MI:4 Ghost Protocol Subtitles Question

[The-Real-Link]

Hi everyone,

First time user here but so far absolutely loving this program! Just was giving this a go compared to several other rippers / converters and MakeMKV is by far the easiest, so, thank you for that. I ran into something interesting with Ghost Protocol though that I was wondering what would be best for a newbie.

I see the main audio (fine), but 3 cases of English with subcatergories of Forced options available. Now, it seems like to get Subs only to show up when non-English parts (for example the intro Russian scenes) when spoken in Russian, I pretty much have to just try each English tickbox to see if it's enabled, correct?

I've tried so far, leaving all 3 English subsections (the Forced options) turned on. While it works perfectly fine for me in VLC if I turn on the subtitles track (only the foreign dialogue parts of the movie are subbed), this does not carry over into Powerdirector or other programs. Should I just check both main and sub catergories of each English sub showing and rip repeatedly until I find the right one or is there a way to re-merge the files after the main MKV rips?

Just for example, wanting to compress the MKV down into a sizable MP4 with the necessary subs showing up to play on my bro's Macbook Pro or his TV since I figure he won't want to bother with turning subs on in something like VLC every time. Thanks!

Any way to get the right subs without ripping the disc 3 times? So far even with leaving any option that says "Forced" for English turned on (but not the main sub tickbox), I see nothing show up by default. Sorry for rambling a little, haven't had much sleep last night and want to get this done.

[Woodstock]

Rip it with all the subtitles, then use VLC to find out which subtitle track is "correct".

You can then use Handbrake to ONLY include the "correct" track. If you're doing the BD version, you will need the latest nightly build of Handbrake to handle the PGS subtitle tracks, and you can ONLY burn one in (MP4 can't handle PGS subtitles).

[The-Real-Link]

Hey everyone!

After a couple days straight of messing with this, I finally found the right operation of things since no matter which stream I pulled from the disc, that none of the subs would copy over through Handbrake.

Thanks to Rayward via Macrumors for his order of things:

"Blu Rays come with bitmap PGS .sup files for the subtitles and Handbrake cannot currently use those. You have to convert the PGS .sup into a VoBSuB .sub file which Handbrake can then burn in to the video while transcoding which works well because you always want those forced subtitles to show."

----Instead of trying worry about VOB subs, I went with eac3to324's "HdBrStreamExtractor" and scanned the MKV. For MI4, it's Subtitle 5, since 4 has over 800 subs and isn't the one we want. The English-only foreign parts have about 87 subs total so it's even doable to spend a few minutes in Sup2Sub or SupRip correcting any character issues (only a few minutes really). You could export these subs then as an SRT but keep in mind that for the average person who doesn't have VLC or a customizable player, SRTs *can not* be burned or forced into the MKV by default (according to Handbrake's guidelines). Correct the words then convert the file to an *.idx with all of the subs set to forced.

I then loaded MKVMerge (GUI) to get all the files together. Pick your original MKV and the "translated" / corrected idx file via "add". Everything else should be fine then click "Start Mux". It'll spit out another 30GB file or so. Bring that into Handbrake and under Subs you should now hopefully see the dropdown allow for "English". Click "Forced" and "Burn-in" to well, burn them into the standard MP4 output file. Use a preview of 300 seconds as that is long enough to get to the break-out of the jail scene to determine quickly whether the file worked or not. ----

"So here's my process on how to do the forced subtitles from Blu Rays using only Mac software:

1. Rip and Create the .mkv with MakeMKV (it will let you know if forced subtitles are included)
2. Extract the main English Subtitle that includes the forced one with MKVTools (you end up with a PGS .sup file)
3. Use BDSuptoSub to convert the extracted .sup file to a .sub and .idx file. (make sure you checkmark forced only)
4. Use MKVToolNix/MKVMerge to mux the .sup back into the original mkv. (the .idx contains the information needed by MKVMerge so choose that)
5. Use Handbrake to encode your MKV to .m4v and select the subtitle as burned in."

The guide here is also quite helpful. http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3136 ... or-sub-idx
----Whew!----

[The-Real-Link]

Rip it with all the subtitles, then use VLC to find out which subtitle track is "correct".

You can then use Handbrake to ONLY include the "correct" track. If you're doing the BD version, you will need the latest nightly build of Handbrake to handle the PGS subtitle tracks, and you can ONLY burn one in (MP4 can't handle PGS subtitles).

Thanks for the help Woodstock. Now at one point early on, I think I did copy everything over with all English options and subs ticked. VLC would show it so that's fine. I was pretty sure I also grabbed the x64 latest version of Handbrake but for whatever reason, it wouldn't show me any subtitles once my BD MKV rip was made. Thus, I had to add them in manually. I suppose I'd have to rip from the disc in full again to try that (probably much much easier) option Thanks.

