RoadMovie: batch encode movies with subtitles

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Filed under: iPod Family, iTunes, iPhone

RoadMovie: batch encode movies with subtitles

by Cory Bohon on Mar 17th 2008 at 6:00PM

If you've been looking for a way to get subtitled movies onto your iPod, Apple TV, or web server, then RoadMovie may be for you. RoadMovie has subtitle support from SubRip (.srt), SubViewer 1 & 2 (.sub), and MicroDVD. It has built-in presets for Apple TV, Cellphone, iPhone, iPod, PSP and Web. You can also use Elgato's Turbo.264 hardware for encoding at higher speeds. Some of the main features in RoadMovie include:

Batch encode a list of movies
Use presets to encode or create your own
Batch upload to FTP, SFTP, .Mac, WebDav or Amazon S3
Add to iTunes after encode

To get subtitle files, you will need an application like Submerge (from the same company). Doom9.net has a guide for getting subtitles in sync with your movies. With RoadMovie's beautiful looks and strong feature list, this could be the bridge for no subtitles in iTunes. RoadMovie is available from Bitfield's website and costs $19.95 (US); a demo is also available.

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Tags: Bitfield, encode, RoadMovie, subtitles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1

Peter Zich said 6:09PM on 3-17-2008

When is anyone going to start using the closed captioning feature built into quicktime, I have them turned on and have yet to see anything use them.

2

consumer_q said 7:03PM on 3-17-2008

Are these soft-subs (i.e., selectable subtitles) or burned-in subs?

3

Cory Bohon said 7:10PM on 3-17-2008

Judging that you can watch them on your iPod, I would say that they are "burned-in" subtitles; but, don't quote me on that.

4

dsbrq said 8:00PM on 3-17-2008

I'm using Submerge and what I've seen, it's adding subtitles into extra text track within QT container. Don't mix it with recent cc from iTune movies. Although you can manualy (in QT) de-select this text track (so you don't see subtitles), you can't do it in iPod/iPhone - subtitles are always on

5

mck said 7:08PM on 3-17-2008

I don't really use subtitles but I would like to seem them as options everywhere, which includes iTunes and my iPod. Accessibility never hurt anyone.

6

Mystic said 7:11PM on 3-17-2008

What does this do that Handbrake doesn't?

7

dsbrq said 8:04PM on 3-17-2008

HandBrake doesn't let you add subtitles from external source, just from DVD --- and will 'burn' them into the movie. The comparable (maybe) solution can be VisualHub, but the way of adding subtitles in VH is quite awkward (encoding via QuickTime) and takes unbelievably long time.

8

artifex said 7:49PM on 3-17-2008

I voted no, but that's because I don't use iTunes to watch anything besides Apple DRM content. For the vast majority of my library, I use VLC or MPlayer, and sub support is fine in those.

9

Thaddy-Boy said 7:52PM on 3-17-2008

I would love to have the ability to watch a DVD with the commentary. That'd be worthwhile. Subtitles don't mean anything to me.

10

dsbrq said 7:57PM on 3-17-2008

little bit confusing note on Submerge -- ie. you 'don't need' Submerge for subtitles -- as Roadmovie has Submerge features already embedded (at least that's my understanding). I think the main difference is batch processing (and price -- $10 more for Roadmovie)

11

thethirdmoose said 8:21PM on 3-17-2008

What??!?!?!? The iPhone can't use .srt files? noobs. get an archos.

12

autoy said 10:14PM on 3-17-2008

For non-english speaking countries subtitles are essential. It's the only way to watch shows that will not ever be released here. As an example, AppleTVs are not very successful but HDs that support the DivX+Srt combo sell like hotcackes as cheap media servers.

On the main topic, I'd really like to know if there's any utility that converts from srt to Quicktime subtitle format.

13

James O'Leary said 12:41AM on 3-18-2008

apple's support for subtitles is a joke, and submerge itself is a poor, expensive, hack. QuickTime Pro can do exactly what submerge does (add a text track to a movie), but neither can add subtitles in a format compatible with Apple TV 2/iphone 1.1.3. I spent 6 hours finding this out yesterday. I cannot believe Apple was demoing subtitle support on iPhone when there is no way for someone to add them even with quicktime pro, but they did.

14

Tom said 5:05AM on 3-18-2008

Subtitles are important for many reasons, accessibility or perhaps you're not watching the same old drab hollywood film and watching something foreign?!

15

andy said 5:55AM on 3-18-2008

Ok, there is support for the Elgato Turbo, but am I wrong, I thought, if you have any given srt files you can just throw them into the Turbo app and it will merge them? (if you want to have subtitles to play everywhere)

16

hagar said 7:09AM on 3-18-2008

There is a free tool (VideoDrive) that lets you import videos in batch in iTunes, including SRT subtitles (without reconversion or hard coding the subtitles). It is called VideoDrive (http://www.aroona.net). The current version has some shortcomings, but a new version will be released shortly.

17

ChrisG said 8:55AM on 3-18-2008

I just use Handbrake, if you go into the options you can have it encode the movie with subtitles, its just ends up taking a lot longer to finish but its FREE!!!!

18

emily. said 1:39PM on 3-18-2008

I like the option of subtitles. It would be nice if more encoding software made this an easier process, of if more media players (including iTunes and iPods) included a simple subtitle-support standard comparable to VLC's subtitle file support.

19

emily. said 1:44PM on 3-18-2008

I would also like to specify that I like the option of no subtitles too. Is it really that hard to adopt a digital video subtitle file standard that allows one to use subtitles and customize their settings (size, timing, etc.)?

20

Joel said 3:44PM on 3-18-2008

Deaf people need captions/subtitles!
Let's not go back in time 30 years, and leave thousands of Americans out.

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