DVD Studio Pro - If a Subtitle Import Does Not Work

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If a Subtitle Import Does Not Work

There are several common reasons why you might have problems when importing a
subtitle file.

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Chapter 19

Creating Subtitles

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Wrong Timecode
The most common problem is that the timecode in the subtitle file does not correspond
to the asset timecode of the video stream. In some cases, this is due to the original tape’s
timecode not being entered prior to the video being MPEG-encoded.

To see the timeline’s asset timecode, Control-click in the timeline, then choose Asset-Based
Timecode from the shortcut menu. You can force an STL format subtitle file to import
based on zero-based timecode (which sets the first frame as 00:00:00:00 regardless of the
asset’s timecode) by setting the $TapeOffset command to False (it is True by default). See

Timeline Command

for more information.

You can also try importing the subtitle file into a track that has no video assets. This also
forces the subtitle clips to import based on zero-based timecode.

Font Not Available
If you are using the single subtitle file method and specify a font to use, a dialog appears
if the font is not found on the system, and DVD Studio Pro uses the default subtitle font
(as configured in the Text pane of DVD Studio Pro Preferences) as a substitute.

Note: The font must be installed as a Mac OS X font—Mac OS 9 fonts are not used.

Unable to Find the Graphics Files
In most cases, the master subtitle file and the graphics files it uses must be in the same
folder. In some cases, however, the master file may be configured to use a separate folder
for the graphics files. In this case, the path supplied by the master file must match the
actual location where the graphics files are.