Best software for subtitles

[augerpro]

Of Bluray Copy or Bluray Ripper, which offers the easiest way to deal with subtitles? I only want the typical forced subs, and need an easy to select them.

If I pick Bluray Ripper for its ability to "burn in" the subtitles, how well has this been working for people? Does it impact picture quality at all?

[signals]

Either one should be able to produce an output that plays exactly like the original movie did in theaters, which is usually my goal. Rendering the subs into the video with BD Ripper does not degrade the quality of the picture, but there are some settings that must be corrrect for it to work. BD Copy is a little earier to use and the subs should display as they would with the original disc.

[augerpro]

BD Ripper does not degrade the quality of the picture, but there are some settings that must be corrrect for it to work.

What settings are those? I may occasionally render these to mkv so I can compress with another software. I'm using another software because it supports quicksync, but not pgs subs, so it might be helpful to burn them in when I do the rip.

[signals]

DVDFab supports Intel QuickSync.

In DVD or BD Ripper, you must be sure to choose only the sub stream that contains the forced subs, and check the "Display only forced" box if you want to render them into the video (if the translation subs are part of the main dialog sub stream).

[augerpro]

BD Ripper supports QuickSync on Ivy Bridge? Very good then!! Two questions than: is the mkv output size fully adjustable?, and from my understanding there are no profiles to tweak with QS, they are in the hardware?

[signals]

AFAIK, the profile controls for any supported codec are no less adjustable than any other when using QS with DVD/BD Ripper. Note that performance of QS in DVDFab tends to vary with QS version and possibly some other software/hardware factors. Some users report great success, others say they have pixelation or AV sync issues. I have quit using GPU acceleration altogether, getting great performance from the all software settings on my "gaming-type" laptop (MSI GT780 series).

Use the forum search tool to find posts about QuickSync from my friend Chameleon, it has worked very well for him.

[Chameleon]

AFAIK, the profile controls for any supported codec are no less adjustable than any other when using QS with DVD/BD Ripper. Note that performance of QS in DVDFab tends to vary with QS version and possibly some other software/hardware factors. Some users report great success, others say they have pixelation or AV sync issues. I have quit using GPU acceleration altogether, getting great performance from the all software settings on my "gaming-type" laptop (MSI GT780 series).

Use the forum search tool to find posts about QuickSync from my friend Chameleon, it has worked very well for him.

It certainly does, and I use Lucid Virtue M.V.P. so make sure you download that Edition. Then add your profriles.

[augerpro]

Why would I need to use Virtu?

Signals thanks for the info. I was under the impression when Quick Sync first came with Sandy Bridge that the profiles were coded into the hardware, you couldn't tweak things like you could with software, like Handbrake for example.

Another question for you guys: I'm getting to know the software with Avatar and District 9, figure if I get the subtitles right on those I'll be good to go, anyway how do you know which angle to pick, there are two on Avatar and three on District 9? How does DVDFab decide which one to pick?

Also getting the 100% crash every time. Haven't been able to see if the file plays anyway since I don't have a player setup yet.

So I found the profile xml's, is this the only way to tweak the settings? Also I read VBR is supported but I see no way to use it?

[signals]

All encoding is VBR now, both in Ripper and Copy modules. You can tweak many of the settings on the Edit page in DVD or BD Ripper, there are also some tweaks in DVDFab Settings (white checkmark in green circle, upper right of DVDFab window). You can trust the angle picking in DVDFab, it's almost always correct.

[augerpro]

So even though "Fixed Bitrate" is my only option, it is really VBR? And the value is what, an average target?

I looked at the other places you mention and none have to do with profile (quality) adjustments except that bitrate option above. Am I missing something? I found the profile xml in the program folder but I'm not experienced directly editing that to adjust the settings I want, and it doesn't show all of the features that must be used anyway, given that the resulting files are High profile and L4.1 or L5.1. I don't need all the tweakability of Handbrake, but I do want to know that the profile used is high quality.

[GregiBoy]

That is very unfortunate as there are still many legacy Media Player out there that will not play VFR nicely.

There should be an option available.

All encoding is VBR now, both in Ripper and Copy modules. You can tweak many of the settings on the Edit page in DVD or BD Ripper, there are also some tweaks in DVDFab Settings (white checkmark in green circle, upper right of DVDFab window). You can trust the angle picking in DVDFab, it's almost always correct.

[signals]

This is what I was told in conversation with the Beijing staff about it. User control would be preferred it seems to me also. I may have misunderstood.