[Chetwood]

Now, it seems like to get Subs only to show up when non-English parts (for example the intro Russian scenes) when spoken in Russian, I pretty much have to just try each English tickbox to see if it's enabled, correct?

Nope, you just have to read the FAQ (as every other first time user) and understand how MakeMKV handles forced subs.

[The-Real-Link]

Now, it seems like to get Subs only to show up when non-English parts (for example the intro Russian scenes) when spoken in Russian, I pretty much have to just try each English tickbox to see if it's enabled, correct?

Nope, you just have to read the FAQ (as every other first time user) and understand how MakeMKV handles forced subs.

Thanks. Well, I did read the FAQ. Repeatedly. I ripped the disc with all checkboxes on all subtitles checked and I'd get basically, an English sub showing for the entire movie. Now I might be mistaken but for MI:4, it wouldn't matter if I ripped all 3 (+secondary forced checkboxes so 6) "English" options or just one of them - none of the dropdowns would show up in Handbrake.

Sorry again I'm new to this but after the far more lengthy process I did do, I have gotten it to work successfully for only the parts needed.

[Chetwood]

If you just want forced subs why would you check 6 boxes instead of the 3 forced only? The fact that subs don't show up in Handbrake is no MakeMKV problem. Don't why people don't switch to alternatives like Staxrip, Ripbot, MeGUI...

[Romansh]

If you just want forced subs why would you check 6 boxes instead of the 3 forced only? The fact that subs don't show up in Handbrake is no MakeMKV problem. Don't why people don't switch to alternatives like Staxrip, Ripbot, MeGUI...

Which are Windows-only

FWIW, the HandBrake nightly builds (finally) handle Blu-ray subtitles.

[The-Real-Link]

Hi, well, no I was just using ticking all 6 boxes as an example. I also tried ticking just the 3 forced ones as well with no different effect.

I think the whole issue that took me time to realize is that during the several attempts I made at ripping, if I played the file in VLC, I could just turn subs on on each file but Handbrake would not pass the SRT info along into the final mp4. Since I wanted to have the subs burned in, I had to go through the extra steps to make it work. Again, maybe there is an easier way but I tried all variations and couldn't find it. I did grab the latest HB version when I started too though and didn't see any subs support.

[Woodstock]

I was one of the people anxiously (but quietly) awaiting the arrival of PGS support in Handbrake, so I've been doing a LOT of BD re-ripping recently. I have MakeMKV rip "everything" (all audio tracks, all subtitle tracks).

With VLC, I switch through the subtitle tracks to find the ones that give me what I need, generally which one is the "full" English, and which is the "forced". The way VLC names/numbers them in the Video/Subtitles menu is the same order they'll show up in Handbrake. It helps to know WHERE a forced subtitle will appear and where it won't appear, which is pretty simple with what I rip. Armed with that knowledge, it's off to Handbrake.

When I want all languages, I have to encode to an MKV. When I just want English with forced, I can use HB to make an MP4, burning the manually-identified forced track in.

(now I just have to find a player that REALLY supports PGS subtitles in MKV files... Own two Uebo's that list PGS support in their specs, but neither will display a PGS subtitle...)

[crowfax]

(now I just have to find a player that REALLY supports PGS subtitles in MKV files... Own two Uebo's that list PGS support in their specs, but neither will display a PGS subtitle...)

Both the WD TV (newest version) and Xtreamer Sidewinder 3 support PGS subtitles. The WD TV firmware requires that you remux the MKV after MakeMKV has created it, but it works fine once you do. The Xtreamer Sidewinder 3 works great.

The Xtreamer Sidewinder 3 is faster, and more fun to play with than the WD TV, but the WD TV is likely to give you less headaches.

[SamuriHL]

What do you use to remux for the wdtv?

[crowfax]

Just MKVtoolnix. The MKVmergeGUI on the default settings compresses the PGS subtitles with zlib. The WD TV firmware is reallyyyy sloppy and it won't read uncompressed PGS subtitles, but it will read zlib compressed ones. WD are aware of their stupid mistake, but it is yet to be corrected.

[Romansh]

Note that you will also need to remux HandBrake's PGS subtitle output, as it doesn't use zlib compression either.

Also, for subtitles passed through with HandBrake prior to SVN revision 4658, you will need to extract the subtitles with mkvextract and re-add them with mkvmerge so that they play on the WD TV Live (this is fixed in 4658 and later - a direct mkvmerge remux will work).

[crowfax]

Thanks for the information, but I don't compress blu-ray movies, takes too long and I'd rather keep them at their original quality.