Ripping Japanese subtitles from VOB to Soft Subs
By groink
Things you need:
1) SubRip http://zuggy.wz.cz/
2) InputSub http://homepage3.nifty.com/edk/soft.htm
3) Your choice of DVD ripper (DVD Decrypter, SmartRipper, etc.) that'll produce decrypted VOBs.
4) Because most Japanese DVDs are region-2, if your PC's DVD drive is region-challenged, you'll need software that will allow your DVD drive to read region-2 discs. Personally, I use AnyDVD.
5) Microsoft IME, or other method of inputting Japanese characters, such as JWPce.
6) Knowledge of reading and typing Japanese characters (hirogana, kanji, katakana).
Concept
The process is to first rip the Japanese subtitles from the VOB files. Because a character matrix (SUM) file for Japanese doesn't exist, we can only right now save the characters as bitmap (BMP) images. Therefore, we use SubRip to copy each line from the VOB and save them as BMP image files. As a guide, SubRip will also generate a corresponding I-Author OGT file. The OGT file give the exact placement coordinates for each line.
Once the BMP and OGT files are created, we use a Japanese subtitle tool called InputSub. This tool will read in the OGT and BMP files. Using the timing information in the OGT file, it'll allow the user to view each BMP file, then manually input the matching Japanese characters. As we work on the inputting of the Japanese text, we save the InputSub (SUB) project. Once all the Japanese text have been entered, we can then save the project as a soft subtitle (SRT) file. The SRT file will contain the exact timing information.
Optionally, you can ask a Japanese translator to take the SRT file and translate the Japanese dialog to another language, such as English.
Once you get the SRT file, you can do various things with it, such as enabling switchable subtitles in a OGG package, or have the SRT file tag along with an AVI or MPEG-1/2 file and use a soft sub fitler to play the two together.
Steps
1) Rip the DVD, removing encryption. Not all DVDs are encrypted, even of they're originals. So do this step only if you can't read the VOBs.
2) Run SubRip.
3) File -> Open VOB(s)
4) Place a checkmark on "Autoselect matching VOBs" if there already isn't one.
5) In the "Vob(Sub) files" section, click the Open Dir button. Traverse to the decrypted VIDEO_TS folder, select the first VTSxxxx.VOB file listed, and then click Open.
6) In the "Action" section, select "Save SubPictures as BMP".
7) Below the "Action" section, you'll see an odd-looking blue icon. Click this icon. The "Output Format" dialog box will appear.
8 ) On the left column, there are two sections: Text Formats and Graphical Formats. Under "Graphical Formats" section, select "I-Author (*.txt)", and then click the "Convert to this Format" button.
9) Click the Start button below.
Depending on the DVD, literally hundreds of individual BMP files will be generated, so be sure you save the BMPs in a dedicated folder. BMP files are somewhat small, so you really don't need that much disk space.
10) In the "Save BMPs" window, enter the beginning of the filename. For example, "The Rock(J)" will generate "The Rock(J)00001.bmp", "The Rock(J)00002.bmp" and so forth. And then, click Save.
11) A four-tabbed dialog box appears. For now, keep the default settings and click the OK button.
At this point, it'll take awhile for every line to be saved to BMP. So go do something else until it's finished. In the Windows task bar, monitor the percentage done. When it reaches 100-percent, it's finished.
12) At the 100-percent mark, click the Disk icon. This will save the I-Author OGT text file. Give it a filename. I recommend using the same filename as the one used for the BMP files. Click OK.
13) Quit SubRip.
14) Run InputSub.
WARNING: This is a Japanese-only tool. All the menus and windows are all written in Japanese. Unless you're running a Japanese version of Windows, everything will look like question marks. I'll try my best to walk you through the tool.
15) Go to the third menu bar item "??(O)", and then select the second item from the list. This will bring up a dialog box with four tabs.
16) Click the third tab, and then un-check the checkbox. This will turn off the IRRITATING beeping when you use the keyboard. Click OK.
17) We need to create a new project. Go to the first menu bar item "????(F)", and then select the second item from the list "????????(N)". This will bring up a new project dialog box.
18 ) In the first text box, give it a name of the feature (ex: The Rock). In the second text box, click the corresponding [...] button, and locate the I-Author OGT text file. In the third text box, click the corresponding [...] button, and locate the first BMP file. In this example, it would be "The Rock(J)00001.bmp". Click OK.
19) Another Save dialog box appears. This will save the InputSub project (SUP) file. Use the same name as all the other files, in this case "The Rock(J)". Click Save.
20) From here, you can start entering the Japanese characters.
------ to be continued ------------
Specially for Traditional Chinese but even in simplified is not that good. That's why I'm suggesting SubResync.
But this is PERFECT for tw dramas 
