

System Preferences/CDs and DVDs.
There is a setting there.

Subtitles in DVD-studio Pro to start automatically

Hi, I have a minor problem with a commercial DVD I'm making. The DVD is in Swedish language, and I have made three menus for each language, Swedish, Norwegian and English. (the actual track, video and sound is the same in all three menus and all three menus "play" button are attached to the same track. I've also made a translation in english and attached a subtitle stream to the track)
If I press the english flag from the first play menu I arrive at the english menu, here the customer wants the English subtitles to start automatically when you press "play concert". How do I do this? Do I use a script or a story? I tried to some things, but then the subtitles were visible from the Swedish menu and the Norwegian as well, and I don't want that.
Regards, Mike

There's a couple of ways to do this. The simplest is this.
Create a script - call it something like Set Lang Swed
In the script on the first line add a command 'set GPRM'
Change the source type to 'immediate' and the value to '1' and target to an unused GPRM (like 0)
Repeat steps 1-3 for the other languages replacing the immediate value to 2 & 3 respectively (still for the same target as before)
Now create another Script and call it something like 'Menu Return'
In that script add a Jump command to the first line.
Set the 'Jump to' to the Swedish Menu
Tick the Compare Command and execute if 'GPRM 0' (or whatever) is '=' to 'Immediate' with value '1'
Add another line and set that to 'Jump to' the next Language Menu then do step 8 again with a value of '2'
Repeat step 9
Set the track End Jump to the 'Menu Return' script
Set the Track>RemoteControl>Menu setting to the Menu Return script
Something like that should get you going.
Pi

Subtitles in DVD Studio 4

Hallo,
I want to make a DVD with subtitles. I have a main menu with this buttons: Play Movie, Play Trailer, Language selection. The Movie has 4 Audio Tracks and 4 Subtitle tracks. I want it as default to play Audio Stream 1 and Subtitle Stream 1 when the disc ins inserted into the player.... That works fine when I press the Play Movie button. I have put a script before the main menu that sets the Streams. But when I first watch the trailer and then start the movie, I get Audio track one, which is english and Subtitle Track 3 which is German ( I am in Germany and I think all the DVD players are set to German, but the only thake the German Subs, not the German Audio...)..... then I can go to my Language selection menu and chose German Audio with Spanish subtitles, ( the Audio and Subtitle selection buttons have scripts...Set system Stream, Immediate Value, Audio Stream.... and Subtitle Stream and then a Jump command to go back to the Language selection menu ) go to the main menu, start the movie and have the desired Selection. Everything seems fine... but when I watch the Traiuler and than go back to the movie again, it is English with English Subtitles ( Sub Stream 1 and Audio Stream 1 ) Any idea what I can do ? I think I need some more scripts....
Many thanks, Martin

Hi pacanoes - apologies for the missing links on dvdstudiopro.co.uk... I have moved hosting and the files were lost - I need to get them replaced.
Michael has got you covered though - you can use stories pretty easily. A story does not take up any additional space on your disc, so you can set up lots of them to cover your needs (there is a limit - don't go crazy... 99 stories per track only). So, you could set up a story for playback with one audio stream (or subtitle) and another story for a different sub picture stream... use a simple menu button to select the version required.
The play all can also be a story - put all your markers into one story, and point to that from your play all button. If you need to set up a sub-picture stream use another story with all markers in it.
However, there are other ways to change subtitles as well... but from your description, it should be relatively simple to use stories.
Scripting, whilst fun () is not a simple solution for you!

Subtitles on DVD studio pro 4 on txt

Hi Everyone:
This is the first time I do subtitles, and I'm completly lost, the traslator give the file in a word document format diveded in 2 columns one with the time code and one with text, I try converting this to a text (.txt) to imported but it says the time code is set up wrong or the format is not the rigth kind, I'm confused i just need to know how to spell well the time code and the texts on a txt document. Can anyboby copy a paragragraph so I can see if mine is ok??
Thanks

This is described in the subtitle section of the manual, with a sample of the text format - you should look it up to get the right formatting tags, but the generic format for the actual data is as follows:
01:00:01:00 , 01:00:04:00 , this is your subtitle
You need to have both in and out points for each subtitle. I can usually get a word file massaged into this format with a combination of table-to-text and find-and-replace steps.

Can you export Subtitles done in DVD Studio Pro

I made some subtitles in DVD Studio pro and I'd like to switch them from one project file to the next. Is there any way to do this?

Two possible ways:
1. Not sure if this will work but worth a try: Export an item description of the track with the subs in. The n open new project and import that Item description which will bring in the track complete with subs, movie and sound. If this is all you want this should work fine.
2. If however you want to actually export the subs to maybe edit elsewhere or whatever you do the same and export Item Description of the track.
Download Subtitler
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26322
And use this to extract the subs from the Item description. Can be a bit flakey but works - make sure you have defined the language of the subs in DVD-SP and also make sure you use the Item Description Import not Auto in Subtitler. Then you can save them as STL file for use elsewhere.
Hope this helps
Steve Kirkham

DVD studio basic questions...

