5. Conversion

D-Subtitler will occasionally need a hand recognizing a character.

Once the right setting is chosen, D-Subtitler will proceed to extract the text, only stopping when it needs help deciphering a letter or symbol that its built-in OCR (optical character recognition) system can’t understand. The Preview button can help you see the problem within the context of the sentence it came from. When the process is complete (this could take a long time depending on the length of your movie), you’ll be asked to save the file, which will then open up, leading to the final part of the D-Subtitler program.

6. Spell Checking

Take the time to read through your subtitles for errors, or at least run spell check.

You can use this last section to review the OCR’s work and correct any mistakes that have been made. The Check Spelling button (third from the left) triggers Mac OS X’s built-in spell checker, which can be a great time-saver. Once you’re happy with the results, save any changes you made, and launch HandBrake.

7. The HandBrake Connection

File.srt is the subtitle track that D-Subtitler exported in Step 5 and we spell checked in Step 6.

Choose the same Video_TS folder and title as in Step 2, then click the Subtitles tab. From there, click Add External SRT and select the file you saved from D-Subtitler. You’ll notice that the Burned In option is off by default and its box is no longer checked. Choose your desired video format in the Output Settings area, then click the Start button to convert your film and add the soft subtitles.

8. Viewing the Results

How to find the subtitle track in QuickTime.

Once HandBrake is done, drag the resulting video file into iTunes and play it. You can toggle the subtitles on or off by clicking the speech-bubble button toward the right of the playback menu and selecting the subtitle track from the menu that appears. It works the same way when you’re watching on an iPhone or iPod touch. To toggle subtitles in QuickTime, you need to visit the View > Subtitles menu.