How to make subtitles for video?

[dmla]

I downloaded Example.wmv and Example.smi files.
In the Windows Media Player Plugin SAMI file does not work. Why?
Could I see subtitles (ex. SAMI format) with WMP plugin ???

THNX

[yosik]

refer to thread in help forum
Yossi

[rhosk]

Nah, dmla has a point. I think, if it's possible/feasible, that the next update to the WMP plugin should have this capability, along with more customization options (display details). It's only a few extra parameters to the interface. Good for accessability issues.

[Darryl]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure at this point if it is possible or not, but I've added it as a suggestion to be considered.

Thank you.

Darryl

[dmla]

refer to thread in help forum
Yossi

Explain please. What topic should I refer ??? Help file for that plugin (I didnt find there anything), or Forum topics ???

THNX

[rhosk]

Explain please. What topic should I refer ??? Help file for that plugin (I didnt find there anything), or Forum topics ???

THNX

Yossi is talking about another solution to subtitles/captioning here in your original started thread -

http://indigorose.com/forums/showpost.php?p=53048&postcount=13

Edit: Oh, and thanks Darryl for your response. Hope they can add these features.

[dmla]

Ok thanx, I found it.
Thanx

[eric_darling]

The other thing you could do is consider putting your video into Flash 7 format. The tools to get the most out of the video encode are not free, as with Yossi's example, but the results can be exceptional using Flash, and you don't need to worry as deeply about whether you can have your viewers install a third-party codec. Additionally, the text in Flash is completely vector, and would be separate from the underlying video, so the results will be very legible. You can even include a button in the Flash file to turn subtitles on and off. It's relatively easy, if you're already knowledgeable about Flash.

[rhosk]

Another great solution :yes I was going to recommend that earlier in another thread, but some don't know Flash, so I hate to toot that horn so often when they don't have the knowledge.

[eric_darling]

Yeah - I used to be really intimidated by Flash. I didn't want to invest loads of time for what I thought would be so little reward. I guess I got tired of being intimidated at some point about a year ago and invested in the full studio, since I knew I wanted Dreamweaver anyway.

I can't say it has been an easy learning curve, but I sure am glad I chose the time I did to move to Flash. It is coming on strong as the tool of choice for delivering video on computers - there is no equal in terms of interactivity, and soon, there will be no equal in terms of quality.

So, my advice to anyone working with video and multimedia is to set forth to tackle learning Flash. It will soon be an indespensible tool for anyone looking to do this stuff professionally. I think it's worth the aggravation - which is to say that I can guarantee aggravation for the uninitiated. Bite the bullet, as they say.

[Intrigued]

That's good news Eric! I am glad that I put time into learning a fair amount (lots to learn and practice still) about Flash MX 2004 and AS 2.0.

:yes

[yosik]

Eric,
A couple of reservations:
1. If you need to sync subs with video, using Flash is a pain, possible, but a pain..
2. Flash movies are limited to 16000 frames. At 30 frames per second, it means less than 9 minutes of continued movie.

my .2

Yossi

[eric_darling]

Good points to remember, Yossi.

That's why nearly all of our Flash video is encoded in FLV format. FLV does not share the 16,000 frame limit found in SWF format files.

FWIW, I don't think it's any harder to synchronize subtitles in Flash than it is in DVD Studio Pro. Again, you have to be familiar with working in Flash, but it's not really difficult. Subtitles are a pain in the neck no matter how you do them.

[yosik]

I fully agree With the "pain" thing...
While you are right for DVD productions, I still cotend that dedicated tools for subtitling for "regular" video, meaning either that the end product is a video file (mpeg or avi or qt) or even for print-to-tape projects, are still easier to manage, especially their timing feature.
Yossi

[eric_darling]

Here's an interesting link about subtitles in Flash on Macromedia's site.
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/features/flash/captions.html

And the link for the tool they most recommend:
http://www.hisoftware.com/hmccflash/

Looks interesting, anyway.

I am not yet ready to proclaim that Flash is the king of multimedia video formats, but it won't be long now. :)

[Corey]

I am not yet ready to proclaim that Flash is the king of multimedia video formats, but it won't be long now.

I agree. :yes

[dmla]

I did it like Jossik said (if i remember correctly). Working fine.
Divx avi file + english language. Button for Subtitles (On, English, Russian). And OnTimer (on page properties) add IF statement.

--------------------------------------- Page Properties - On timer
videocurrenttime = Video.GetCurrentPos("Video1");
if subtitle == "rus" then
if videocurrenttime > stime_1 and videocurrenttime < ftime_1 then
Paragraph.SetText("subtitle", subtextR_1);
end
if videocurrenttime > stime_2 and videocurrenttime < ftime_2 then
Paragraph.SetText("subtitle", subtextR_2);
end
else if subtitle == "eng" then
if videocurrenttime > stime_1 and videocurrenttime < ftime_1 then
Paragraph.SetText("subtitle", subtextE_1);
end
if videocurrenttime > stime_2 and videocurrenttime < ftime_2 then
Paragraph.SetText("subtitle", subtextE_2);
end
end
end
---------------------------------------------------------

So the last question is - How to automize this if statement ???? Could I use tables or arrays ??? And how to make it automatic when user will use slider (on video) ???

THNX.

[dmla]

There is a button "SubTitles" on the page ...
--------------------------------------- OnClick Button Action
if subtitle == "off" then
Page.StartTimer(1000);
Paragraph.SetVisible("subtitle", true);
end

if subtitle == "off" or subtitle == "rus" then
subtitle = "eng";
Button.SetText("Button_subtitles", "ENGLISH");
else if subtitle == "eng" then
subtitle = "rus";
Button.SetText("Button_subtitles", "RUSSIAN");
end
end
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Then we are going to OnShow Actions of the page
----------------------------------------- OnShow Page Actions
subtitle = "off";
Paragraph.SetVisible("subtitle", false);
Button.SetText("Button_subtitles", "SUBTITLES");

STime = {}; FTime = {}; SubTextR = {}; SubTextE = {}; SubText={};
STime[1] = 44;
FTime[1] = 49;
SubTextR[1] = "Êàê âèäèòå ìû çà âàìè äàâíåíüêî íàáëþäàåì, ìèñòåð Àíäåðñîí.";
SubTextE[1] = "As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson.";
STime[2] = 49;
FTime[2] = 55;
SubTextR[2] = "Îêàçûâàåòñÿ âû æèâåòå äâîéíîé æèçíüþ.";
SubTextE[2] = "It seems that you've been living...two lives";
STime[3] = 57;
FTime[3] = 62;
SubTextR[3] = "Â îäíîé æèçíè âû - Òîìàñ Àíäåðñîí, ïðîãðàììèñò â êðóïíîé, óâàæàåìîé êîìïàíèè.";
SubTextE[3] = "In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson...program writer for a respectable software company.";
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Then we are going to OnTimer Actions of the page
----------------------------------------- OnShow Page Actions
videocurrenttime = Video.GetCurrentPos("Video1");
if subtitle == "rus" then
SubText = SubTextR;
end;
if subtitle == "eng" then
SubText = SubTextE;
end;

for i in STime do
if videocurrenttime > STime[i] and videocurrenttime < FTime[i] then
Paragraph.SetText("subtitle", SubText[i]);
end
end;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Last step is to create database file with times and texts of subtitles (ex. SQLite) and make changes in that code the table from database.
Thanx to everybody who readed this topic, and thanx to everybody who wrote answers. AMS is a great soft :)