BD Ripper (3D Plus) No-English subtitles without the English ones

[cplloyd42]

Is there a way of ripping a BD or DVD without having the English subtitles, but preserving the non-English ones?

When I play these disks via my normal BD/DVD player-TV screen monitor the player automatically suppresses the English subtitles (as per my standard settings) but displays the non-English dialogue subtitles. I haven't found an equivalent setting in DVDFab 9.0.4.0 - is there one? So far all I have got is all subtitles or none.

Thanks,
Paul.

[terry5]

Hi cplloyd42，
You can set it in Common Settings->Streams->Subtitles.

[cplloyd42]

Thanks, terry5, for getting back to me on this.

I've looked at the Common Settings>Streams>Subtitles options but I read them as turning on or off all subtitles, not just the subtitles for the non-English dialog. Perhaps the BD I'm ripping has embedded subtitles for these sections - it's just that I don't know how to find out.

I'll try ripping with subtitles ON, but in my player turn them OFF except for embedded ones. I've tried the reverse - subtitles disabled - and find I get no embedded ones.

Paul.

[cplloyd42]

terry5,

I've tried various settings for Common Settings>Streams>Subtitles and I get exactly the same result - all subtitle dialogs with EN selected under Subtitle on the Ripper screen, or no subtitle dialogs at all with EN deselected.

I am using v9.0.4.2 (freshly downloaded and installed for this test) and have selected the default profile for Samsung Galaxy Tab2 7.0. I notice that the only option I have for subtitles with this profile is "Direct render to video", which suggests to me that if I want to see subtitles, then they will be embedded within the ripped video output.

Just a thought: should I be choosing a different file format as output than .mp4? If so, keep in mind that I am doing this so that I can play my videos on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 using MX Player Pro.

To sum up, I can have either NO subtitles, whatsoever, or ALL subtitles embedded within the video file. Note that, turning off all subtitles within VLC Player still shows the embedded subtitles, as it does within MX Player Pro.

Where do we go from here, or is this option I am requesting not yet available in DVDFab?

Thanks in advance,
Paul.

[signals]

I think there is a problem here with terminology. What I think you are asking for is a way to have the translation subtitles ONLY included when converting a movie using the Ripper module. DVDFab has a way to do this which works with most discs: it is the "Display only forced subtitles" option. In v8 it is a checkbox just below the subtitle stream selection window, in v9 it can be enabled in the subtitle dropdown (see screen captue) or an "always do this" checkbox in Common Settings. Most translation subs use forced start to be displayed, so DVDFab can filter the single stream you select to include only the translations. If you select 'Display only forced..' and there are no forced subs in the stream, you will get no subs at all. If you select a stream and do not filter it with 'Display only fored..' you will get all of the subtitles in the stream (which is what you describe).

Note that there are many different ways to accomplish this in DVD/BD authoring, and each disc seems to use a slightly different approach. Some recent Blu-rays do not use sub streams for translations at all, they are burned into the video.

A good approach to save time is to locate a chapter in the movie that you are sure has translations and convert only that chapter using 'Display only' and see if you get what you want.

[cplloyd42]

Thank you, signals, for replying. Yes, that is what I was trying to describe - the English translations only for the non-English dialog, the same as that which are displayed in my standard BD player-TV system and also in my PowerDVD app on my PC.

Firstly, thanks very much for that tip on changing the chapter to rip - it's sped up testing enormously.

Secondly, this BD doesn't show the "Display only forced Subtitle" option in the Subtitle dropdown - there is only a list of languages. However, I noticed under Common Settings>Conversion>Convert an "Always display only forced Subtitle" option which was deselected. I tried this with it selected and, unfortunately, it made no difference, i.e., all I got was dialog without any subtitles regardless of whether the Ripper screen Subtitle was set to EN or was deselected. The Common Settings>Streams>Audio was set to default, and Common Settings>Streams>Subtitle was also set to default ("Preselect the following subtitle tracks" = English, and "If none meets my criteria" = "Select all subtitle streams").

It looks like this BD is storing its forced subtitles a bit differently. Do you have any other thoughts?
Paul.

[signals]

Well, if the disc is what in any area would be considered a 'foreign' film (with no local language audio track), sometimes the sub stream is not forced, it is created as a player default (e.g. Apocalypto), but that does not sound like what you have here. Please supply the name of the disc and its Region (or the country where it was intended to be played) so that it can be tested by others. Also whether this happens with the BD Ripper, DVD Ripper module or both.

