Hello everyone!
I am back again today with another VLC media player tutorial. I hoped all my previous tutorial were helpful for you in some way. Now, we will be learning how to add a permanent subtitle to our video/movie, so that we can play it in our tv or any other media that does not let you add subtitle manually. This process is very simple and I'm sure you can do it. So, let's get started!
Did you know that there are actually two kinds of subtitles? These are Soft (also known as softsubs or closed subtitles) and Hard (also known as hardsubs or open subtitles ).
A Soft (softsubs or closed subtitle) is a subtitle that is a separate file, this usually has a specially marked up text with time stamps that are displayed during playback. This requires player support (like vlc) to be played with the movie. Basically it is just a text overlay that is placed over the video, you can remove it anytime you want or turn it ON/OFF. It's called closed subtitles because it is designed for a certain group of viewers, meaning it is not open to all.
A Hard (also know as hardsubs or open subtitles) is a subtitle that is rendered to the video, it is part of the video itself and it is impossible to get it off without affecting the video. The good thing about this type of subtitle is that you don't need a player support because the subtitle is already part of the video. This is mostly used in karaoke song lyrics because you can add complex transition and animation to follow the lyrics. It's called open subtitle because it is open to all, meaning anyone can see it and it is impossible to turn OFF.
Hardsubbing
Now that you know the kinds of subtitles and their uses, let us now try to hard sub a subtitle to a movie.
First, let us open our VLC media player. I like how VLC is also having the christmas spirit.
Next, let's head to Media > Convert/Save
After you clicked the Convert/Save option this new window will open, in here you will put your movie/video by clicking the Add button and this will open up your file manager to let you search for your video. Now that you have placed your video, tick the check box that is beside the Use a subtitle file, this will enable you to add a subtitle file into your video usually at .srt format. Click on browse to look for your subtitle file and then click Convert/Save.
If you don't have a subtitle file saved in your computer, you can always search for it in google then save it.
Or
You can use VLC media player to download the subtitle for your movie. It is more convenient this way because VLC will be the one to search the subtitles for you. Just go to View > Download Subtitles.
In here, you can choose if you want to search by hash or by name either one could do the job. But I would prefer the hash because it will give you the most suitable subtitle while if you search by name it will give you a lot of options which is kinda confusing and not all the subtitles shown will fit your movie. Sometimes the subtitle would be delayed or advanced which is kind of a hassle to adjust.
Now, select the subtitle that you want to download and click Download selection this will download the subtitle of your choosing and save it in the same folder of your video.
After you clicked the Convert/Save option this new window will appear. Here, you will have the option to select what kind of codec you want your movie to have.
Now, check if your audio codec sample rate matches with that of the video.
You can do this by going to your movie file then right click it then click the Properties > Details . Take a look at the Audio sample rate of your video, this must have the same sample rate to your newly converted video to avoid audio malfunction.
Here, you can edit the Audio sample rate of the video by clicking the radio button and then selecting the same audio sample rate as the original movie.
After all that's done, choose a location to save your video and rename it to your liking.
Now, click Start to begin the rendering. This might take a while depending on the size of the movie and the speed of your computer. You can now sit back and relax while waiting for it to finish.
Now, the subtitle is hardcoded to video. you can now watch it in any player or in the tv with the subtitle that is always ON.
I hope you find this tutorial helpful. Comment down below if you have any questions or violent reactions. I will be happy to read about it.
That's all for now
ted7
signing out,
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors