Settings

How to Change Your Language Setting (Windows Media Player)


Subtitles

How to View Subtitles (Vobsub)
How to Edit Subtitles (Media Subtitler)
How to View/Edit Subtitles (Mac OS X) **
How to Convert Subtitles (Sub to Srt)
How to Hardsub Your Videos (AutoGK)


View/Convert Videos

How to Play Files With Missing Video/Audio Codecs
How to Play RM Files (Mac OS X) **
How to Convert Videos for iPod (Mac OS X) **


Join/Split/Extract Files

How to Extract Files (WinRar)
How to Join Files (HJSplit)

Tools for Macintosh OS X users

Others

List of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Megaupload Hacks and Tricks

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These are the tools you should have on your Macintosh OS X computer to cover all the bases when downloading, unpacking/joining, playing, converting, or dealing with subtitles. All programs are free unless otherwise noted.

Downloading:
Mostly you can just download files using your web browser, but if you'd like to use a download manager (and there are good reasons to do so), use JDownloader. It's a pain in the ass to find a reasonable place to download the program (avoid using the homepage: jdownloader.org) but as of May, 2009 here is a direct link from softpedia:

There may be Firefox extensions or other download manager tools available, but generally Mac users don't have the options available to Windows users.

Unpacking/Joining the files you download:
Mac OS X has limited support built-in for many common compression formats but you will need other programs to deal with .001 files (HjSplit) and password protected .rar files. These free tools will cover 99.99% of your needs:

• The Unarchiver
• UnRarX
• AJoiner

The UnArchiver can unpack almost every compressed file format. It can only unpack files with .rar extension that ARE NOT password protected. Use this as your default program to unpack most files. If you put all the .rar files you download into the same folder, double clicking the first one will start the process. If it stops and tells you that you need a password or any other error, click cancel (because it will not work) and move on to your next tool.

UnRarX is needed for files with .rar extension that ARE password protected. The best way to use this tool is to launch it first (by double-clicking it's icon), a window will open where you can click a button to put in a password and then you drag the first of the .rar files into the UnRarX window.

AJoiner is used for files with .001, .002, etc extension (HjSplit). The best way to use this tool is to right-click on the file with extension .001 and choose AJoiner from the "Open With" submenu that pops up when you right-click on the file.

Unfortunately, you cannot set AJoiner as your default application to open HjSplit files because Mac OS does not distinguish them from other RAR files. It cannot unpack files with .rar extension so do not set it as the default application for RAR files.

When the AJoiner application opens, sometimes it will NOT proceed right away and tell you there is an error. Click "Join" anyway. The errors are almost never anything to worry about. It might say it expected one size for a file and it thinks it doesn't match what is actually there, but they almost ALWAYS are the same. So click "Join."
MacHacha is an alternative for joining files with .001 extensions.

Ez7z is a program for the extremely rare bunch of files that have a .7z file extension.


Playing the movie files:

VLC, of course.

The best thing about this program is that it comes with built-in codecs for playing almost every kind of movie file known to humans ... including, with the latest version, Real Media bullshit. If you use this program you can play anything. If it won't play it, nothing else probably will.

The second best thing about VLC is that, since it is very customizable with keyboard shortcuts, you can do things like drift the subtitles and/or audio track forward or backward by milliseconds if either one of them is slightly out of sync.

It also has the best overall subtitle support.

The other Player you should have on your system is MPlayer.

Like VLC it's open-source, but it's hosted by freetard snobs so it seems and sometimes is more complicated to use and to acquire the right version for your needs and the associated 'libraries' it also needs (more about this in the "Working with Subtitles" section, below). It has more mature Real Media support than VLC, but what it really does better than VLC is seeking and scanning. VLC kinda skids along, hoping for a keyframe, while MPlayer jumps instantaneously from point to point.
The downside to MPlayer is that there is not much of an interface and very little in terms of setting preferences for it. Here are a few sources for learning the Keyboard Commands for use with MPlayer:
mplayer-man (scroll to near the end)
MPlayer-keyboard-shortcuts

You might also consider trying, or at least keeping an eye on MPlayer Extended:

You should also install Perian (The Swiss Army Knife for QuickTime):

You don't really need Flip4Mac (for playing Windows Media bullshit) because VLC plays them, but you can download it from Apple


Editing and Converting movie files:

It's a shame Apple charges $25.00 for QuickTime Pro, which you need for editing files, but it's a decent editor if you do pay, and then it will also export and convert to almost any format or destination you might need.

Free tools you should have that will do all you need:

• ffmpegx (for converting/exporting, joining)
  
• MPEG Streamclip (for editing and exporting/converting)
• Handbrake (for ripping and exporting/converting)

D-Vision, although no longer in development, still runs fine on OS X Leopard, and has a nice tool for easy joining of .avi files ... or use ffmpegx.

VisualHub used to be many people's paid program of choice for exporting and converting, but it has sadly been discontinued. The developer no longer offers it for download but is working on something new, so keep an eye on the web site for news.

One area the Mac is sadly lacking in is support for editing .mkv files. Playback is no problem, as VLC, MPlayer and QuickTime (with Perian installed) will all play them. Here are some resources to keep an eye on:
mkv4mac
mkvTools
mkvtoolnix

Working with Subtitles:

First of all, if you get subtitles included with the movie, they usually just work. Here are some things to look out for if you are having trouble:

1. Make sure the movie file and the subtitle file(s) have the exact same name. Best way to do that is to copy one name and paste it into the name for the other.
2. Make sure the movie file and the subtitle file(s) are in the same folder.
3. Eliminate any "foreign" characters such as ü, ø, å, etc from file names. Just change them to u, o, a, etc.

