How to watch videos with two subtitle streams
Let's start with examples of the practical use of parallel subtitles:
1. There are two different translations, each with its own advantages or disadvantages; therefore, it is difficult to choose one of them. Sometimes you want to look here and there. The truth may be somewhere in the middle of this stereo translations.
2. The quality of the translation is doubtful, I would like to have on the screen also the original, for possible checking of incomprehensible sections. Instead of the original, you can use an authoritative translation into another language - for example, an English translation when watching Chinese, Korean or Japanese films (especially since English translations, unfortunately, today are often re-translated Asian films).
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3. The film is watched in the company, one needs the original, others the translation.
Of course, all this looks like a small maniae, but a person who is familiar with translation problems is ready to put up with some inconveniences (eating off screen space, a split in perception, a little trouble with preparing materials).
The variant with video transcoding (to get a couple of essentially different subtitles - embedded + pre-rendered or test ones ) is immediately dismissed: long, inconvenient, harmful for the image. Although this option can be noted, if you have to look at the iron player and there is no other way out: but then the recipe described below will come in handy as a link in the transcoding chain .
The variant with the painstaking combination of two subtitles in one with the separation of replicas from two sources on different parts of the screen or with a visual separation of them using styles, we also will not consider, since this is quite a long-term occupation. Although there is a script for Linux.
We will use AviSynth: something like an intermediary between the source and player with a variety of movie editing options on the fly. Download here , the Russian documentation on the language of scripts here or here .
However, we do not need to learn all the subtleties and unlimited possibilities of the language. Just remember a few commands.
Create a text file with an arbitrary name and the extension .avs. Paste several lines into it:
The first line connects the subtitle plugin with the appropriate command . The second line loads the video file using the system interface (it is quite omnivorous, so you can watch not only in avi, but also in mkv and other popular containers). The next two lines load and embed two different subtitle files into the video stream (these are the commands of the mentioned plugin ). Do not forget to substitute the paths to your files instead of the examples in quotes.
Of course, only subtitles that are already synchronized with video should be used. And if text or pre-rendered subtitles are embedded in the container, they must first be extracted .
When the script is ready, it remains to edit the subtitles themselves so that they do not merge on the screen. Such capabilities are provided by the SSA format. If we have subtitles of a different format (for example, .srt), you can easily convert them with the help of programs for working with subtitles. For example, in a remarkably simple and functional and rapidly developing Subtitle Edit .
After the conversion, it remains to make only a few edits in the subtitles themselves. You can read about the SSA format here , here and in Russian here . We will leave some subtitles below, others will move up the screen using the default Alignment parameter. In both subtitles, you can reduce the margins (MarginL, MarginR, MarginV parameters) and the font size (Fontsize) to win screen space (the right and left margins affect the number of lines: vertical space is more important than edges, so better two lines down from edge to edges than three lines with margins - although this will affect the speed of reading, the probability of closing an important part of the video sequence will decrease). If some subtitles are considered to be spare, you can change their color or transparency so that they seem to fade into the background (the * Color and AlphaLevel parameters).
It remains only to open the .avs file in the player like a regular video file. Tested on MPC-HC with excellent results.
By the way, in the same way you can organize an even more insane lesson: loading three streams at once (at the top of the screen, in the center and at the bottom). For example, if you want to compare two translations and choose the best one, you can download the original and two compared files and view them synchronously with the video. Today, when sometimes three or four release groups are taken for one translation and voice project, such comparisons can have not only theoretical or critical value, be used not only for professional purposes, but also help ordinary viewers to choose the best option.
PS Subtitle Edit has a special plugin for this.
1. There are two different translations, each with its own advantages or disadvantages; therefore, it is difficult to choose one of them. Sometimes you want to look here and there. The truth may be somewhere in the middle of this stereo translations.
2. The quality of the translation is doubtful, I would like to have on the screen also the original, for possible checking of incomprehensible sections. Instead of the original, you can use an authoritative translation into another language - for example, an English translation when watching Chinese, Korean or Japanese films (especially since English translations, unfortunately, today are often re-translated Asian films).
')
3. The film is watched in the company, one needs the original, others the translation.
Of course, all this looks like a small maniae, but a person who is familiar with translation problems is ready to put up with some inconveniences (eating off screen space, a split in perception, a little trouble with preparing materials).
The variant with video transcoding (to get a couple of essentially different subtitles - embedded + pre-rendered or test ones ) is immediately dismissed: long, inconvenient, harmful for the image. Although this option can be noted, if you have to look at the iron player and there is no other way out: but then the recipe described below will come in handy as a link in the transcoding chain .
The variant with the painstaking combination of two subtitles in one with the separation of replicas from two sources on different parts of the screen or with a visual separation of them using styles, we also will not consider, since this is quite a long-term occupation. Although there is a script for Linux.
We will use AviSynth: something like an intermediary between the source and player with a variety of movie editing options on the fly. Download here , the Russian documentation on the language of scripts here or here .
However, we do not need to learn all the subtleties and unlimited possibilities of the language. Just remember a few commands.
Create a text file with an arbitrary name and the extension .avs. Paste several lines into it:
LoadPlugin("c:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\VSFilter.dll") DirectShowSource("video.avi") TextSub("video.eng.ssa") TextSub("video.rus.ssa") The first line connects the subtitle plugin with the appropriate command . The second line loads the video file using the system interface (it is quite omnivorous, so you can watch not only in avi, but also in mkv and other popular containers). The next two lines load and embed two different subtitle files into the video stream (these are the commands of the mentioned plugin ). Do not forget to substitute the paths to your files instead of the examples in quotes.
Of course, only subtitles that are already synchronized with video should be used. And if text or pre-rendered subtitles are embedded in the container, they must first be extracted .
When the script is ready, it remains to edit the subtitles themselves so that they do not merge on the screen. Such capabilities are provided by the SSA format. If we have subtitles of a different format (for example, .srt), you can easily convert them with the help of programs for working with subtitles. For example, in a remarkably simple and functional and rapidly developing Subtitle Edit .
After the conversion, it remains to make only a few edits in the subtitles themselves. You can read about the SSA format here , here and in Russian here . We will leave some subtitles below, others will move up the screen using the default Alignment parameter. In both subtitles, you can reduce the margins (MarginL, MarginR, MarginV parameters) and the font size (Fontsize) to win screen space (the right and left margins affect the number of lines: vertical space is more important than edges, so better two lines down from edge to edges than three lines with margins - although this will affect the speed of reading, the probability of closing an important part of the video sequence will decrease). If some subtitles are considered to be spare, you can change their color or transparency so that they seem to fade into the background (the * Color and AlphaLevel parameters).
It remains only to open the .avs file in the player like a regular video file. Tested on MPC-HC with excellent results.
By the way, in the same way you can organize an even more insane lesson: loading three streams at once (at the top of the screen, in the center and at the bottom). For example, if you want to compare two translations and choose the best one, you can download the original and two compared files and view them synchronously with the video. Today, when sometimes three or four release groups are taken for one translation and voice project, such comparisons can have not only theoretical or critical value, be used not only for professional purposes, but also help ordinary viewers to choose the best option.
PS Subtitle Edit has a special plugin for this.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/151135/
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