convert vobs to avis with hardsubs?

August 10, 2008 12:12 AM

How do I add subtitles (hardsubs) to an xvid avi when converting from VOBs under FreeBSD?

I have a handfull of VOBs that have embeded subtitle streams, and I want to convert to AVI with hardsubs.

Currently using ffmpeg to do the conversions, but I can't seem to find the options to make it hardsub. There has to be a way, right? I'm willing to compile/install whatever I need to.

For some reason, the only [somewhat] useful results I can turn up on Google want me to use Windows, which I'd rather not.

And just for the record: No, I'm not doing anything illegal. I have the license to do what I want with the DVDs ... I just don't want to pay the production company to do it for me.

posted by kindachris to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I don't think ffmpeg handles subtitles much at all, in either subpicture streams (e.g. DVD, some DTV broadcast standards) or text streams (e.g. most DTV broadcast standards, .srt, .ssa, etc). You might have to look into using mplayer / mencoder.
posted by Pinback at 12:48 AM on August 10, 2008

I'm pretty sure mencoder (part of mplayer) is the way to go. It wants to output .avi files by default. The mencoder documentation is pretty involved, and it's not even complete, but it's very powerful.

Here's how I would do a two pass encoding at 1000 kbps mpeg4 video and 128 kbps mp3 audio:

$ mencoder movie.vob -sid 0 -aid 128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=1000:vpass=1 -oac copy -o /dev/null
$ mencoder movie.vob -sid 0 -aid 128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=1000:vpass=2 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr=128 -o movie.avi

The -sid 0 flag above designates subtitle id 0. The -aid 128 flag designates audio id 128. Try mplayer -v movie.vob with different -sid and -aid numbers to get the correct subtitles and audio.
posted by Loudmax at 11:02 AM on August 10, 2008

Loudmax: That's exactly the hand-holding I was looking for! Thank you.

Now, if mencoder/mplayer would stop being bitchy and compile, I'd be set.
posted by kindachris at 3:34 PM on August 10, 2008