subtitles 101

where does a subtitle file normally reside, and what form does it take?

i have a movie, "Title 2008.avi", which is mostly in english with dabs of vietnamese. and i have a folder "Subs" with 3 files: "Title - English.srt" "Title - Spanish.srt" and "Title - Non-English parts.srt".

there is no spanish in the movie that i can recall, so that it obviously a translation. why, then, are the "non-english parts" seperated out to a third file, instead of being part and parcel of one of the other 2?

anyway, i can't figure out how to turn the subtitles on AT ALL in wmp. the usual on/off toggle for subtitles is unavailable. in VLC it's also unavailable, but "open file..." is there, so if i surf to this folder i can get SPANISH up an running. yes, spanish. even if i load english, up comes spanish.

(i have viewed the english file in a text editor; it's english indeed. so apparently, the file is being SKIPPED OVER somehow? and yet, if i out-and-out DELETE the spanish file, i STILL get spanish subtitles!! no clue how)

back to "form", is the movie inherently linked to the files it needs (like MHT and an HTML folder), or do the names matter? fact that "Title" and "Title 2008" are not quite the same puzzles me. as does the fact that it asks me to load a file in the first place.

pls clue me how all this works. or better yet, just tell me how to GET THE ENGLISH GOING!!

tx

 

The 'non-English parts' are subs for the Vietnamese dialogue in the movie and are separated for those who want subtitles only for the non-English dialogue.

Subtitles in WMP

I don't use VLC so I don't have anything useful there.

 

oh, you're right - i just opened the file in a text editor and they're IN ENGLISH!

i thought it was going to be actual vietnamese subtitles there.

in fact, i take back my previous comment about the file "English" having english in it -- it has SPANISH, same as the file Spanish does! i dunno what i was looking at last time (that VIET one?), but i guess there's no english subtitles to be had in the bunch! it seems that "English" refers to the SOUNDTRACK being in english, and therefore the subtitles are...ANYTHING ELSE....

this is so screwy. what am i supposed to go looking for, then, to find actual subtitles IN english? i thought maybe "Spanish" would be the thing (spanish soundtrack/english subs), but not that TOO has spanish.

:confused