ejp
07-29-2006, 14:55
This thread is in relation to the latter portion of my How-To on backing up DVDs to XviD and making multiple subtitles. I was originally just going to put the screenshots up, but I've discovered a lot of information, so I thought it needed another thread. Also, there's potential for more information on multiple subtitles. This is a primer, strictly for information. If you need tutorials on how to make multiple subtitles, go to the original.
Link to original: http://www.cowonamerica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8033
I decided to make better screenshots of the multi-subtitles, as well as a video of the A2 in action showing the multisubtitles. I'll add a short commentary about the video. Before that, There are some things I'd like to discuss about screenshots.
By the way, in the original screenshots, I just took a picture of the A2 (showing the multi-subtitles) using my digital camera. I had to do it that way because the A2's "Screenshot" feature does not take a screenshot of anything overlaying the actuall video, which includes the subtitles and the A2 OSD. I wasn't satisfied with it (you can understand that since I've put a lot of effort into the guide, I can't keep the screenshots lacking).
To capture the video, I've connected the A2 to my Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2, and have connected that to my computer, using the WinTV2000 program with a DVD-MPEG2 bitrate of 12MBit/s CBR and a resolution of 720x480. These settings call for the best quality possible. Once captured, I've used the latest AutoGK to encode it to XviD with a bitrate of 1401 kb/s with a resolution of 640x480. The settings call for the best quality possible while keeping the proper specifications. To create the ASF file, I captured that DVD-MPEG2 file with my A2 (640x480 1Mbps) from my modded Xbox, which is running the latest Xbox Media Center (Mplayer Front end).
To make the screenshots, I used VirtualDubMod (the one installed by the AutoGK installer). I captured using JPG and 100 quality. The first 3 similar-looking screenshots are from the MPG, AVI, and ASF, respectively. The last 4 screenshots are showing the multi-subtitles, captured from the AVI file.
As you can see, the MPG capture is wider (AR=1.5:1). The reason is because this is following DVD-MPEG2 specifications and will look perfectly fine when viewing on a TV, as DVD-MPEG2 was designed for. Generally, on hardware decoders, DVD-MPEG2 will look superior than MPEG4 (XviD) since DVD-MPEG2 is designed for TV-viewing, while MPEG4 is not, although it is possible. This is probably why I captured to ASF using the DVD-MPEG2 file. I'm probably wrong though, because the program I used to play back the DVD-MPEG2 file is computer software-based, and may possibly shows MPEG4 files just as well, if not, better than DVD-MPEG2. If viewing strictly on a computer, although not very well seen in the screenshots, the MPEG4 file is much sharper since it was designed for computer-viewing, whereas DVD-MPEG2 is not. Also, the resolution is corrected to the proper AR, as if it were being watched on a TV. For this reason, I've taken screenshots of the subtitles using the AVI file. You can also see that the picture on the ASF screenshot is much more stretched out than the AVI or MPG screenshots; a much smaller black border, which I know a lot of us hate to see at all when viewing it on AV-Out mode. I'm not sure why it's like that; I originally thought it was overscanning, but when comparing screenshots in the movie, nothing is being cropped. However, all I can say is that the GUI in the ASF screenshot is much more closer to the 16:9 AR than that in the AVI screenshot.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_mpg-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_mpg-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_avi-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_avi-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_asf-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_asf-ejp.jpg)
You'll also notice that my GUI has a nice darker shading around the icon areas. Don't be fooled; it's part of the actual wallpaper, which is obvious if you view the video. I made it that way because the white texts are sometimes hard to read against a light-colored wallpaper. Making it dimmer makes it easier on the eyes.
I wanted to make the ASF file so I could upload it; ASF files are generally smaller in file size; the one I included is only 11 MB (no audio; nothing to hear anyway). Why I captured it instead of just encoding the AVI or MPEG? I don't know. I guess I just did it for kicks. Besides, you can now see how much the quality has degraded from a high-quality DVD-MPEG2 capture back to the A2 by analog means.
Again, I know the subtitles don't actually match up with the movie. It's just an example. In the first multi-subtitle screenshot, you can see that the A2 automatically detects and displays the subtitles. The first set of subtitles is displayed by default (English in this case). In the 2nd multi-subtitle screenshot, I've selected French subtitles and it automatically plays it for you. In the 3rd multi-subtitle screenshot, it shows the subtitles conveniently outlined in black so you can clearly see them against bright backgrounds. In the 4th and last multi-subtitle screenshot, you can see the subtitles display way down below when the OSD disappears.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_1-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_1-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_2-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_2-ejp.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_3-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_3-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_4-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_4-ejp.jpg)
Now in the video, don't be fooled again. If it seems like my A2's GUI is responding faster than it should, it isn't. I've edited it for time constraints. I've also renamed the file to movie.avi just to try to be as generic as I can. The volume conveniently goes up automatically to a predifined level. If it also looks like I'm moving slow through the OSD, it's because there is lag during the DVD-MPEG2 capture, so when I was going through the OSD, it took a few seconds before it showed it on the computer screen. Anyway, as I'm scrolling through the Subtitle Tracks, you can see that there are other options that don't do anything. I'm not so sure what SMI #2 or SMI 1&2 is or how to use them. I'm sure I'll explore this feature and update this.
Video (in browser): http://media.putfile.com/Cowon-A2-Multi-Subtitles. Make sure to change the resolution to either 640 or 800 to view it as it was originally made. (I had a hard time finding a video hosting site that hosts the original file instead of some re-encode, like YouTube).
