The VideoLAN Forums

Hello, first post and I'm not sure that this is in the right place. I have also searched but not found any topic on this subject, although I might be wrong. Thank you for your understanding.

I have a movie on a my computer that requires english subtitles. I can play the movie with subtitles on VLC and it works just fine but I would like to burn the movie to a DVD to watch on my TV. How to burn the file so that I still have the subtitles on it?

Thank you very much.

I do believe you question is absolutely irrelevant to VLC. Please have a look at programs like DVD Flick, FAVC or AVStoDVD.

It would also help if you said what format is your video and which formats does you player support.

Right right, I described that poorly.

The file is an .avi, and comes with a separate .srt file that contains the subtitles. Using VLC I can play the movie with subtitles but when it's burnt to a DVD it has none (obviously, the .srt has not been associated with the file being burned). I assumed that the files were made to be used in VLC exclusively and therefor I could use the program to burn with the subtitles.

Does that make sense?

Thank again.

You could stream, in VLC, the *.avi file with the subtitles overlayed on top of it to another file, then burn the file to a disc. That would give you "hardcoded" subtitles, which means they are a part of the video itself (and so cannot be turned on/off).

However, a better method would be to take both the *.avi file and *.srt file separately and create a MPEG-2 video stream with "softcoded" DVD subtitles. To do this, as jech said, you would want to use a tool such as e.g. DVD Flick (if you are running Windows that is). With DVD Flick you can just add an *.avi file, then double click on the added file, click on the "Subtitles" tab and add a *.srt file etc.

Cheers, Arite.

Hi njpsychopath, you can use this software: Magic DVD Ripper - rip DVD to hard drive

http://www.magicdvdripper.com/

Right right, I described that poorly.

The file is an .avi, and comes with a separate .srt file that contains the subtitles. Using VLC I can play the movie with subtitles but when it's burnt to a DVD it has none (obviously, the .srt has not been associated with the file being burned). I assumed that the files were made to be used in VLC exclusively and therefor I could use the program to burn with the subtitles.

Does that make sense?

Thank again.

Well, to be honest.... No, it doesn't make sense.

SRT (AKA SubRip) is a text based subtitle format. Except of WMP all computer players and subtitle filters can display this format. It's not VLC specific. But I expect that you are trying to play the AVI on a standalone DVD player (SAP). Am I right? If it is a bad player it will not support text subtitles at all. Or it might have some limitations. For example the subtitles must have exactly the same name as your AVI video (except of the extension, of course). Or the player might not support SRT but other text formats (SUB, SMI - can be easily converted). You should look into the manual of your player and see what kind of text subtitles it supports. If it doesn't support text subtitles at all, then your only choice is to convert the AVI to DVD-Video. To do it you can use the programs I mentioned in my first post. All of them are free (opensource).

In conclusion - the problem is not related to VLC at all, it is a problem of your standalone player.

You could stream, in VLC, the *.avi file with the subtitles overlayed on top of it to another file, then burn the file to a disc. That would give you "hardcoded" subtitles, which means they are a part of the video itself (and so cannot be turned on/off).

However, a better method would be to take both the *.avi file and *.srt file separately and create a MPEG-2 video stream with "softcoded" DVD subtitles. To do this, as jech said, you would want to use a tool such as e.g. DVD Flick (if you are running Windows that is). With DVD Flick you can just add an *.avi file, then double click on the added file, click on the "Subtitles" tab and add a *.srt file etc.

Cheers, Arite.

Streaming with hardcoded subtitles is exactly what I am looking for. How do I do this with VLC?

So I need help trying to burn a Movie (.avi) with subtittles (.srt) and I have NOT been successful yet. I did burn a dvd already with both files in iDVD but obviously the subtitles don't work. What do I need to do to accomplish this, and have the subtitles be part of the movie, when I first play it. Can anyone guide me through this?
Thank you very much!

Cheers, Jonatan.