rip subtitles

[daodeyao]

I want to rip subtitles from some Chinese tv series. There are anywhere from 10-20 episodes on each dvd. I only want the subtitles. Is there mac software that can do this?
I have a G4 mac with leopard os.
Thanks

David

[Scoops98]

Nope. Proper Closed Captioning (CC), or subtitles, is a hidden part of the video file that you have to enable display of. Subtitles that are visible are part of the video file itself, not a separate CC "channel."

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Originally Posted by Scoops98

Subtitles that are visible are part of the video file itself, not a separate CC "channel."

That is semi-accurate, at best.

Subtitles are rarely "hard-coded" into video tracks. The subtitles that are available on DVD disks, for instance, are not "hard-coded" into the video and are actually a separate data stream.

Some video containers, like the MKV container, actually contain flat-text files for the subtitles that can be read by any text editor and modified, as well.

DVD subtitles (true DVD subtitles that are not hard-coded) are the same -- albeit they are encoded into the video itself, they are still a separate data stream than can be turned on, turned off, and potentially extracted.

Closed-captioning (CC) is a completely different beast altogether that is completely different from subtitles and uses a different format. While both CC and subtitles are essentially text at the bottom of the screen (or wherever else), that's where the similarities end. Closed-captioning is a function of the equipment receiving the broadcast -- your TV, for example -- and is completely dependent upon hardware. If your TV doesn't support CC, there's no way you can view them. Subtitles, on the other hand, are dependent on the source (i.e., the DVD itself), are part of the DVD specification, and can be viewed even on TVs that lack CC capability.

In short, CC and subtitles should be thought of as completely different things that achieve a similar result. They are completely unrelated (and "incompatible" with each other, for lack of a better word), though.

While the following software was last updated in 2005, it may still be of some use to you:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/27402

It was found with a super-simple Google search for "mac os x rip subtitles from dvd". MacTheRipper can also extract subtitles into a .srt file as well, I believe.

[Scoops98]

Sorry, I stand corrected!