Subtitles from VHS Tapes

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:21 am

From: Paul & Leslie Adler
Sent: 21 January 2008 19:50
To: sjj1805
Subject: VS10 Plus Question

Hi,
I've checked the VS10 Forum and the entire Ulead site for some help on
this....to no avail.

I can capture a VHS tape, burn it to a DVD, and play it....no problem.
The problem is that the tape has "subtitles", (captioning) that are not
on the end product.

Actually, all I could find on the subject was in the "Bugs Fixed" for
the Service Pack 1.
It states: The Open Subtitle File dialog box did not display *.srt
format........
When importing subtitles from SRT files....

I can't find any references to subtitles anywhere in VS10 Plus, not even
in the Help section.

I've tried all of your suggestions on capturing, burning, etc.

I'm beginning to think that there may not be a separate "subtitle" track
on VHS tapes.

My VCR is connected to my PC through a "Video Advantage PCI" capture card.

Should I try to simply connect it to a TV set and run the video/audio
output of the TV (since it does show the subtitles)
to my capture card?

I know that you are very busy and I apologize for troubling you, but
your inputs to the forum sound like you may be able to help.

Thank you,
Paul E. Adler
Roseville, CA, USA

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:33 am

Private Messages and Emails to Forum Staff

I do not know of any program that can extract subtitles from a VHS tape.
Perhaps someone else on the forum knows of a way this can be done.

A search of Google turned this up which may help
http://zuggy.wz.cz/guides/video.htm

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:19 pm

Closed captions for the hearing impared (VHS & broadcast) are text embedded in the analog signal. Closed Captions are turned on & off at the TV.

DVD subtitles are a separate subpicture track (not text) multiplexed with the audio & video tracks. DVD subtitles are turned on & off at the DVD player. A DVD can also have closed captions, but if you copy a VHS tape (or broadcast) to DVD, the closed captions will be lost.

Some video capture cards also have the ability to turn captions on & off. I think my Hauppauge card can display and record captions (as open captions), but I'd have to double-check that.

I've heard of software that can extract captions as text, but when I looked-into it (briefly) it seemed to require lots of "hacking". And, it probably only works with specific capture cards.

Should I try to simply connect it to a TV set and run the video/audio output of the TV (since it does show the subtitles) to my capture card?

Sure, that should work, assuming the video-out is exactly what you see on the screen. And, assuming no Macrovision (copy protection).

Of course, these will be open captions. The text will be part of the picture and you will not be able to turn it off. Depending on the program playing-time, you could put two versions of the program on your DVD... One with captions, and one without. Or, you could make 2 DVDs.

Another option would be to create the subtitles manually. That would be a few hours work (maybe a day?), and that's assuming that you are not hearing impared, and that that the subtitles are in a language you speak.

pladler · Post by **pladler** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:49 pm

DVDDoug,
Thank you so much for the inputs.
I'm working on the idea of VHS-toTV-to-Capture Card-to-DVD.
It will be no problrm if the captions are recorded "Open" and are there all the time since I am hearing impaired.

I was able to buy a capture card "PlusTV" from Kworld, that does show the captions on the pc screen from the VHS player...more than I could do before, however, you are right, the captions are lost on the burnt DVD.

I will post my findings on my original thought of TV-to capture card.

Thanks again,

Paul E. Adler