Subtitle Creation Tips Needed

Hello.
I've got dvds of an old dorama that I was hoping to sub. I haven't done this before so the process is taking a while. It's more of a "proof of concept" really, just to see if I actually can. If I can actually finish, I may post the results here. I'm pretty sure this will be a solo project.

So far, using the instructions here, I was able to rip the Japanese subs as .idx and .sub files and tested on VLC, they work. I don't need to OCR the text.

My query is, I think, straightforward, but I haven't been able to find out how to do this here. I figured that if I were able to rip the subs in Japanese, I could use the timing information and simply input the English. I'm a native English speaker and my reading/writing of Japanese is at a workably high level. So I just need to be able to see the entire line of Japanese type and I'll just type in the English translation.

A better question would be this: for those fansubbers here that start with Japanese softsubs, what process/software is used to get to English .srt or .ass files?

Thanks and sorry for the longwinded question.

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:17 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hi there,

So can you do the translation from Japanese to English? If you can I think you can use media subtiler to save it to whatever subtitle format that you wish... Then if you want to hardsub the subtitles to the video then you will need virtual dub. Please let me know the finer details of your project so that I can help you further.

Edison

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:00 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Aegisub is the most popular and easiest to use program for subbing.

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:16 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Aegisub has a translation mode. If you used OCR and got text instead of images, then in the Aegisub translation mode, it will let you enter the translations line by line, with one box showing the original subs and a box for you to type in your translations.

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:17 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

From what you described, I think URUSoft's Subtitle Workshop will do. It has "translation mode" that let you see your timed Japanese sub on one column and you can work on the translation on the other column. Once you save the translated subtitle, it will automatically gets the timing from your Japanese sub. Anyway, I like Aegisub a little better. I usually use both program when I translate subtitle from one language to another. The programs are free, so you can try both of them and see what you like best. ^_^

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:19 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thank you for the quick responses. My question was sorta vague because I was pretty clueless about the process itself. I think I've found a solution of sorts. I kept seeing in the forum that .bmp files would be sent to a translator and then translated text would come back. I took that idea and this time ripped the DVD subs as .bmp and then saving the corresponding index file as .srt with the bmp information (not the bmp itself) included.

I've then opened all the .bmp files and also the .srt and have just started replacing the .bmp mentions with a hard return when it's stage direction and with English text with it's dialog. I've tested the file against my .avi and it seems to be working. May not be the most elegant way, but I think this should work.