Keeping subtitles when compressing with Handbrake...

[bla4free]

I'm ripping some movies from my Blu-ray collection. From my understanding, Blu-ray subtitles are different from DVD subtitles. When I create an MKV with MakeMKV, I usually select the English subtitles plus the "forced" subtitles option. When I open the movie with Handbrake, the subtitle drop-down is empty. If I compress the MKV file with Handbrake, will the subtitles still be present? Or is there something else I need to do? Thanks!

[Bling2Ming]

I believe HandBrake currently ignores Bluray PGS subtitles. I extract them and convert them to vobsubs then mux them into the HB generated mkv.
My original WDTV will only see vobsub or srt subs in an mkv.

My current work flow is as folllows:

1. Rip Bluray to mkv with Makemkv
2. Start converting Makemkv mkv file to high profile H264 mkv with Handbrake.
3.Use Mediainfo on the Makemkv mkv file to find the subtitle track number.
4.Use Mkvextract (part of mkvtoolnix) to extract the pgs subtitle stream as a .sup file.
5. Use BDSup2Sub to convert pgs subtitle to vobsub subtitle (.sup to .idx and .sub).
6.Wait for Handbrake to finish encoding mkv file.
7.Mux in vobsub subtitle to HB generated mkv file with MkvmergeGUI. (part of mkvtoolnix).

The only remotely difficult part is using Mkvextract as its a command line tool, but it's easy enough once you learn the syntax.

Code: Select all

mkvextract tracks input.mkv 4:output.sup

This assumes the subs are track 4 in the mkv


The only other thing I do is tick "Disable Header Removal Compression by Default" in the MkvmergeGUI options dialog as my WDTV will not play the file if I leave it unticked.

The resulting high def vobsubs are excellent quality only slightly inferior to the pgs subs and vastly superior to DVD vobsub subs.

BDSup2Sub is a Java application so it will run on any platform, and all the other tools have versions available for all the major platforms

[bla4free]

@bling2ming

Thanks for the guide! I will definitely attempt this and see what kind of results I get.

My next question--I don't care about having all the subtitles--I only want them when people are talking in a foreign language (I believe these are called forced). When converting the movie with MakeMKV, I have two checkboxes for subtitles:

Subtitles English
Subtitles English (forced only)

To get my desired results, would I need to uncheck the "Subtitles English" and leave the "Subtitles English (forced only)" checked? Thanks!

[Bling2Ming]

To get my desired results, would I need to uncheck the "Subtitles English" and leave the "Subtitles English (forced only)" checked? Thanks!

I believe so yes.

BDSup2Sub has an "Export Only Forced" tick box in the export dialog. I would make sure you check that too.


There is a thread on the HandBrake forum which you may find useful. It's geared around using AnyDvd and ClownBD then BDSup2Sub muxing to mkv then feeding that into HB which then will see the vobsubs, but it's interesting reading none the less.

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php ... s+subtitle


Good luck.

[bla4free]

When exporting the .sub/.idx with BDSup2Sub, the "Export only forced" can't be checked. What would cause that?

And for Step 7:

"7.Mux in vobsub subtitle to HB generated mkv file with MkvmergeGUI. (part of mkvtoolnix)."

Do I need to add both the ".sub" and ".idx" files into mkvmergeGUI? When I click the "add" button to add the files, it only recognizes the ".sub" file. Thanks!

[crowfax]

Do I need to add both the ".sub" and ".idx" files into mkvmergeGUI? When I click the "add" button to add the files, it only recognizes the ".sub" file. Thanks!

Just add the .sub file and it'll grab the info it needs from the idx file automatically.

[Bling2Ming]

When exporting the .sub/.idx with BDSup2Sub, the "Export only forced" can't be checked. What would cause that?

I'm not sure but It's possibly because you fed BDSup2Sub a Forced Only PGS track to start with, so it doesn't need to apply the filter.

[Readthemanuel]

Im having similar problem in which I could not check off the "export forced subs only" as well. I saved the file as is without checking the other boxed option and continued with the process of loading into handbrake. Afterward when hb finished my end product had no subtitles.

After saving my .idx I got a warning message saying "11 warnings. If subtitles out of sync they will have to be manually fixed in the .idx file".

Maybe that has something to do with it?

I ripped the movie to a ts video and plays fine with subtitles staying on the screen for a couple seconds after the words had been spoken. It's a 36gb file so If I can reduce that Down using hb I'll be happy with that.