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Video Subtitling in Debian

Software available

aegisub

aegisub is a well-known software to produce video subtitles.

• Debian package: aegisub

• Homepage: http://www.aegisub.org and http://plorkyeran.com/aegisub/

• Video support:
• Video preview:
• Subtitle translation:
• Subtitling and time sync:
• Getting the job done:

gaupol

gaupol is a GTK subtitle editor for text-based subtitle files.

• Debian Package: gaupol

• Homepage: https://otsaloma.io/gaupol/

• Video support: internal with gstreamer. External and configurable.
• Video preview:
  • It is confusing whether the video will be played internally or with the external player, depending on the video format. The surprising part is the behaviour can't be configured.
  • Video formats unsupported by the internal player don't always print the reason why they don't work. Sometimes you will only get audio playback with no video (black).
• Subtitle translation: Supported.
• Subtitling and time sync: Seems possible (not tested)
• Getting the job done: No job done, didn't insist because of the issues with video playback from internal/external players.

Remarks:

• The GUI seems mostly well made and has the necessary features.
• Noticed an abnormal heavy CPU usage when playing *.webm files from internal player.

gnome-subtitles

Gnome Subtitles is a GTK3 application for subtitling. It depends on Mono platform.

• Debian Package: gnome-subtitles

• Homepage: https://gnomesubtitles.org/

• Video Support: Internal with gstreamer.
• Video preview: The Forward/Rewind function doesn't work. It's only used when we are doing the synchronism. It's not a big problem.
• Subtitle translation: Supported.
• Getting the job done: Average. With crtl+d and ctrl+e it set the begin and end of each subtitle in the same moment we see the video.

Remarks:

• Noticed an abnormal heavy CPU usage when playing *.webm files from internal player.
• Has some options to introduce explicit delays when subbing. Haven't verified how it affects syncing in practice.

• (2009) It has a bug that breaks all supported formats, It inserts a non valid word and the beginning of the file. With it, other programs as subtittleeditor can't open them. Easy to remove, but annoying.

subtitleeditor

Subtitle Editor is a GTK+3 tool to edit subtitles.

• Debian Package: subtitleeditor

• Homepage: https://kitone.github.io/subtitleeditor/

• Video support: Internal with gstreamer. And external (not tested).
• Video preview: Playback has basic controls, though more isn't necessary. Seeking to the relevant subtitle entry according to its timestamp works like a charm!
• Supports translation: yes
• Subtitling and time sync: Waveform is quite handy for timing, looks accurate (to be verified).
• Getting the job done:
  • Needs prior setup of shortcuts to find a working workflow, see Usage below.
  • Your mileage may vary, but a bug which frequently occurs when previewing video leads to work being lost, and require excessive caution (regular saves).

Remarks:

• No big dependencies except gstreamer related ones.
• Has no notion of 'project' which means you will have to individually select subtitles, videos and other files each time you restart the program.
• It can import from a plain txt file! Really useful to export to a file with one of the supported formats.

SubtitleComposer

?SubtitleComposer is a subtitle editor from KDE project.

• Debian Package: subtitlecomposer

• Homepage: https://invent.kde.org/kde/subtitlecomposer

• Video support:
• Video preview:
• Supports translation: yes
• Subtitling and time sync: Waveform available
• Getting the job done:
• Remarks:

Other software

• Comparison_of_subtitle_editors

• Subtitle_editor

Usage

subtitleeditor

The workflow is not obvious at first glance, so let's sum up:

• Create a new file, which will be your *.srt
• Load your video from the video menu
• Create the waveform from the video with the corresponding entry in the Wave menu

Once you have these 3 parts displayed, you can start working.

Using the mouse is nearly mandatory, with the purpose to work with the Waveform frame:

• Left click sets the left limit of a subtitle entry
• Right click sets the right limit of a subtitle entry
• Middle click sets the video play cursor to where you clicked

You will also make use of keyboard. It's a good idea to set your own shorcuts. Go in "Options" menu, and set new keyboard shorcuts, in particular you will likely need:

• play current video section
• previous subtitle
• next subtitle
• delete selected subtitle
• insert new subtitle

This way you can start working without having to move the mouse the much around the GUI, and use a few keys to create new subtitle entries, which you will adjust time borders with the mouse according to the waveform.

Also use Enter to edit current subtitle.

subtitleeditor is not rock stable so you'd better make regular save for your work (CTRL+S).

Subtitle Formats

Application support

As of 2009 (needs update)

gaupol

• Advanced Sub Station Alpha (.ssa)
• MicroDVD (.sub)
• MPL2 (.txt)
• MPsub (.sub)

• ?SubRip (.srt)

• Sub Station Alpha (.ssa)

• ?SubViewer2 (.sub)

• TMPlayer (.txt)

Gnome Subtitle

• Adobe Encore DVD (.txt)
• Advance Sub Station Alpha (.ass)
• DKS Subtitle format (.dks)
• Karaoke Lyrics LRC (.lrc)
• Karaoke Lyrics VKT (.vkt)
• Micro DVD (.sub)
• Mplayer (.mpl)
• Mplayer2 (.mpl)
• MPSub (.sub)
• Panimator (.pan)
• Phoenix Japanimation Society (.pjs)
• Power DivX (.psb)
• Sub Station Alpha (.ssa)

• ?SubRip (.srt)

• ?SubViewer 1.0 (.sub)

• ?SubViewer 2.0 (.sub)

Subtitle Editor

• Advanced Sub Station Alpha (.ass)
• Sub Station Alpha (.ssa)

• ?SubRip (.srt)

• MicroDVD (.sub)
• MPL2 (.txt)

• ?SubViewer 2.0 (.sub)

• MPSub (.sub)
• Adobe Encore DVD PAL (.txt)
• Adobe Encore NTSC (.txt)

Capabilities of subtitle formats (table)

!!!!!!Section inaccurate/incomplete!!!!! Tags Description:

• Format: The format name.

• Extension: The file extension given for this Format

• Font Styles: Some formats are able to store Font styles that could be applied to a subtitle.

  • F: Font type change support

  • S: Font size support

  • C: Primary/secondary colors support

  • O: Outline Color support

  • G: Background Color

  • B: Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikeout

  • H: Shadows

  • M: Margins

• Actors: The format could show different colors for each Actor talking in the movie.

• Movie info: Extra info can be added into the format (the movie name, the creator, the frame rate...)

• Sync: To get sync with video it uses time or frame into movie.

• Players Supported:

  • M: Mplayer

  • V: Vlc

  • T: Totem

• DVD: it can be used without conversion to create video DVD.

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CategorySoftware | CategoryVideo