Are there any good sites that provide subtitle files for Divx and the like?
June 25, 2004 1:16 PM Subscribe
Where do I find English subtitle files for non-English films? If I have a Divx/xvid/whatever I can play a subtitle file along with it. This I already know. What I don't know is a good site to find these files. Any help?
I have not myself seen a subtitle site, though you'd think there'd be such a thing. I bet there's some going the other way—English to whatever. (That famous Russian guy comes to mind.)
I didn't realize until recently (and I may be wrong about this being universal) that subtitles on DVDs were actually little video streams. Makes sense, I guess, although I had assumed, stupidly, that it was data that the player interpreted and presented as overlaid text. Anyway, when people rip DVDs, they rip out these subtitle video streams and the associated timing stream. There are a few susbtitle standards for computer video, some use a text file with timings, some a special converted graphic file from the original video stream. But you can see that it's not as easy to just pull out the subtitles as you might think. That is, if you're thinking they're just text data with timing on the DVD.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:30 PM on June 25, 2004
I didn't realize until recently (and I may be wrong about this being universal) that subtitles on DVDs were actually little video streams. Makes sense, I guess, although I had assumed, stupidly, that it was data that the player interpreted and presented as overlaid text. Anyway, when people rip DVDs, they rip out these subtitle video streams and the associated timing stream. There are a few susbtitle standards for computer video, some use a text file with timings, some a special converted graphic file from the original video stream. But you can see that it's not as easy to just pull out the subtitles as you might think. That is, if you're thinking they're just text data with timing on the DVD.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:30 PM on June 25, 2004
Response by poster: Well, .srt is a fairly common format that is nothing more than a text file. The contents look like this:
1
00:02:29,516 --> 00:02:31,484
Hurry up...
2
00:02:41,528 --> 00:02:43,496
Hurry up...
3
00:02:49,569 --> 00:02:51,503
Don't push...
4
00:02:56,576 --> 00:02:58,510
Quickly, quickly!
5
00:03:06,486 --> 00:03:08,454
Get up there... You have to be quick!!!
where the 1st number is the subtitle number the second line is what time to start and stop displaying the subtitles and the third line is the subtitle itself. (First 5 subtitles from Ong Bak). Subtitle files are usually released along with a ripped movie but not if that movie is in, say French, and was ripped by a French speaker. When I can find them a small amount of tinkering is occasionally required but programs like VobSub make this fairly easy. The problem is finding the files in the first place.
posted by Grod at 2:03 PM on June 25, 2004
1
00:02:29,516 --> 00:02:31,484
Hurry up...
2
00:02:41,528 --> 00:02:43,496
Hurry up...
3
00:02:49,569 --> 00:02:51,503
Don't push...
4
00:02:56,576 --> 00:02:58,510
Quickly, quickly!
5
00:03:06,486 --> 00:03:08,454
Get up there... You have to be quick!!!
where the 1st number is the subtitle number the second line is what time to start and stop displaying the subtitles and the third line is the subtitle itself. (First 5 subtitles from Ong Bak). Subtitle files are usually released along with a ripped movie but not if that movie is in, say French, and was ripped by a French speaker. When I can find them a small amount of tinkering is occasionally required but programs like VobSub make this fairly easy. The problem is finding the files in the first place.
posted by Grod at 2:03 PM on June 25, 2004
Response by poster: Oh, and Blight, VobSub will pull out the subtitles from the DVD no problem. When I "backup" my movies I use GordianKnot which is a convinient interface for all the programs and codecs you need to make the perfect rip. (Actually, these days I use AutoGordianKnot, because it works really, really well).
posted by Grod at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2004
posted by Grod at 2:05 PM on June 25, 2004
eMule or other filesharing applications. Search for your movie title and order the results by size. The smallest-sized files (.srt etc) are subtitle scripts. Download them and pick the best one.
posted by azazello at 9:23 AM on June 26, 2004
posted by azazello at 9:23 AM on June 26, 2004
Good idea, azazello.
There are actually quite a few subtitle sites out there, EB. I'm not on my home machine, so no links to share at the moment, though. Google is your friend.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:55 AM on June 27, 2004
There are actually quite a few subtitle sites out there, EB. I'm not on my home machine, so no links to share at the moment, though. Google is your friend.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:55 AM on June 27, 2004
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Here's a good site I use. it's asian-movie specific though.
read through the online guides though. I've found subtitle formats and finding the right subtitle for the right pirated version of the movie to be a complete bitch.
posted by GeekAnimator at 1:29 PM on June 25, 2004