My idea is to put a black box on the hardcoded subtitles for a language I do not know, to make it easier to read the external subtitles in English without interference. I am not sure if it is really an FLM film as I have to watch it first, so I am just looking for a technical suggestion rather than other improved sources for the movie.
I am sure I read about it somewhere on the forum but I can not find it now. I certainly found plenty of threads that mention hardcoded subs! What is the recommended software for covering over hardcoded subtitles? The improved VirtualDub2? Or is there something better than that? I have never attempted anything of the sort, so I think it is best for me to start out with the right software if there is free software that will do it.
Thank you.
Hardcoded Subtitle Removal
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citronleaf
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DreamScape
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Re: Hardcoded Subtitle Removal
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by DreamScape »
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The simplest approach is to use Advanced Sub Station Alpha subtitles - or ASS. This subtitle format allows advanced formatting including placing an opaque box behind the text. You can also change text size and color, etc.
If there is not much hardcoded subtitles in the film, you could also just position your own subtitles somewhere else, like the top of the video, to avoid overlapping. ASS or and even SRT formats support positioning.
I use Subtitle Edit, which is free. There are probably other choices that support ASS format.
If you truly want to remove hardcoded subtitles, it can be done by having two video sources. You essentially use one video source to cover up the hardcoded subtitles in another. I had a friend do this once where I had one video with hardcoded subtitles on Swedish speaking and another video with hardcoded subtitles on English speaking. By combining the two video sources we produced a new video with no hardcoded subtitles.
If there is not much hardcoded subtitles in the film, you could also just position your own subtitles somewhere else, like the top of the video, to avoid overlapping. ASS or and even SRT formats support positioning.
I use Subtitle Edit, which is free. There are probably other choices that support ASS format.
If you truly want to remove hardcoded subtitles, it can be done by having two video sources. You essentially use one video source to cover up the hardcoded subtitles in another. I had a friend do this once where I had one video with hardcoded subtitles on Swedish speaking and another video with hardcoded subtitles on English speaking. By combining the two video sources we produced a new video with no hardcoded subtitles.
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citronleaf
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Re: Hardcoded Subtitle Removal
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by citronleaf »
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I had to slap my forehead because in theory I already knew about the capabilities of ASS subtitles, even though I had never used them. Somehow it slipped my mind. I use SubtitleEdit all the time so that is not a problem. I played around with the settings after converting the SRT to ASS. In Styles I found the Opaque Box. I made the font size larger and positioned the subtitles lower and extended the duration to do a better job of covering the sometimes-longer (screen width and time duration) hardcoded subtitles. Thanks! That is surely a much faster way of accomplishing what I wanted!
I am guessing that doing this requires two videos of the same resolution and runtime. My options are different resolution and runtime, so matching them up would not work. The better resolution video has the hardcoded subtitles, while the lower resolution video has none. It is a tradeoff either way.
In this case I was happy to use modified ASS subtitles, so I thank you again. Still, I am interested in knowing how to recode the video itself so that it will work with any subtitle of any language, with the hardcoded subtitles completely covered. If anyone knows the software for that please post!
You and your friend sound like video encoding experts, where I am just a novice!DreamScape wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2025 6:49 pm If you truly want to remove hardcoded subtitles, it can be done by having two video sources. You essentially use one video source to cover up the hardcoded subtitles in another. I had a friend do this once...
I am guessing that doing this requires two videos of the same resolution and runtime. My options are different resolution and runtime, so matching them up would not work. The better resolution video has the hardcoded subtitles, while the lower resolution video has none. It is a tradeoff either way.In this case I was happy to use modified ASS subtitles, so I thank you again. Still, I am interested in knowing how to recode the video itself so that it will work with any subtitle of any language, with the hardcoded subtitles completely covered. If anyone knows the software for that please post!