HI!
I have mostly used FCP to make web videos, so making a DVD is new for me. I used iDVD in the past for family videos, but that's about it.
Some basic questions...
1) Does DVD Studio work from different FCP files? Meaning, can I create all the "chapter sections" in my dvd in different FCP files? Is that the best way to do it? Or does it all have to be done in one FCP file with some sort of chapter marker system?
2) Does DVD Studio read from FCP direct or from exported .dv files?
3) Do I have a choice of using FCP or exported .dv files?
I ask these so I know the right way to approach my FCP project.
Also, if it can use .dv files, then I can outsource the authoring of making the DVD to someone else to save me some time. This is harder to do with the FCP files.
FINALLY...
4) When I used iDVD in the past and dvds I buy in the store, all I could get was about 1 hour on a dvd.
With DVD studio, how can you make a longer DVD that can fit more than 1 hour, as I am making a professional product for duplication.
Thanks sooooooooo much for your wisdom..... john

Hi John - in response:
1) yes, it can certainly do so. However, you can also use a single timeline in FCP, set chapter markers and add the DVDSP meta data (click 'm' twice in the FCP timeline to get the chapter marker window, and add the data there). You might also add the markers when in DVDSP - all fairly easy to do. I often use lots of different FCP clips to make a single track in DVDSP - you have to think of a DVDSP timeline very differently to a FCP one... in DVDSP the timeline can hold completely different films and you use chapter markers to help delineate it all. You only need to use a new track in DVDSP if it helps with the overall structure for the disc, or if you've used 99 chapter markers in the first one already.
2) yes, it can. Using a FCP reference file is possible, as is using an exported .dv file. The difference is a matter of preference, largely. I tend to export out of FCP as a QT self-contained file, encode it using compressor to be mpeg2, and then import into DVDSP. You can, of course, go from FCP directly to compressor without making the QT file. The output from compressor is what you are after for DVDSP - you can use QT or .dv files right into DVDSP, but they get compressed to MPEG2 as the disc is built. The encoder in DVDSP is not a particularly refined tool, and Compressor will give you so many more options, including encoding the audio to AC3 (dolby digital) which is a very important thing to do!
3) yes again... see above? You can't use the FCP project files, you certainly can use other file types, but you really ought to use MPEG2 files from Compressor. You'll get a better looking result.
4) yes... this all comes down to the way the footage is encoded (I'm labouring the point, but Compressor is your friend here again). There are lots of ways you can squeeze more onto a standard 4.37Gb disc - it is easy to get 2 hours on if you know what you are doing. This could be an entire thread of it's own, but the basics are that you need to use Dolby Digital audio (AC3) which has a tiny file size but a decent audio sound. This leaves you with more space on your disc for the video. The more you compress the video (use lower bitrates like 3Mbps) the smaller the file will be, and therefore the more footage you can fit onto the disc.
The problem is that lower bitrates can result in lower quality. This is especially true if your footage includes pans, zooms, shimmering water, leaves on trees, fades and so on. You tend to get blocky areas that look poor. Higher bitrates certainly help, but you get larger file sizes and thus can fit less on the disc... it's always a trade off between file size and quality. With iDVD the encoding decisions are taken for you, and you can't control it, but it fortunately does a pretty decent job.
There is no set or enciding rules that will work for every piece of video you have got, however you can go a long way using variable rate encodes (VBR) that have a range from 4 - 7.4Mbps. In order to know whether the resulting file will fit onto your disc you have to do some good old 'bit budgeting'. There are online tools to help you where you type in the length of your footage in minutes, and the size of your DVD capacity, and it tells you what the bitrate needs to be in order to fit the space available. Be careful though - it cannot tell what your footage is, and you have to preview the results yourself to judge if the quality is right.
A tip is to find the 'problem' areas in the footage, make a short (2mins) clip and encode that at different bit rates. When you find one that works well, use that for all of the footage. As long as you use 2 pass (VBR) encodes in Compressor, it will assign lower bitrates to the easier sections, and higher bitrates to the problem areas.
There are many other encoders out there which are better than Compressor - have a look at Cinemacraft on a PC for a start - but you pay a premium for them. They also take a while to learn, but the trick to making a great looking DVD is to use great looking source footage and encode it well before making the DVD. If you encode as part of making the DVD then you've missed the point and you'll get 'average' results at best!

Subtitles (for dvd AND printing to tape)

Hey,
I have found a good number of freeware programs that help with creating subtitles for DVD Studio Pro, etc. but my concern is that I want to be able to print my sequence to mini-DV for screenings also.
Is there is a program I can use that actually feeds directly into Final Cut or program that can be used with burning DVDs as well as writing to tape, etc.?
Thanks,
Elliat

We don't have Virex or Norton software in the machine. We have Disk Warrior which was helpful in the past with other problems. Should I run another check using Disk Warrior?
We only have one machine which has three internal drives. We've experienced the same problems using each of the drives.
We do have some video stored in the system drive, but normally we don't use that drive. The system drive currently has 70GB availble, as do each of the other internal drives.
We have updated our FCP to 4.5, but should we trying re-installing it?

Subtitles in dvd studio. How to implement ?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for