Video (direct download): http://uploadfile.putfile.com/videos/20917091262.asf
Link to original: http://www.cowonamerica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8033
I decided to make better screenshots of the multi-subtitles, as well as a video of the A2 in action showing the multisubtitles. I'll add a short commentary about the video. Before that, There are some things I'd like to discuss about screenshots.
By the way, in the original screenshots, I just took a picture of the A2 (showing the multi-subtitles) using my digital camera. I had to do it that way because the A2's "Screenshot" feature does not take a screenshot of anything overlaying the actuall video, which includes the subtitles and the A2 OSD. I wasn't satisfied with it (you can understand that since I've put a lot of effort into the guide, I can't keep the screenshots lacking).
To capture the video, I've connected the A2 to my Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2, and have connected that to my computer, using the WinTV2000 program with a DVD-MPEG2 bitrate of 12MBit/s CBR and a resolution of 720x480. These settings call for the best quality possible. Once captured, I've used the latest AutoGK to encode it to XviD with a bitrate of 1401 kb/s with a resolution of 640x480. The settings call for the best quality possible while keeping the proper specifications. To create the ASF file, I captured that DVD-MPEG2 file with my A2 (640x480 1Mbps) from my modded Xbox, which is running the latest Xbox Media Center (Mplayer Front end).
To make the screenshots, I used VirtualDubMod (the one installed by the AutoGK installer). I captured using JPG and 100 quality. The first 3 similar-looking screenshots are from the MPG, AVI, and ASF, respectively. The last 4 screenshots are showing the multi-subtitles, captured from the AVI file.
As you can see, the MPG capture is wider (AR=1.5:1). The reason is because this is following DVD-MPEG2 specifications and will look perfectly fine when viewing on a TV, as DVD-MPEG2 was designed for. Generally, on hardware decoders, DVD-MPEG2 will look superior than MPEG4 (XviD) since DVD-MPEG2 is designed for TV-viewing, while MPEG4 is not, although it is possible. This is probably why I captured to ASF using the DVD-MPEG2 file. I'm probably wrong though, because the program I used to play back the DVD-MPEG2 file is computer software-based, and may possibly shows MPEG4 files just as well, if not, better than DVD-MPEG2. If viewing strictly on a computer, although not very well seen in the screenshots, the MPEG4 file is much sharper since it was designed for computer-viewing, whereas DVD-MPEG2 is not. Also, the resolution is corrected to the proper AR, as if it were being watched on a TV. For this reason, I've taken screenshots of the subtitles using the AVI file. You can also see that the picture on the ASF screenshot is much more stretched out than the AVI or MPG screenshots; a much smaller black border, which I know a lot of us hate to see at all when viewing it on AV-Out mode. I'm not sure why it's like that; I originally thought it was overscanning, but when comparing screenshots in the movie, nothing is being cropped. However, all I can say is that the GUI in the ASF screenshot is much more closer to the 16:9 AR than that in the AVI screenshot.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_mpg-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_mpg-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_avi-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_avi-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_gui_asf-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_gui_asf-ejp.jpg)
You'll also notice that my GUI has a nice darker shading around the icon areas. Don't be fooled; it's part of the actual wallpaper, which is obvious if you view the video. I made it that way because the white texts are sometimes hard to read against a light-colored wallpaper. Making it dimmer makes it easier on the eyes.
I wanted to make the ASF file so I could upload it; ASF files are generally smaller in file size; the one I included is only 11 MB (no audio; nothing to hear anyway). Why I captured it instead of just encoding the AVI or MPEG? I don't know. I guess I just did it for kicks. Besides, you can now see how much the quality has degraded from a high-quality DVD-MPEG2 capture back to the A2 by analog means.
Again, I know the subtitles don't actually match up with the movie. It's just an example. In the first multi-subtitle screenshot, you can see that the A2 automatically detects and displays the subtitles. The first set of subtitles is displayed by default (English in this case). In the 2nd multi-subtitle screenshot, I've selected French subtitles and it automatically plays it for you. In the 3rd multi-subtitle screenshot, it shows the subtitles conveniently outlined in black so you can clearly see them against bright backgrounds. In the 4th and last multi-subtitle screenshot, you can see the subtitles display way down below when the OSD disappears.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_1-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_1-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_2-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_2-ejp.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_3-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_3-ejp.jpg) http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/th_a2_multisubs_4-ejp.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/room312/a2_multisubs_4-ejp.jpg)
Now in the video, don't be fooled again. If it seems like my A2's GUI is responding faster than it should, it isn't. I've edited it for time constraints. I've also renamed the file to movie.avi just to try to be as generic as I can. The volume conveniently goes up automatically to a predifined level. If it also looks like I'm moving slow through the OSD, it's because there is lag during the DVD-MPEG2 capture, so when I was going through the OSD, it took a few seconds before it showed it on the computer screen. Anyway, as I'm scrolling through the Subtitle Tracks, you can see that there are other options that don't do anything. I'm not so sure what SMI #2 or SMI 1&2 is or how to use them. I'm sure I'll explore this feature and update this.
Video (in browser): http://media.putfile.com/Cowon-A2-Multi-Subtitles. Make sure to change the resolution to either 640 or 800 to view it as it was originally made. (I had a hard time finding a video hosting site that hosts the original file instead of some re-encode, like YouTube).
Video (direct download): http://uploadfile.putfile.com/videos/20917091262.asf