So I found kitsunekko's list of Japanese subtitles on here, but I'm having a hard time getting them to work. I use VLC which has always worked fine for all the subtitles I use for Dramas... but for some reason these either don't work at all, or only one line or two will work and it's out of sync.

Is there a trick I'm missing? I'll admit I'm not very good when it comes to these kinds of things, so if anyone can give me any tips I would be greatly appreciative. All I've usually had to do was rename the subtitle file to match up with the video file and that always did the trick... but no dice. For the very few anime I DO like, I'd love to have Japanese subtitles to go along with them.

If it's any help, the video files are MKV.

If you can't find the release that matches the subtitles on Kitsunekko, you're going to have to time them using a software like Aegisub (http://www.aegisub.org).
Usually once you find out how to fix them properly for the first episode it will be the same for all the others too, so remember to keep track of how much you shift them back and forth.
The most common key points are at the very start, after the theme song and halfway through (commercial break, here most of the time -1m30s will do)

Thanks for the link, it looks like it might help... if I can figure it out. Do I have to change the time of each line of the sub to match up with the video, or can I just change the start time and have the rest of the lines line up with the new start time? Sorry for noob question.

A mistake I made on that site was downloading TV subs for the BD content I had. Whoops. There were added and moved cuts, so it was virtually impossible to simply retime the subs without knowing what was going on already.

I personally use Media Player Classic so I can fix the subtitles on the fly. If you need the subtitles fixed to use subs2srs then stick with Aegisub.

For timing with MPC:
press ctrl 6
find the first line when it's spoken
right click the time part for it
click current

You can then press F1 and F2 to adjust the timing slightly if its off. You might have to repeat it after the intro or commercial break.

Dreambox Wrote:Thanks for the link, it looks like it might help... if I can figure it out. Do I have to change the time of each line of the sub to match up with the video, or can I just change the start time and have the rest of the lines line up with the new start time? Sorry for noob question.

With Aegisub you do (from menu bar): Timing > Shift Times

In the Shift Times dialog box, make sure "Selection onward" is checked.

Then when you move the first line (and the line after the intro and commercial if necessary) backward or forward, everything after it moves along with it.

It is also worth knowing that the H and J keys will move the subtitles backward and forward by small increments. Useful for minor corrections.

EDIT: I mean in VLC itself the H and J keys can be used on the fly.

CureDolly Wrote:

Dreambox Wrote:Thanks for the link, it looks like it might help... if I can figure it out. Do I have to change the time of each line of the sub to match up with the video, or can I just change the start time and have the rest of the lines line up with the new start time? Sorry for noob question.

With Aegisub you do (from menu bar): Timing > Shift Times

In the Shift Times dialog box, make sure "Selection onward" is checked.

Then when you move the first line (and the line after the intro and commercial if necessary) backward or forward, everything after it moves along with it.

It is also worth knowing that the H and J keys will move the subtitles backward and forward by small increments. Useful for minor corrections.

EDIT: I mean in VLC itself the H and J keys can be used on the fly.

Thanks a lot for the tips! I'm getting somewhere at least, but it seems like even when I have "Selection Onward" checked, the subtitles only work if I put a start/end time on each line. I feel like I'm missing something really obvious and it's frustrating.

I am not sure what you are doing here, but it sounds as if you are trying to edit the times directly on the script itself (Because there is no option to enter start and end times in the Shift Times dialog).

What you need to do is enter in the Shift Times dialog box itself, not a start or end time, but the amount by which you want to shift the time of the selected line backward or forward.

You enter the increment (or decrement) and make sure either "Backward" or "Forward" is checked depending which way you want to go (usually backward).

The selected line will then move by the amount of time specified, taking everything below it along with it.

You can check if the result was what you wanted by looking at the new times on the script.

Don't worry, it confused me at first too. If you are still stuck don't hesitate to ask again.

I KNEW I was missing something obvious. I could not figure out what that time thing was for in the Time Shift menu. I thought it was where you added the start time, but then the numbers in the dialog kept jumping.. I tried backwards AND forwards, kept closing and opening. I was beginning to think the program was messed up.... but it was me, of course. :'D It works now, thanks so much!