How to add subtitles to home-made movie?

Question

Level 3

780 points

How to add subtitles to home-made movie?

Hi everyone!

How can I add subtitles to home-made movies?

We would like to share videos of family events with relatives that speak different language(s). I have not done it before but I imagine I might start to add subtitles provided an easy and fast method is/becomes available.

I have Leopard 10.5.7 and just purchased iLife '09 but I could consider some other alternatives as well, Apple or third party, the main criteria being: fast and easy to use. I do not intend to get involved with any "artistry" type of thing (unless of course the proposed solution is very intuitive and fast). Videos are (so far) in .AVI and MP4 format and changing from one format to another does not present a problem.

Please offer your suggestions and advice.

Thank you!

D.M.

Message was edited by: D.M.

MacBookPro 2.53 Intel Core 2 Duo, 300 GB @7200, 4GB, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Aug 4, 2009 8:23 AM

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Answer 1

planb77

Level 7

32,446 points

Aug 4, 2009 8:50 AM in response to D.M.

Hey there,
I don't have any direct answers for you, but I do know there are several possibilities of third party applications and such that will help you accomplish this task. I would check out this article, which describes how to use [Jubler|http://www.jubler.org> to add subtitles to your movies on your Mac.

http://www.macworldcanada.ca/news/helpandtips/ask-a-macxpert-adding-subtitles-to -your-video-files-on-the-mac/5e8b01bcc0a8000601144f66d2a5df9a/pg001.htm

Just my two cents I guess. Hope it helps a bit. 😉

B-rock

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Answer 2

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Aug 4, 2009 9:16 AM in response to D.M.

A good bet is Submerge from:

http://www.bitfield.se/submerge/index.html

and it's only $9 !

Read the reviews on VersionTracker here:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/appleintroducesrevolutionary

and you can also download it from Apple:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/submerge.html

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Answer 3

D.M. Author

Level 3

780 points

Aug 4, 2009 11:46 AM in response to planb77

Thank you planb77 & Klaus1 !

Very good & interesting article! I plan to play a bit with Jubler to see how easy and fast is to add my own subtitles and after that I will use probably Submerge to stitch the video and the subtitles together.

Thank you again, your answers definitely put me on the right direction!

One more thing though: If you, or anyone else, know of more solutions for "adding my own subtitles" I would very much appreciate that.

Regards,
D.M.

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Answer 4

AJ

Level 5

7,075 points

Aug 4, 2009 12:32 PM in response to D.M.

By any chance do you also have older versions of iLife?

I ask that b/c I know iMovie 06 HD will let you add subtitles or other text relatively easily.

And iMovie 6 is downloadable/installable if you have iMovie 08 installed. It will not install with just imovie 09, though.

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Answer 5

PT

Level 7

20,894 points

Aug 4, 2009 12:34 PM in response to AJ

AJ wrote:
And iMovie 6 is downloadable/installable if you have iMovie 08 installed. It will not install with just imovie 09, though.

With the release of iLife '09, the "free" download of iMovie '06 for users of iMovie '08 has been removed. So it is no longer downloadable, at least not from Apple.
Patrick

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Answer 6

D.M. Author

Level 3

780 points

Aug 4, 2009 11:54 PM in response to AJ

Hi AJ!

Yes, I have iMovieHD although I am not aware of how to add subtitles to a home movie using it. I will verify the help notes, thank you for your suggestion.

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Answer 7

AJ

Level 5

7,075 points

Aug 5, 2009 4:47 AM in response to D.M.

If you go here:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

and look about 2/3 of the way down the page (on the right side), there is a link that'll play a video on adding titles, transitions, and text to your movie.

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Answer 8

AJ

Level 5

7,075 points

Aug 5, 2009 5:03 AM in response to PT

Could have sworn I (re)downloaded it a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe I imagined it 🙂

Message was edited by: AJ

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Answer 9

PT

Level 7

20,894 points

Aug 5, 2009 5:54 AM in response to AJ

AJ wrote:
Could have sworn I (re)downloaded it a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe I imagined it 🙂

Well if you can find it again, there are many of us here that would be very interested in it. So share the wealth! 🙂
Regards,
Patrick

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Answer 10

AJ

Level 5

7,075 points

Aug 5, 2009 12:30 PM in response to PT

I found the 6.01, 6.02, and 6.03 updates, as well as a combo update, but not the original.

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Answer 11

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Aug 5, 2009 2:39 PM in response to AJ

The only way to acquire iMovie 6 is to buy it from someone who has it!

You can still find iLife 6 on eBay.

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Answer 12

D.M. Author

Level 3

780 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:33 AM in response to AJ

Thanks AJ!

That might work well for my needs at the moment.
I also found out "Miyu" (suggested by Jörgen Isaksson from iSubtitle) which is free for personal needs and seems to be easy to use.

Thanks to everybody who contributed.

Regards,
D.M.

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