Most Video CD's have subtitles that are actually encoded in the video stream and they can't be turned on or off. Who has some examples of this? VideoCD's don't support overlay subtitles, BUT the VideoCD on CD-I does. It is sometimes called "closed captions" for CDI, but was used in all of the smaller Europian countries, as a way to add subtitles in films, without having to re-encode a movie with subtitles for every country, when Philips launched the VideoCD for CDI system. The subtitles could only be seen when the videocd was played in a CD-I player, just like to older CD-I-only menu screens in the first Video 1.1 discs. (it is just a small CD-I program). In the earlier implementations the subtitles were automatically activated by the CD-I player and could not be turned off, the 4.x version of the VCD for CD-I program has an option to turn them off.
CD-i member XCLTempest experimented with creating his own VCD. XCLTempest: "I want to create a VideoCD (1.1 or 2.0) with subtitles that are visible when the disc is played on a CD-I player. I made a program (in Visual Basic, I'm not a real programmer) that can convert a .sub or .srt subtitle file to the CD-I subtitle format (as specified in the vcd_on_cdi_41.pdf documentation on ICDIA.org). I also own a couple of VCD's with subtitles (VCD 1.1 discs with Dutch subtitles using VCD on CD-I app version 3.1 or 3.1.1), and the subtitle format is identical to the one used in the 4.1 application, although the files are named differently. The only strange thing I noticed is that the very last caption (and only the last) entry is printed twice in all my official discs, this is NOT stated in the specification, so does anybody know the reason? Also does anybody know if Philips ever released VideoCD 2.0 discs with the 4.x application AND subtitles? (what titles?)
So I then tried to burn a VideoCD disc with the subtitles (using a subtitle file from a official disc to make sure the format is correct). I used Nero 6 and dragged the CAPT01.NL (Dutch subtitle file) to the CD-I folder of the VCD (that is all you should need to do according to the specs, the default settings in the config-file should not prevent the subtitles to show, when you enable the subtitles in the settings menu).
The disc plays in a CD-I player but without displaying the subtitles. By default the subtitles are off, but because of the presence of a subtitle file there is an extra option in the settings menu with: “subtitle language” , that you can set to NL, meaning Dutch subtitles. In the Menu you can choose between off, or NL or any other subtitle file you added (the extension of the file is the name of the Option) . If you added CAPT01.NL, CAPT01.FR and CAPT01.USA, you can choose: “off”, “NL”, “FR” or “USA” (meaning Dutch, French or US English subtitles ), ad least according to the specification. Sadly it didn’t work, the option appears but the subtitles don’t display, So I was wondering if there is a bug in the program or if I’m doing something wrong (most likely). I can exclude a bug in the Program if I would KNOW that a VideoCD exists that uses the 4.1.1 VCD on CD-I app AND has subtitles, so anyone who owns one, please post the title and catalogue number.
To exclude the possibility of a bug in the 4.1.1 app (so I could continue the experiment) I wanted to burn a VCD with the 3.1 or 3.11 version app, but I couldn’t find a program that uses this version of the program. The programs I own use different other version: Nero (app v4.1.1), VCDeasy (app v4.1.1) and WinOnCD (Cequadrat’s VideoView). Can I change the CD-I app with any of these burn-programs? Does anyone know how?
I tried disassembling a working VCD 1.1 (app 3.11 ) with subtitles disc using VCDEasy, and then reassembling it with the same program, because you would still use the original CD-I VCD app (at first without any changes to the sub-title file) .
But the new made disc has problems: It does play the intro MPEG and then it DOES go to the main-menu, but as soon as you start the movie or any of the chapters the screen remains black. SO the main movie never starts and so you can never see any subtitles (and it was intended to test if an altered subtitle file would work, but I never got that far ). Does anyone know why VCDEasy can’t disassemble and reassemble a VCD correctly so the CD-I menu’s still work?
So in short my questions:
Why is the very last caption (and only the last) entry in the CD-I subtitle file printed twice? (this isn’t in the documentation, but it IS on all my official VCD discs with subtitles)
Also does anybody know if Philips ever released VideoCD 2.0 discs with the 4.x application AND subtitles? (Please post title and catalogue number)
Can I change the CD-I app used when burning a VCD using any available burn-programs?
Why can’t VCDEasy disassemble and reassemble a VCD correctly so the CD-I menu’s still work?
I also wondered if anyone has the VCD_on_CDI_v.3.x documentation? ( I can’t find it online? )
Many thanks for any assistance you can offer. Or does anyone know about any programs that can already make VideoCD’s with CD-I subtitles? Or any other suggestions on how I can achieve the goal (of burning my own VCD with subtitles) are very welkom.
So I continued trying to make a VCD with a subtitle file and the 3.2 version of the application. And yesterday it worked, I used Adaptec Easy CD creator 4 to make a working VCD with the 3.2 application, and then ripped the disc with VCDImager. I then reassembled the VCD using the XML file and added a close caption subtitle file. And after trying the disc on my CD-I player: It worked!! The movie plays (unlike the ripped and rebuild commercial VCD's, that didn't get past the menu screen). And it even worked WITH subtitles!!.
So I can now make VCD 2.0 discs that play like VCD 1.1 discs on the CD-I player with the VCD on CD-I app 3.2 and WITH subtitles!!
If I use the exact same method with the 4.1.1 version of the application, the subtitle option appears, but the subtitles just won't display. I guess I'm stuck with the 3.2 version if I want working subtitles.
But I would also like some menu screens when I play on a CD-I player, since the 3.2 app doesn't support support VCD 2.0 menu's, I would have to make special CD-I menu screens. But I don't have the documentation for the Vcd on CD-I v3.2 authoring. Does anybody have an Idea how I could create CD-I menu's using the 3.2 app?"
[Thanks, XCLTempest]