Tutorial: How to add an English Subtitle to a *.ts file and burn to a DVD

[HB13DISH]

Introduction

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make the most out of FTA channels on Hot Bird 13E that send a subtitle.
There are few channels that send a subtitle on the teletext stream, visible only when you select a certain teletext page AND if the channel sends a subtitle at the time of the broadcast.
For example, the RAI channels (RAI 1, RAI 2, RAI 3) sends a subtitle in Italian on page 777 for some of the programming, usually imported action series or films, but not all the time.
It is a nice way to learn the Italian language, as you can hear and read what the actors say.
What I wanted to do was to record the programme, extract the Italian subtitle, convert it to English using simple translation methods, but keep the same timing as in the original recording. Then add/replace the original Italian subtitle with the English one, burn to DVD and then sit back and enjoy the show with the English subtitle.
In this tutorial I am going to show you how this is done.
But first you must have a satellite receiver that can record to a *.ts format like the Dreambox models.

 

[HB13DISH]

Tutorial Steps:

1 - Recording a *.ts file with a subtitle using a satellite receiver like Dreambox 7000S.
2 - Copying the recorded *.ts file from the receiver to the PC using FTP application like FileZilla.
3 - Extract the movie file, audio file and the subtitle file using an application that can handle *.ts files like ProjectX
4 - Translate the subtitle file from the original language to English (or your mother tongue language) using a translation method like Google Language Tools, and then format the translated file to an accepted subtitle format like *.srt
5 - Use a DVD Authoring application like DVD Lab Pro to add the movie, audio and the subtitle files (original+translated) and then burn to DVD.
6 - Enjoy the show

 

[HB13DISH]

Step1: Recording a *.ts file

The Dreambox 7000S satellite receiver with HDD can record to file format *.ts
This tutorial will deal with how to manipulate a recording made last night from RAI 2 for an action series called Squadra Speciale Cobra 11 and lasted less than one hour.
According to the programming schedule, this was sent with subtitles.
The recorded file is called
08-12-19 - RAI2 - Squadra Speciale Cobra 11.ts and had a size of 2.5GB.

 

[HB13DISH]

Step 2 - Copying the recorded *.ts to PC

Using an FTP application, connect to Dreambox and then copy the file to a location in the PC.
Note: During the recording, it was not possible to use the teletext function to see the subtitle, as the buttons on the remote are used for the recording function and the text button would have interrupted the recording.
But I knew that it was sending a subtitle by checking the same channel on another receiver.

 

[HB13DISH]

Step 3 - Extract the movie file, audio file and the subtitle file.

This was the hardest part, finding an application that can extract the subtitle information from the teletext stream and output it to a standard subtitle file.
After a lot of search, I found that ProjectX can handle the stream and it does it beautifully.
It is really a great application, once you know how to use.
You can download it from this link:
_http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?Convert_ToolsrojectX
After installation, click on Projectx.exe
It will start a Java window.
Click on Presettings
Then open Subtitle on the left menu
Select Page 777 from the teletext pages to decode and then
Subtitle format to decode:SRT and text
Click on Output and select all stream types to process
Close window
Click on Process > Prepare
Click on Action: and select demux and close window
Click on File > Add and browse to the subfolder where the *.ts file is stored and select the *.ts file
You will notice that the preview window now changes to the first frame in the imported file.
Click on Process > QuickStart and the application starts the demuxing process and will work really fast and in just few minutes it will output four files
Movie file in format *.m2v
Audio file in format *.mp2
Subtitle file in format *.srt
Subtitle file in format *.text
In addition, there will be a log file to show the the whole process of the demuxing stage.

 

[HB13DISH]

Step 4 - Translate the subtitle file to English

Now that we have extracted a *.srt file, we need to translate it to English (or your preferred language)

As the films or series dialogues are not "rocket Science", I think that a simple translation will be enough, just to get the general idea what is going on.
If you have the time to go over all the dialogue and translate it yourself, then this would be great. but it will take time.

What I usually do is copy the whole text in the *.srt file and then open Google Language Tools and paste the whole text into the Translate Text window
Selct Italian > English and then click on Translate.
When the translation is done, just copy the translated text to your favourite text editor. I like TextPad as it has more useful functions than other simple text editors like Note Pad.
There is one more thing that need to be done, and for this you need to know what the *.srt format looks like

Here are two lines from the original subtitle file

14
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:58,720
- Posso metterlo qui ?
- Che cosa ? - Questo. - Sì.