[cplloyd42]

signals,

The movie I am ripping is a Zone B BD named "Hereafter", starring Matt Damon and Cecile de France. Probably 95% of the movie has English dialog, the remainder being French. Obviously, I want to be able to see the translations of the French dialog which contributes to the story in several ways. I have not tried ripping a DVD version of this movie, but will attempt to get one from our local DVD rental store in a few days. Note: Chapter 1 has a mixture of French and English dialog - for test purposes.

One other test I tried, but without success, was to change Common Settings>Streams>From multiple tracks of the same language select=All Tracks, instead of Dolby Digital. I reasoned that the forced subtitles might be associated with a non-Dolby track. Alas, no joy! I haven't tried the other options here, yet.

Thanks again. I'll let you know when I have tested the DVD version.
Paul.

[cplloyd42]

signals,

I was able to hire a DVD version of this movie. It shows English titles for the French dialog only (by default) when played by my BD player-TV system, and PowerDVD 13 on my PC, but not by VLC Player.

I have tried the 4 options: Common Settings>Conversion>Convert>Always display only forced Subtitle=OFF and ON, Ripper Screen>Subtitle=EN and blank. None of them display the English subtitles for the French dialog. When Common Settings>Conversion>Convert>Always display only forced Subtitle=ON, no subtitles of any type are shown, but when Common Settings>Conversion>Convert>Always display only forced Subtitle=OFF and Ripper Screen>Subtitle=EN, all dialog is shown as subtitles. This behaviour is identical with the results of the same tests on the BD version. Note: Common Settings>Streams>From multiple tracks of the same language select=Dolby Digital for all tests on the DVD.

Any thoughts? I have the DVD version rented for 1 week.

Paul.

[cplloyd42]

signals,

I have now tried another DVD with English subtitles for some French dialog. This one WORKED, i.e., I get the English subtitles for the spoken French when I set Common Settings>Conversion>Convert>Always display only forced Subtitle=ON. This disk is a Region 4 version of the movie, "A Good Year" starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.

Differences I see between this DVD and the "Hereafter" DVD are: 1) this one is a Fox 2000 Pictures production, while "Hereafter" is a Warner Bros production, and 2) this one is a 2006 film and DVD, whereas "Hereafter" is a 2010 film and DVD.

It appears to me that either Warner Bros' method of forced subtitles is different to the norm, or the general method of forced subtitles in DVDs/BDs has changed in recent times. It looks like the old catch-up problem that software developers face everywhere, and DVD Fab 9.0.4.2 has yet to accommodate this.

Your comments?
Paul.

[GregiBoy]

Or it could be just that the studio crappily authored the subs.

I alway use "Subtitle Edit" in these circumstances to work out what the idiot studio has done.

[cplloyd42]

It could well be, GregiBoy, although my Blu-Ray player (Sony) has no problem with either disk, and only VLC Player can't find the subtitles (for the French, at least, as that's all I've tested for) for the WB movie, "Hereafter", whereas it can for the 20CFox movie, "A Good Year". There's obviously a difference in how the non-English dialog subtitles are stored/mixed/interlaced/or what-have-you between the two disks.

Where do you find "Subtitle Edit" in DVDFab 4.0.9.2? I can't say that I've ever seen it.
Paul.

[cplloyd42]

BTW. Can anyone explain why this posting does not appear in the DVD Ripper/Blu-ray Ripper forum listings? I'm glad I saved a link to this thread.

Paul.

[GregiBoy]

"Subtitle Edit" is not produced by Fab. D/L it from the Internet.

Google is your friend!

[cplloyd42]

Gregiboy,

Well, I've downloaded and installed Subtitle Edit 3.3.4 rev 1785 but I'm not sure whether you were implying that I should examine the original DVD/BD or DVDFab's ripped version. I've tried "Import/OCR subtitle from vob/ifo (dvd)" on the 2CFox DVD that DVDFab converts the forced subtitles in successfully, but all I get from each file on the disk is a copyright exception message and no import.

I guess I could take the ripped movie file (mp4) that doesn't show the forced subtitles and use Subtitle Edit to add my own. Is this what you are implying? Of course, this just gets around something that DVDFab can't handle, as yet. Not to mention that it would be a tedious process, and also much further discussion of SE is getting outside the bounds of this forum.

Paul.