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soft subs vs hard subs - which do you prefer

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soft subs vs hard subs - which do you perfer
Soft subtitles
58%
 58%  [ 169 ]
Hard subtitles
41%
 41%  [ 118 ]
Total Votes : 287

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ImL0stOffline
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:56 am    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Well I prefer soft subs because I have control over font size and video quality if I need to put them together, which I normally do. I re-code them to put on my portable devices like iphone and psp. Lots of hard-subbed video have font size very small, and when I reduce the video to a 4.3" screen, the text got reduced to a very unreadable size.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:22 am    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

I prefer softsubs, except for maybe any karaoke that should be hardsubbed onto the video.

Just wondering, how come hardly anyone (well no one I've noticed so far) in the drama fansub community uses a modern container like MKV and modern video codec (H264) for their releases? IMO they are vastly superior e.g the use of H264 decreases the file size while retaining the same quality.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:37 am    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

shadow-of-sin wrote:
I prefer softsubs, except for maybe any karaoke that should be hardsubbed onto the video.

Just wondering, how come hardly anyone (well no one I've noticed so far) in the drama fansub community uses a modern container like MKV and modern video codec (H264) for their releases? IMO they are vastly superior e.g the use of H264 decreases the file size while retaining the same quality.

I read in another topic you posted in that you're an anime fansubber.

The live drama community is far far different from the anime community. To address this particular issue, anime fans tend to have the latest equipment. The anime fan tends to be a lot younger, more energetic, and have enough money to afford something like a Duo Core processor based PC. The live drama community, on the other hand, are ordinary folks: families, grandparents, students with low income... They tend to be technology challenged. The demographics of the drama community must be able to cover a wide range of users. Therefore, we choose to use technology that is the least restrictive on people. In other words, we assume that at least some people are still running Pentium III processors, Windows 98 or Me, etc. If we did what the anime community does - this sort of "either upgrade so that you can play what we give you, or buy new hardware so that you can play what we give you," we would alienate quite a few people. H264 takes quite a lot of CPU. And in the few attempts I've seen on D-Addicts at pushing people towards H264, it just does not work. If the quality difference between XviD/DivX and H264 was just as bad as MPEG-1 and XviD/DivX, then I can see making the jump. But Xvid/DivX is much better than it is bad, if that makes any sense. With the current state of the economy world-wide, I'm afraid that we'll be stuck with using DivX/XviD for at least another two years.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:33 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Ok, so I get your point about using H264, but why not use the MKV container format while using the same video/audio codecs?.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:04 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

shadow-of-sin wrote:
Ok, so I get your point about using H264, but why not use the MKV container format while using the same video/audio codecs?.

Because all the RAWs we receive from Japan and South Korea are in AVI containers. For hardsubbers, the rippers use the same tools (VirtualDub, for example) to handle the RAWs, so we end up using the same AVI container. Keeping things consistent is just easier for us.

Once again, anime fansubbers and its fans, and live drama fansubbers and its fans live in completely different worlds. If you think the anime world is superior in terms of technology and know-how, I'd suggest you keep that opinion to yourself and just accept what we offer here without question. It isn't like we're living under a rock while waiting for the rest of the world to pass by.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:17 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

I prefer soft subs because I can change the font and size and capture the video without the words in it. Hard subs, it's like you're stuck with it whether you like it or not.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:19 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Quote:
If you think the anime world is superior in terms of technology and know-how, I'd suggest you keep that opinion to yourself and just accept what we offer here without question.


That wasn't what I was implying, I just wanted to know why people didn't use MKV/H264, thanks for explaining Big Smile
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:25 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

I prefer softsubs because I don't like the many colours/+text on the screen (like translation notes, karaoke etc)
I want to enjoy the Dorama like without subs and that is only possible with RAW+ .srt softsubs
and I'm watching all Dorama on my TV (it works like a second PC screen) to enjoy them in full/better quality

and what I really hate are releases in HD (only) with a resolution over 1024x768 because my PC can't handle videos with a higher resolution (but my screen resolution is 1280x1024)
=> video is slower than audio

because of that I'm afraid that future releases will be HD only and need to convert it (when possible) first before I can watch
and I don't have the money to buy me a new PC
and I have the PC around 1 year only and it is actual a good one
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:33 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Softsub cause I prefer watching without subtitles after I watch with once. It's good to watch with to understand the main plot and stuff but after when I rewatch a show I prefer without subs. Especially since I'm learning the language better that way. I can focus on the show, not the text.
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raen86Offline
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:59 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

what's the difference between soft and hard subs? i'm abit confused :X
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:07 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Hardsubs are subtitles that are encoded onto the actual raw video file. Softsubs are subtitles that are saved in a file separate from the video file, and you need to use a player like VLC to play the video file with the subtitles.

Personally, I prefer hardsubs - because I don't have the programs I need to set the font attributes, or the program I need to encode the video with hardsubs. Also, since I burn all my files onto DVDs, having the hardsubs already there works better for me. I can see why most people prefer softsubs though.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:40 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

when ps3 supports mkv, i'll fully support mkv Big Smile
otherwise mp4 for the widest compatibility among most media players/devices/software
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:33 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

Well I voted hardsubs, but I'm torn on this issue.

Softsubs are good in theory, but unfortunately requires you to use a PC for playing the videos. There are too many subtitle formats, and no standalone hardware support for them.

PS3, 360, AppleTV, Tvix, PopCorn Hour and similar media capable hardware are growing in numbers, but none of them are capable of properly handling soft subtitles. At best they might handle the most basic SRT subtitles, without any special tags or formatting (for example the PCH can not even wordwrap). ASS is going to be next to impossible to support properly on an current generation NMT, because of the resources required to display effects and formatting..

.. so my conclusion is that while I think the general idea with softsubs is good, it only works if you use a PC. Hardware based players are bound to never handle advanced subs properly, so I think there will always be a need for hardsubs.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:58 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

I think both are great, but hardsubs you get multiple colors which helps distinguishing who's talking and such. Plus I noticed that hardsubs tend to be timed perfectly and always fit the screen just right. Soft subs are great too especially since I find some errors in translation or typos I can easily fix them myself. With all that said I think hardsubs are the best especially since I can just make a dvd of whatever video I'm watching without having to go through of all the trouble of encoding and worrying about loss of quality.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:53 pm    Post subject:    Post Rating: 0 Reply with quote

kuro570 wrote:
I think both are great, but hardsubs you get multiple colors which helps distinguishing who's talking and such.

You can get multiple colors using softsubs too (using ASS)

Quote:
Plus I noticed that hardsubs tend to be timed perfectly and always fit the screen just right.

Whether its timed perfectly or not as nothing to do with whether its hardsubbed or softsubbed - a softsubbed video has the same timing as its hardsubbed counterpart. Also, if you use softsubs you can adjust the size of the subs to whatever you want instead of being restricted to what the encoder has chosen.

Quote:
With all that said I think hardsubs are the best especially since I can just make a dvd of whatever video I'm watching without having to go through of all the trouble of encoding and worrying about loss of quality.

I'm guessing you're talking about burning DivX AVIs onto a DVD and playing them on a DivX compatible player? If not, then you'd have to encode anyway (to the standard DVD MPEG2 format).

Quote:
PS3, 360, AppleTV, Tvix, PopCorn Hour and similar media capable hardware are growing in numbers, but none of them are capable of properly handling soft subtitles.

I can play softsubs just fine on my PS3 - running Linux Big Smile
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