15
00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:08,920
- E' una buona idea ? - Che cosa ?
- Andare in un posto così isolato.

and the corresponding lines in the translated text

14
00:02:53,480 -> 00:02:58,720
- Can I put it here?
- What? - This. - Yes.

15
00:03:03,480 -> 00:03:08,920
- It 's a good idea? - What?
- Go to a place so isolated.

If you look carefully in line 14 in Italian, you will notice that there is --> characters
But in the Google translated corresponding line, it looks like this ->

The srt format must have the text as shown for the Italian text.

Well, using TextPad, it is very simple to change the -> to --> using the Edit > Find > Replace.
Once this is done, go over the English text and try to see if you can improve on the grammar or anything else to make it a better translation.
When you are satisfied, just save the file with *.srt extension.

 

[HB13DISH]

Step 5 - DVD Authoring

We now have a movie file *.m2v, audio file *.mp2, subtitle file Italian *.srt and the new English translated file *.srt

The next step was finding a DVD authoring application that can handle subtitle files addition and preferably more than one subtitle files, just in case you would like to keep the original language.

After a lot of search and evaluations, I find the DVD Lab Pro an excellent application. Easy to work with and fast.
The DVD Lab Pro version ($299) can handle up to 8 subtitles, while the DVD Studio ($129) can handle only one subtitle file.
I tried Ulead Movie Factory 6, but it was so heavy and slow. It crashed several times and it wouldn't accept the *.ts file or the *.m2v file which meant converting it to one of the formats that it can handle.
You can download a 30 days fully functional DVD Lab Pro from this link
_http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dvdlabpro.html
After installation, open the application
Make sure that you choose PAL for the project
Click on the file icon in the bottom left and add the *.m2v and *.mp2 files
Then drag the movie file to the top where the movie icon is and the audio file to the audio 1 section.
Then click on the subtitle sub1 and a new window opens
Click on the icon for file import and select the Italian srt file and then select Italiano as the language
Then click on Generate Subtitle Stream. You will need to save as Italian.sp1
Next you will notice that a new sub 2 has been cteated in the Movie 1 window.
Click on Sub2 and add the English translation file, make sure that you select English and then generate English.sp2.
It is now a good idea to save the project. Let's call it subtitle Tutorial.dal
You can add chapters to the movie.
Click on Movie > Auto Chapters and select Add 20 chapters in whole movie (or whatever you like).
Next create menu (need to discuss this in more details).
Then click on Project > Compile DVD and then Start
When compilation is finished, it creates a DVD in a folder in the hard disk drive.
Next click on Project > Burn DVD
The DVD Pro Lab 2 has a DVD Burn software which seems to be adequate.
When the burn is finished, test the DVD on the PC using a DVD Player application and see that you have the movie, chapters and two subtitle tracks.
Then test it on a standalone DVD player and you will see that it is possible to select either the Italian subtitle or the English subtitle.
DVD Lab Pro 2 has proved to be an excellent authoring software, but with a price tag of $299, it might be wise to buy the DVD Lab Studio $129 (only one subtitle track is possible), or look for something else which is cheaper.
Please suggest other good DVD authoring software that can handle subtitles.
End of tutorial.
Enjoy.

 

[compufunk]

Nice work HB13DISH

To be honest, when you started out with this project, I was dubious as whether or not it could be done without using specialist software.
So, fair dues to you. ;)

Now, can you get that Polish guy on 13E to shut up and just leave the original soundtrack?