Augerpro, there are also codec controls in the DVDFab "preset" xmls, which are located in the profiles3 folder in a folder of their own. It is generally not necessary to change them, do so at your own risk. What changes are you trying to make that can't be accomodated by changing the profile either manually or with Profile Editor (which allows you to choose the preset)?

[augerpro]

Well the profile xml doesn't really tell me anything. Here is a clip for mkv.h264.audiocopy:

<video key="" enable="1" muti_stream="0">
<codecs>
<codec copy="0" key="h264">
<generic profile="0" level="0"/>
<deinterlace mode="0" method="0" enable="0"/>
<size keep_aspect="1" list="" out_size="" aspect_x="4" aspect_y="3" maxsize="" limited="0" />
<outfps mode="1" value="0" list="0"/>
<fourcc value="H264"/>
<bitrate value="1000" min="1" max="15000"/>
<quality value="85"/>
<quantizer value="2"/>
<perset enable="0" key="" owner="" template=""/>
</codec>
</codecs>
<streams>
<codec copy="0" key="h264">
<deinterlace mode="0" method="0" enable="0"/>
<size keep_aspect="1" list="" out_size="" aspect_x="4" aspect_y="3" maxsize="" limited="0" />
<outfps mode="1" value="0" list="0"/>
<fourcc value="H264"/>
<bitrate value="1000" min="1" max="15000"/>
<quality value="85"/>
<quantizer value="2"/>
<perset enable="0" key="x264_ABR_Fast.preset" owner="" template=""/>
<!-- msmpeg4v1 mpeg4 mpeg2 mpeg1 -->
<motion motion_search="5" vhq="0" qpel="0" gmc="0" chroma_me="0"/>
<!-- wmv9 wmv9 loss vc1 -->
<vbr enable="0" method="quality" max_vbr_bitrate="0" max_vbr_bufferwin="0" pass="0"/>
<!-- msmpeg4v1 mpeg4 mpeg2 mpeg1 -->
<generic max_key_interval="250" profile="-1" level="-1"/>
</codec>
</streams>
</video>

The only thing I can determine is it using a profile for x264 called "ABR fast". Wherever that profile is, that is probably the one that will tell me the settings. I guess the quality setting means something, and so does "motion motion_search="5" vhq="0" qpel="0" gmc="0" chroma_me="0"", but I'm trying to match those settings up with what I know is available for h264 in something like Handbrake. The main thing is that I want a high quality compress, and this ABR fast may be just fine, but I don't know, because I can't open a preset file. I guess I'll have to search for x264 and see what ABR fast is like. The other thing that concerns me is there are so many spelling errors above, how do I know it is working right? perset? muti-stream?

[augerpro]

Here are some examples that show why I want access to the x264 presets (or better yet just improve the settings of the current one). One is done with DVFab with QS @4kbps, the other is another software that was set to produce about the same file size as DVDFab. First I noticed that with slow moving shots the video was virtually identical. Movement is what really separated the two softwares. DVDFab would get grainy and block at times. Here are some examples.

Other software:


DVDFab:


This is a shot that is quickly zooming and the DVDFab file has a sort of shimmer in the focus. Much softer picture. You can see in the other software's image the individual hairs.

This next is a real weird one that really shows where DVDFab needs a tweak for motion. Movement plus it is the beginning of the scene, where for some reason DVDFab falters.

Other software:


DVDFab:


Anyway my purpose is not pick on DVDFab. I bought the lifetime license and I want to use it for the ability to preview subtitles and QuickSync , which takes about 30 minutes compared to the 4.5 hours of the other software. Many of us like to compress our bluray's down for use on a home theater PC and we want top quality. If you want something with a small filesize and plays on an ipad that is what the ipad profile is for. But when I pick mkv.h264.audiocopy for use on my htpc I expect top quality compression. Anyway I hope this starts some discussion about using a better profile.

[augerpro]

Since I am only allowed 4 images per post here is another example:

Other software:


DVDFab:


The main thing I noticed was that the smoke is not smooth and hazy in DVDFab file. It is sort of blocky/grainy. The screenshot doesn't really capture what you see as you play the shot, but in the DVDFab file the smoke is looks noticeably not real, more pixelated and changes/shimmers in motion in a way that distracts for a second from the otherwise excellent film quality. Where as in the other software file it is very smooth. You can also see the picture is not as sharp, especially around the engine nacelles and soldiers' camo pants.

Here are teh settings of the other software: