Space Patrol Orion

Subtitles Howto, Part 1

This guide will walk you through the creation of subtitled DVDs for the Space Patrol Orion TV-series. In the first part, we will only put one episode on each DVD, and there will be no menus. The second and third parts of this guide shows you how to combine two or more episodes on one disc, and how to keep the menus.

You will need several different freeware or shareware utilities, so you should start by downloading and installing the following programs:

• PGCDemux
• Subtitle Workshop (Only needed if your subtitles come in .ssa-format. Not needed for .srt-subtitles.)
• Subtitle Creator
• Muxman

You will also need some program for burning the finished DVDs, for example Nero Express that's free with many DVD-burners. Alternatively, you can play the subtitled DVD-files directly from your hard disc with almost any DVD-player software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD. I recommend at least 35-40 GB of free disc space, but you can get away with less by deleting the finished episodes after burning them. However, if you wish to continue with the second and third parts of this guide, and put the episodes back together with the menus, you must keep all the VIDEO_TS folders and their contents.

Please create the following directory structure on your hard drive:

As you can see, there's a master directory called SpacePatrol with seven subdirectories, one for each episode. Under each of the episode directories there's a VIDEO_TS directory for the finished DVDs.

Insert the first disc of the original German DVD-set in your drive. Launch the PgcDemux program, and select input IFO (1) and output folder (2). The input should be the IFO-file for the first episode on the DVD (drive letter:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO). The output folder should be c:\SpacePatrol\Episode1 if you've created the directory structure according to the template above.

Check Demux video stream (3), then click the Process! button (4).

Copy your subtitle file or files to the c:\SpacePatrol\Episode1 folder. Note that all subtitle files must be in the srt-format. If they are in the ssa-format you'll have to convert them with Subtitle Workshop.

Please skip this format conversion step for subtitle files that are already in srt-format. Ssa-files should be loaded in Subtitle Workshop (File / Load subtitle) and saved as srt ("SubRip-format") using the File / Save as command. Double-click on SubRip and save the file in the c:\SpacePatrol\Episode1 folder.

Are all your subtitle files in the srt-format now? Great! Let's continue with SubtitleCreator. SubtitleCreator has lots of settings for changing the appearance of your subtitles. I recommend that you change the following before loading your first subtitle file:

Remove the check marks for Fix spaces (1) and Deselect lines with @ or http (2). Save settings (3).

Set Vertical to 425 (4) and Line count to 3 (5). Click the Set subtitle colors and position button (6). Please note that the positions settings won't be saved, so you'll have to enter them again the next time you launch the program. Alternatively, you can use profiles, but I'll skip the details of that.

Now open (1) an srt-file in SubtitleCreator and save (2) it as a SUP-file.

If you're going to use more than one subtitle file (for example both English and Swedish versions), repeat the procedure for the other language(s).

Your c:\SpacePatrol\Episode1 folder should now contain the following files:

AudioFile_80.ac3    Soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1
AudioFile_81.ac3    Mono soundtrack
Celltimes.txt       Chapter stops
LogFile.txt         PGCDemux log file
VideoFile.m2v       MPEG2 video file

And some subtitle files, for example:

episode1.ssa          English language subtitle file 
episode1.srt          Converted English language subtitle file
episode1.sup          Bitmapped English language subtitle file 
episode1_swe_090.srt  Swedish language subtitle file
episode1_swe_090.sup  Bitmapped Swedish language subtitle file

The next step is to put it all together again. It's time for MuxMan!

Start by specifying the video file (1), then the first and second audio files (2, 3, 4, 5). Continue with the bitmapped subtitle (SUP) file (6, 7). If you want more than one subtitle language, click radio button "SubPictures 2" (8) and repeat steps (6) and (7).

Then select the output folder C:\SpacePatrol\Episode1\VIDEO_TS (9).

In the File menu, select Import Chapter (10) and load the Celltimes.txt file. Even though it's not strictly needed, I suggest you save (11) your project at this time as Episode1.mxp.

Finally click the Start-button (12) and wait for the project to compile. It will take at least a few minutes.

Your c:\SpacePatrol\Episode1\VIDEO_TS folder should now contain the following files:

VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB

Now you're ready to play the episode with almost any PC-based DVD-player or burn it to disc. Here's an example of how to burn it with Nero Express:

Select DVD-Video Files.

Click Add and select all the files in the c:\Spacepatrol\Episode1\VIDEO_TS folder. Click Next and (in the next screen) Burn.

If you're happy with the result you can now move on to the other episodes. The procedure should be pretty obvious. Keep in mind that the input IFOs will be VTS_02_0.IFO for episode 2, VTS_03_0.IFO for episode 3, and VTS_04_0.IFO for episode 4. On the second disc, VTS_01_0.IFO will refer to episode 5, VTS_02_0.IFO will be episode 6, and VTS_03_0.IFO will be episode 7.

Part two: How to put the subtitled episodes back together with the original menus and burn all seven episodes on two double layer (8.5 GB) DVDs.

Part three: In the third and final installment, we will learn how to make four single layer discs (of 4.7 GB each) complete with menus in case we can't (or don't want to) use double layer discs.

Go back to Space Patrol Orion Subtitles Main Page.

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Webmonster: Anders M Olsson
Page updated 2007-09-02