External subtitles usually come in one of two flavors: a single (per movie file) .srt file (which will be in only one language) or a matching pair of .idx and .sub files (which can contain multiple languages). VLC will play both kinds but the .srt files look a lot better than the idx/sub pair. If you use VLC and all you have is a idx/sub pair, choose your desired language at the bottom of the "Video" Menu (while the movie is playing). QuickTime doesn't like the idx/sub pair very much, and while MPlayer supports the idx/sub pair, it's often impossible to know how to choose your desired language because of its freetard lack of good documentation and freetard interface.

There are no known free tools for editing an idx/sub pair or converting them to a .srt file that we know of at this time, and it's not something we recommend you pay for. Look for .srt files to match your movie here:
subscene
opensubtitles
kloofy

If you need to edit, shift time, or re-sync the subtitles in srt format:

Jubler
It will do almost everything you need to do to a subtitle: shift time, spell-check, re-sync, etc. It's being actively developed and the developer is pretty quick, although sometimes short, with answers in his forum. Definitely see this post regarding MPlayer.

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It's a shame Apple charges $25.00 for QuickTime Pro, which you need for editing movie files, but it's a decent editor if you do pay, and then it will also export and convert to almost any format or destination you need. This might change with the new "Snow Leopard" operating system due from Apple sometime in 2009, and it will be free.

The BIG advantage of using QuickTIme is that it will burn subtitles onto the movie if you need them. There are free programs with iPod presets for converting video files but support for subtitles is either absent or difficult, sometimes requiring a second conversion; one to burn the subtitle onto the movie and then a second to convert it to iPod.

• ffmpegx (for converting/exporting, joining)
• MPEG Streamclip (for editing and exporting/converting)
• Handbrake (for ripping and exporting/converting)

There is another program that is free and probably the easiest to use but it has been discontinued by its developer:

iSquint

Download from softpedia

It depends on the size of the file, but usually iSquint takes forever to convert files and it doesn't accurately show the progress BUT it works and it's FREE :)

Step 1:
Open iSquint and drag your video file into the "Drag files below" space.

Step 2:
I would recommend checking the "H.264 Encoding" box because it makes the converted file take up less space, but you don't have to. You can also adjust the Quality to whatever you want. Keep in ming that the higher the quality, the more space the file takes up. Usually Standard quality is fine. Then click Start. Your file should save on your desktop unless you click Change and change the location.

Remember that iSquint takes a while to convert. Usually, if the file is big, I just start it before I go to bed and let it run all night.

First of all, if you download the movie file and subtitle file together they should just work. If you have any problems, start by meeting these recommendations:

1. The movie file and the subtitle file(s) have the exact same name.
2. The movie file and the subtitle file(s) are in the same folder.
3. There are no "foreign" characters such as ü, ø, å, etc in file names.

For example:

• Basic Love (Oi ching ku see) [2009] • Hong Kong.avi
• Basic Love (Oi ching ku see) [2009] • Hong Kong.srt

• Barren Illusions (Oinaru gen'ei) [1999] • Japan.avi
• Barren Illusions (Oinaru gen'ei) [1999] • Japan.idx
• Barren Illusions (Oinaru gen'ei) [1999] • Japan.sub

If you name your files properly maybe you have the problem of the language of the subtitle. This will only be possible if you have two subtitles files like in our example above: an .idx/.sub pair (VobsSub). If you have a single .srt file and it's the wrong language, you have the wrong subtitle. there is no changing it.

With the .idx/.sub pair (VobSub), it is a function of the application you use to watch the movie to choose the desired language.


Three applications for playing movies with soft subs on Mac OS X and how they deal with Vobsub :

QuickTime will recognize that they are there but will seldom display them on your movie.
MPlayer will recognize them and try to guess the language you want based on your computer's system language. If it guesses wrong, it is not always possible to change it.
VLC is the program of choice if you have problems with the other two. It will recognize and display all languages present in the files AND let you easily choose between them:

As you can see, the subtitles don't look very good. That is another downside to using VobSub format subtitles. They are actually images that can't be edited or made any prettier on a Mac. So look for text format subs at one of these sites:

• subscene
• opensubtitles
• kloofy

Most any text file format will work - SubRip (.srt), MicroDVD (.sub), Subviewer (.sub), SSA1-5 (.ssa) , SAMI (.smi) and VPlayer (.txt), SubRip being the most common and they look good in all programs.

Sometimes subtitles you download separately from a movie will not be in sync. If the subtitles are simply a few seconds early or late, consistently, you can correct that problem on the fly while watching the movie with VLC by using the the "H" and "J" keys on your keyboard. "H" will move the subtitles backward in time in 50 millisecond increments, and "J" will move them forward in time.
MPlayer uses the "Z" and "X" keys to accomplish the same thing.

If the subtitles seem to drift more and more out of sync over time (maybe because the framerate of the SubRip is different than the frame rate of your movie) or if you'd like to permanently fix subtitle delay you can use:

Jubler will do almost everything you need to do to a text format subtitle (it does NOT work with VobSub): shift time, spell-check, re-sync, etc. It's being actively developed and the developer is pretty quick, although sometimes short, with answers in his forum and the help file is helpful. It requires MPlayer to play the video, and there are some issues with which version of MPlayer works best so read this post regarding MPlayer.




Click image to see larger view

**Video tutorial created by CCC**

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