How to join AVIs and subtitles

[Steve]

If you've ever "obtained" a video that's split into multiple "CDs" here's how to join those files and any subtitles that come with them. All of the software mentioned in this guide is free and runs on Windows.

 

Joining AVIs

 

1. Download and install Nandub.

 

2. Fire up Nandub and go to File - Open video file... and browse to the first video file and open it.

 

3. Go to File - Append AVI segment... and select the second video file. Repeat this step for all parts of the video.

 

4. Go to Video and select "Direct stream copy". Don't forget to do this!

 

5. Go to File - Save as AVI..., give your video a name and save it.

 

Nandub doesn't re-encode the entire video, so this process doesn't take long at all - on my machine it takes about 45 seconds to join 2 700MB AVI files.

 

Joining subtitles

 

There's a couple of different methods for joining subtitles, depending on the type of subtitle files being used.

 

If the subtitles are in idx/sub format, then use VobSub Joiner which is part of the VobSub package: -

 

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/VobSub

 

It's very easy to use. You select the 2 subtitle files you want to join, then you enter in the exact length of the first part of your movie and hit the "Go" button.

 

If the subtitles are in srt format, you can use Subtitle Workshop version 2.51: -

 

http://www.urusoft.n...hp?lang=1&id=sw

 

1. Fire up Subtitle Workshop and go to Tools - Join subtitles....

 

2. Click the "Add" button and add your first subtitle file. Then repeat that for the second.

 

3. In the drop-down box to the right of the "Clear" button, set the FPS of the movie. If you don't know what this is, open the movie (or one CD of it) in Nandub and go to File - File Information. You'll see the FPS listed in the very top box.

 

4. Click on the first subtitle file in the list to highlight it and then click "Set movie fragment" and select the first CD of your movie.

 

5. Check the box next to "Recalculate time values", hit the "Join!" button and save your joined subtitle file.

 

Always save your subtitle file with the same name as the movie, then media players like VLC and Media Player Classic will automatically detect the subs when you play the video. Make sure you check the joined subs with the joined version of your movie before you delete the split versions, just in case you did something wrong and the subs don't sync up with the video.

[doppelkorn]

I've worked on subtitling a documentary film before now and it's really tricky. My tech-savvy mate ended up writing an xml file for it. I wasn't involved too much on the actual implementation, more on the proofing but...there you go. I also have to do it often for work and the subtitling house constantly buggers up the subs I've written. So....subtitling. There you go.

 

All the best.