Compatibililty with WD

[galaktiker]

I'm using WD TV Live. It supports the next types of subtitles: SRT; ASS; SSA; SUB; SMI Is it possible to make MakeMKV decode blu-ray subtitles into one of this types automatically?

Thanks!

[setarip_old]

Hi!

Since true BluRay subtitles (PGS) are actually graphics in nature and all of the subtitle formats you've listed are text in nature, such a conversion would require the use of "OCR" (Optical Character Recognition) - so I doubt that this type of conversion would be included in any near-term version of MakeMKV (Of course, I could be wrong, as "mike adnmin" has surprised us before ;>})

On the other hand, I believe that in the not too distant future, we're likely to see enhancements to products like WD TV Live, including the ability to display PGS subtitles...

[galaktiker]

I know, but nevertheless I want someone to solve this problem. And I would pay for such program immediately.

[tony55]

Doesn't take much to convert the PGS/sup to idx/sub. and they can either be remuxed back in or used as externals.
Other programs are beginning to address this issue and actually convert the PGS to ann external idx.Using additional free programs a PGS can be muxed out and converted to idx/sub in less than 10 min.

My understanding of the PGS problem is that it is a MKV container issue. It doesn't have the codec to play the PGS format.
The players (WD and Seagate) don't have a problem playing the PGS. They play them in other formats. They just can't play them in MKV.

I guess the players are waiting for the container spec to change and the Matroska assoc is hoping the hardware and software players find workarounds so they don't have to change the spec.

Seems like someone aught to blink soon.

Tony

[galaktiker]

tony55, do you know another program (as good as makeMKV), that is able to create containers with PGS support (avi, ts, xvid - I don't know exactly).

[tony55]

One of the other BR ripping programs is now providing mkv output but it converts the internal PGS to external IDX?sub files. It does not have the ability to make a MKV that plays PGS. I have heard that VLC (a software player has a new Beta version that will play MKV PGS/sup subtitles. Seems like they must provide their own codec.

Bluray .m2ts files or converted .ts files will play PGS. Problem with these is that they don't provide the chapter support that MKV does.

The easiest way to play subtitles from a BR rip. (thats usually where you find PGS/sups)is to take the final MKV and mux out the PGS subtitles. I use MKVcleaver. Takes just a few minutes to do this. Than using Sup2Sub I convert the PGS to idx/sub. This takes about 1 minute. I make sure the idx and sub files have the same name as the MKV and just stick them in the same folder as the MKV. The WD will find them and play them.

This is the easiest way to do it. If you want to mux the idx/sub back into the MKV you can also do that with MKV merge.

Tony

[skittle]

One of the other BR ripping programs is now providing mkv output but it converts the internal PGS to external IDX?sub files. It does not have the ability to make a MKV that plays PGS. I have heard that VLC (a software player has a new Beta version that will play MKV PGS/sup subtitles. Seems like they must provide their own codec.

No they dont provide their own 'codec', VLC and Mplayer are both based off of ffmpeg. ffmpeg just recently got pgs support, so likewise mplayer and vlc just recently got support. Im sure sybas, mediatek and other media players will get this ability sometime.

In the mean time, you can extract the pgs subtitles and use various tools to convert them to idx/sub or OCR them to ssa/ass/srt then mux back with mkvtoolnix/mkvmerge

[galaktiker]

One of the other BR ripping programs is now providing mkv output but it converts the internal PGS to external IDX?sub files. It does not have the ability to make a MKV that plays PGS. I have heard that VLC (a software player has a new Beta version that will play MKV PGS/sup subtitles. Seems like they must provide their own codec.

Bluray .m2ts files or converted .ts files will play PGS. Problem with these is that they don't provide the chapter support that MKV does.

The easiest way to play subtitles from a BR rip. (thats usually where you find PGS/sups)is to take the final MKV and mux out the PGS subtitles. I use MKVcleaver. Takes just a few minutes to do this. Than using Sup2Sub I convert the PGS to idx/sub. This takes about 1 minute. I make sure the idx and sub files have the same name as the MKV and just stick them in the same folder as the MKV. The WD will find them and play them.

This is the easiest way to do it. If you want to mux the idx/sub back into the MKV you can also do that with MKV merge.

Tony

Tony, thanks. The question to Mike. Could you teach MakeMKV to do all these operations automatically and in one click?

[mike admin]

Tony, thanks. The question to Mike. Could you teach MakeMKV to do all these operations automatically and in one click?

MakeMKV will never do any OCR. Conversion to sub/idx is likely to appear in future but remember that PGS subtitles use 256-color palette and SUB have only 4-color. I bet PGS in MKV will be supported by most players in a very near future. For instance popcorn hour already shows PGS in MKV.

[philnort]

I bet PGS in MKV will be supported by most players in a very near future. For instance popcorn hour already shows PGS in MKV.

Yes, but very erratically. I have the Popcorn A200 and the BD subtitles with a .ts/.M2ts file are excellent...perfect image rendering..as it should be. But, the pgs subtitle rendering from an .mkv file are all over the field, color blotchiness, changing color, etc. problem with Popcorn and .mkv container format?..hope it improves....

[tony55]

This to Mike re: inclusion of idx/sub into Makemkv.

If you include idx Please don't do like your competitor and forget to also include the original PGS. As you said above the PGS does have it's advantages and in time players will probably be able to use them. With your competitor, their conversion to idx is not as fool proof as using Sup2sub and so many times you are left with a MKV without subs of any type.

Tony

[ragboy]

It has been reported that the latest pre-release firmware supports PGS subs in MKV. I haven't tested it though.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Firmware/WD ... ue/page/13

[tony55]

Seagate just released a new firmware update for their FAT+ (v.1.45)-it included a lot of improvements but it did not include PGS support for MKV.

Thankfully, muxing out a PGS and converting it to idx/sub is a very quick and simple process.

tony

[setarip_old]

@ragboy (and others who have posted to or read this thread)

As I said in my March 28th post to this thread:

On the other hand, I believe that in the not too distant future, we're likely to see enhancements to products like WD TV Live, including the ability to display PGS subtitles...

[MilesAhead]

btw, I just found out this bit of info and thought other WD owners may be interested. I don't know if it's an "Easter Egg" or a documented feature, but on another board someone suggested an alternative to FF at a high rate(risking hangs, losing audio or sub sync etc.) when viewing files without chapters. The technique, which I just verified, is to hit the FF button, and while the FF is operating, each time you hit the Next button, it will advance 10 minutes. Then just hit Play to return to normal play.

Maybe everyone already knew this but me.. but I thought I'd share just in case.