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Hardcoding Subtitles.
  • Since Vimeo doesn't have the option to add subtitles, and Premiere can't import actual subtitle files (only closed caption files which no free software can do), I'm looking for software that will hardcode my .srt subtitles into my Premiere export for Vimeo. It seems there's a lot of software that do that but they all appear pretty non-pro. Idea's?

  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • the best there is, and free.. SubtitleWorkshop
    http://www.urusoft.net/products.php?cat=sw&lang=1
    you can ad the subs with virtualdub..

  • @SuryA

    ...they all appear pretty non-pro

    I agree. I would also like to find a more pro look for my burned-in subtitles. Many video installations now play from HD video players which support fewer languages than DVD or Blu-Ray. So I reluctantly have to use an NLE and laboriously burn nicely antialiased subtitles into identical videos using the title function.

    I think Premiere will do an excellent job for you. Sorry about all the work!

  • Well at the time of the post, I had made an .srt file with subtitle workshop, and then tried hardcoding it with Handbrake, which didn't work (for some reason the hardcoding option was grayed out) and virtualdub didn't seem to support h264 so I didn't get very far with that. So I finally had to go the long way, with all the manual work, in premiere. Which means making ton of titles and pasting in the text, then dragging it into the timeline, which kinda took forever. Over 60 different titles for a 5 minute video, couldn't see myself going much further than that for hardcoding in Premiere. Shame Vimeo doesn't suport subtitles like youtube does (although they seem to say its a "near future" development since 2 years.) or that premiere doesn't support normal subtitles.

  • VDub does support H.264, all you need is to install a VFW H.264 codec.

    x264 is the best you can get ATM: http://www.digital-digest.com/software/x264_VFW_Codec.html

  • You may refer to this step by step guide to hardcode subtitles at http://www.idealshare.net/hardcode-subtitles.html It applies to:

    Hardcode subtitles to MP4, AVI, MKV, MPG, WMV, MOV, WTV, MPG, VOB, FLV, RMVB, etc; Hardcode subtitles SRT, ASS, SSA, IDX, and SUB to video files; Hardcode subtitles as well as keep the same video format; Convert soft subs to hard subs as well as change the video format.

  • If you use After Effects you can use the script from:

    http://www.908video.de/lab_post/after-effects-plugin-to-import-subtitles-on-github/

    You will first need to make your subtitle file in another program (there are several free options) and save it as an .srt file. You then follow the instructions on the above link to install the script in After Effects and import the .srt file.

    Once you have saved the AE project file, you can import the AE composition with the .srt into your Premiere timeline and render out as usual.