 

[Turok]

Hello @ all!
ahh,you mean that one,with same voice for nearly all the movies
movies /man,/woman and animal imitator
thats sounds for me like a 24h 365 days 7 days a week job,to synchronize all hollywood movies

thanks hb13 for this intensive workshop!
i would have no nervers for that to resarch this all

before internet dont existis,i often use teletext!
since internet,i never use it again
very strange!
it was also posible,to record,the complete teletext,on a good svhs tape,but i did not know that is posible,to extract this information!,with the pc!

rai used,diffrent teletext services,over terrerstrial antenna and on satellite,reginal news for dvb t! (reginal versions)
but,the signal for dvbt,comes also over satellite!,for dvb t,but you cant see something,coz it is in other modulation standarts!
same ,was also on turksat!
to watch this,the operators,has special receivers,that suports dvb t,with a normal satellite tuner freqency!

iam not sure,maybe every tv station,use difrent "standart"of this subtitles!?
you can also test this on the srg transponder on hotbird!

orf send also alot of subtitles!

sky and arabic channels,are the only one,that send regulary in sign language!

but ,the translation,i can imagine,is very expensice,otherwise,every channel would do it!

 

[HB13DISH]

Nice work HB13DISH

To be honest, when you started out with this project, I was dubious as whether or not it could be done without using specialist software.
So, fair dues to you. ;)

Now, can you get that Polish guy on 13E to shut up and just leave the original soundtrack?

Thanks compufunk.
I wasn't sure either, but it turned out that some of the best applications are free (freeware).
The Polish guy can chatter all day long as far as I am concerned. The films there are just rubbish and are not worth the trouble.

 

[HB13DISH]

Hello @ all!
thanks hb13 for this intensive workshop!
i would have no nervers for that to resarch this all

before internet dont existis,i often use teletext!
since internet,i never use it again
very strange!
it was also posible,to record,the complete teletext,on a good svhs tape,but i did not know that is posible,to extract this information!,with the pc!

rai used,diffrent teletext services,over terrerstrial antenna and on satellite,reginal news for dvb t! (reginal versions)
but,the signal for dvbt,comes also over satellite!,for dvb t,but you cant see something,coz it is in other modulation standarts!
same ,was also on turksat!
to watch this,the operators,has special receivers,that suports dvb t,with a normal satellite tuner freqency!

iam not sure,maybe every tv station,use difrent "standart"of this subtitles!?
you can also test this on the srg transponder on hotbird!

orf send also alot of subtitles!

sky and arabic channels,are the only one,that send regulary in sign language!

but ,the translation,i can imagine,is very expensice,otherwise,every channel would do it!

Hi Turok,
I am glad that you liked the tutorial.
It would be great if you can try it also with other channels from satellites that I can't receive here.
I find teletext a great way to receive online information, especially programming schedules, news, weather and off course subtitles.
Pity that most viewers don't even know that a such thing exists.
I blame it on the providers for not giving enough advertising.
The German channels are very good in this respect. They send teletext almost on all the channels on Hot Bird 13E.
Different channels use different teletext pages for sending the subtitle information. RAI use page 777.
I will give a list later on of all the page numbers for the subtitle pages from different channels.
By the way, you can use ProjectX to extract not only subtitles but also other information. All you need to do is to select the teletext page from the subtitle menu.
Unfortunately there seem to be a fixed menu and you can't choose whatever teletext page you wish.
At the moment these are the pages in the ProjectX menu.

null
149
150
199
299
599
691
692
693
694
699
777
779
784
785
786
881
882
884
885
886
887
888
889

The German channels send schedules in the 300 range and these are missing from the list.
BBC Prime used to send many subtitles for different languages from the teletext, but they have unfortunately stopped that recently.

BTW: If you have a DVB-S PC card, you can extract the teletext pages and save them to the PC.

 

[HB13DISH]

The DVD Lab Pro used in the tutorial is excellent, but the price $245 is too expensive in my opinion.
They have a cheaper version DVD Lab Studio with a price tag of $129 but will support only ONE subtitle track.
As I needed to have at least two tracks: the original + the translated subtitle, I started looking for other applications.
Tried several, but I wasn't happy with any of them.
Finally I found an excellent application which is free which does exactly what I need.
It is called DVDAuthor GUI
Here is the author website link.
_http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl
Made few test DVDs and they are fine.
Only problem is that I can't change the colour of the subtitle text, as it is always white and I prefer yellow which is good for white backgrounds.

 

[MoonRiver]

I think freeware ffmpegX can help U.
which can merge srt file and video into one file on Mac, and then you can burn merged videos to dvd
just follow this guide :
_http://www.dvdburnermacosx.com/tutorial/how-to-burn-srt-sub-subtitle-to-dvd-on-mac.html#129