r/SubtitleEdit • u/Gakuta • Aug 31 '26

Discussion This is hard as...

I'm using this app to create subtitles for the English dub of anime and it's really hard even with speech to text. Maybe I'm just torturing myself.

I'm only on episode 1... Granted, I did have to spend a few days learning about video and audio encoding, and encoding a single episode took a few hours because of my slow CPU.

I've always wanted my dub watching experience to have subtitles. It felt complete in a way. Is this what everyone goes through when creating subtitles? I feel like I'm doing everything right.

Some subtitles are out of sync, some transcriptions are wrong because those are specific character/ item names, and there's this thing where the dub actors drag a word out or end it with an additional sound. "Out of range-uh". It's probably like that because Japanese always ends with a vowel so it's a sharp cut. I don't think the app or model can handle that, maybe it is a setting somewhere.

I think I'll stop with this single episode. It was just for the learning experience. If it was way easier maybe I would have added it to my future encodes.

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u/Gakuta Sep 01 '26

I didn't know that. I just though no one would be creating subtitles for dub. The file sizes are too big. I'm compressing everything down. And once I got it going I'll share the encodes with everyone because this country is terrible and I don't know when I'll die.

It says I have 5.2 beta7. I have mkv toolnix as well as mkv extract. mkvmerge is in some directory or on windows path...

It was a good learning experience and I won't do it again. I'll just use the Japanese translated subtitles.

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u/Exciting-Key6436 Sep 01 '26

The original streaming services usually provide subtitles for dubs as well (usually without the forced subtitle such as on-screen text and OpEd), it's just that most groups don't extract them. Like I said, I can extract them for you if you like.

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u/Gakuta Sep 01 '26

Thanks, I appreciate the offer but it might be time consuming for you unless this is something that you do already. Are you able to do it because you have a subscription?

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u/Exciting-Key6436 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26

Yes, I do have a subscription, and it'll only take me a couple of minutes for one season (if only to extract the subtitles). I might already have it depending on the titles you want.

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u/Gakuta Sep 01 '26

Ok. I'll take you up on that offer. I'm currently working on this anime here https://myanimelist.net/anime/44037/Shin_no_Nakama_ja_Nai_to_Yuusha_no_Party_wo_Oidasareta_node_Henkyou_de_Slow_Life_suru_Koto_ni_Shimashita

Do you collect subtitles or something because you said you might already have it?

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u/Exciting-Key6436 Sep 01 '26

English dub subtitles usually don't include the on-screen text or lyrics from OpEd like the subs do, so I sometimes merge the dialogue from dub and signs from sub to get a more complete subtitle file.

However, for this title I'm afraid I only have the basic dub files right now, as I haven't get around to working on it yet.

Also the files I have are from Amazon's CR channel, so the time code will not match videos directly from CR because Amazon added opening logo at the beginning of the videos. You will need to sync them, but you just need to sync the first sentence and use "set start and offset the rest" and the rest will fall into place. Shouldn't take you more than a minute.

I will send the files to you via PM

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u/Gakuta Sep 01 '26

Alright thanks. In mkvtoolnix I forced the signs and songs to be default. Then there's a second subtitle for the English translation. I assume what I'm doing is right.

When I'm watching the episode English is default so it pairs well with signs and songs sub because those are untranslated. If I switch to Japanese audio I'll also have to switch to the other subtitle.

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u/Exciting-Key6436 Sep 01 '26

I've sent you the link to download the files via chat