Monday, March 19, 2012

More options to synchronize subtitles

Using the 'T' key (or the on-screen lightning button) is very easy:

  • Play the video.
  • When the current subtitle should start showing, press and hold the 'T' key.
  • Keep the key pressed until the subtitle should be hidden, and then release the 'T' key.
  • Repeat for all the subtitles of the video.
This process is very streamlined and easy, but sometimes you need more control, e.g. when you made an error and want to fix just the start time (in-time) of a subtitle.

For this, we've just added two keys to set just the start time or end time (out-time). These are the 'S' and 'T' keys. When you click the 'S' button (no need to hold), you set the start time of the subtitle to the current playback time, and automatically move to the next subtitle. The same holds for the 'E' key, that sets the end time.

So how can we set subtitle times?
  • Using the 'T' button to set both start and end times (press and hold). This is the best approach for the bulk of your work.
  • Using the 'S' or 'E' buttons to set just the start time or the end time of subtitles. This is useful for fixing subtitle timing.
  • typing the actual time in the start and end time input fields. 
  • Using the little up and down arrows next to the subtitle start and end time. This is useful for fine tuning the timing, and is usually not necessary.
If you'd rather use the mouse to set subtitle times, there are on-screen buttons for the 'T', 'S', and 'E' keys, as seen on the right. Still, we really recommend you try using the keyboard, as it will make you much more productive in the long run.