Every Flavour Beans

My search for a tool that could hardcode subtitles into MP4 video files (so that they can be played on handheld devices) resulted in the discovery of an excellent tool called XviD4PSP. XviD4PSP supports true hardcoding of subtitles, as opposed to merging of subtitles into MP4 files as done by Yamb/MP4Box, and it not only supports hardcoding subtitles in only MP4 videos but also in AVI/DivX/XviD videos. It can also convert/re-encode videos to a lot of video formats and comes with an impressive set of presets to suit various handheld device format specifications. Examples include iPod/iPhone, Sony PSP/PS3, Blackberry, XBox 360 and Motorola K1.

In this post I am going to talk only about hardcoding subtitles in MP4 videos(procedure is exactly the same to hardcode subtitles into AVI/DivX/XviD files; I have tested it and it works like a charm, but I have found AVIRecomp to do the same job in lesser time.).

Hardcoding Subtitles With MP4 Files Using XviD4PSP

Download XviD4PSP and install the application on your computer.
NOTE: You need to register with the website and login before you can download the XviD4PSP. Search for the file on the Internet to download from one of the mirrors if you don’t want to go through the hassles of registration.
When the installation is finished, run XviD4PSP from the start menu or desktop shortcut. The main window should look like this:

Open the MP4 file into which you want to hardcode the subtitles from File -> Open File….

The format of the video file should be detected and default settings should be properly selected in the Format: panel. You can change some of the format settings if you want to.

XviD4PSP showed me the following message window on Windows Vista(did not get it on Windows XP) and continued reading the information from the input file after I clicked the Yes button.

Add the subtitle file for this MP4 video by going to Subtitles -> Add menu.
Select the directory where the output file should be stored by clicking on the Save button on the toolbar.
You can now repeat Step 2 to Step 5 if you want to add more subtitle hardcoding jobs to the queue. When you have added all the MP4(or even AVI) videos to the queue, you can click the Encode button on the toolbar to begin the encoding/subtitle hardcoding process.
I tried my best to keep the encoding settings as close to the actual format of the input file as possible. But the re-encoding + hardcoding process still took almost as long as the play time of the video file(i.e. 37 minutes for a 37 minute video). I am still trying to optimize the process. You get the following window with brief information once the encoding is complete.

You can click the Info button to view detailed information. Below is an example MP4 video file that I have hardcoded the subtitles into.

XviD4PSP is an excellent tool for encoding, re-encoding and subtitle hardcoding jobs. I will try to cover its other features in a future post but do explore it on your own and read more about it on doom9 forums.

I am making this post in response to one of the comments left on my previous post explaining how to hard-code (or merge) the subtitles into an AVI(DivX/XviD) video file. I was asked what tools can be used to merge subtitles with MP4 video files and below is the complete procedure to do the merging using MP4Box and Yamb.

To merge subtitles into an MP4 video file, you need to download two very useful tools: MP4Box and its GUI interface called Yamb.

Download MP4Box
Download Yamb
Both the tools can be extracted to any location of your preference. I have extracted the contents of Yamb-2.0.0.8.zip to H:\PortableApps\Yamb and have extracted and copied MP4Box.exe too to the same folder. This is how it looks on my computer:
Next thing you need to do is to tell Yamb where MP4Box is located. To do that, run Yamb from its folder, click on the Settings icon, double-click on the entry that starts with “Advanced settings for Yamb…”.

Enter the path where you have extracted the MP4Box executable in the Location: text box. In my example, it looks like this:

Click Next.

Now you are ready to try merging subtitles into an MP4 file. Select the Creation icon this time and double-click on the first entry that starts with “Click to create and MP4…”.

Click the Add button first time to add the MP4 file and then click the Add button a second time to select the subtitle file. The window should like something like this:

Remember to change the output file name(like I did) in the Output text box located at the bottom of the window if you don’t want to overwrite your input file with the merged output file. Click Next. The following screenshot shows Yamb processing your request. It took less than 2 minutes on my computer to finish the job of merging subtitles into a 40 minute MP4 video file.

Click Finish when done to quit Yamb or click Back if you want to do more merging operations. The produced MP4 output file with merged subtitles:

End Notes

You can use the MP4Box directly from the command line if you wish: the command syntax is really very simple, and you can actually do a lot more stuff using this tool. So do explore more about it over the Internet.

The first change you notice after updating from OS2007 to OS2008 on your Nokia N800 Internet tablet(or after buying N810) is that it looks remarkably good and comes with a better set of themes and background images. At least that is my personal opinion. If you are more of a ‘use the device to get the work done’ type of person then here are a bunch screenshots with OS2008 running on an N800 device to get you motivated to spend ~5 minutes with your device and change its default look to make it look even more beautiful. Not to say that the default look isn’t beautiful(I did include screenshots with the default look too), but you would get bored having the same look on the device for more than a month, wouldn’t you?

1. Changing the default desktop layout.

When OS2008 is installed, by default only a couple of applets are visible on the tablet screen. You can add more by going to the Home menu and selecting “Select applets…” option. After adding the applets to the desktop, you can drag them around until you get the desired layout. Dragging can be done using a finger nail too but I recommend using a stylus in this case. I have these applets on my tablet desktop:

What you see in the above screenshot are default theme and default background image(Echo).

2. Changing the default Theme.

OS2008 comes with five themes installed by default. You can select one of them by going to the top menu and selecting “Set theme…” option.

Try out all the available themes and decide which one you like the best. The screenshots below give you an idea about all the five default themes available in OS2008. (Each theme uses its designated background image as provided in OS2008.)
See all on one page on Flickr
Echo Theme and Wallpaper
Felicia Theme and Wallpaper
Glasser Theme and Wallpaper
Hendrika Theme and Wallpaper
Plankton Theme and Wallpaper

Unfortunately, not many themes are created by the Nokia Internet tablet community. Not many that I know of anyway. Some user created themes can be installed from the Application Manager, so see there if you can find any.

3. Changing the default Wallpaper.

OS2008 comes with six wallpapers by default. Maemo UI team released 10 more on their weblog. That gives you around 15 wallpapers to try and match with your selected theme. You can download more from other websites or create your own. Couple of my favourite combinations are Hendrika-Lauttasaari Sunset and Glasser-Driving in Vermont but it all boils down to your taste.

To change the background image/wallpaper, go to the Home menu and select “Set background image…” option. Select one of the provided background images from the “Image” dropdown box or select an image from the memory card by clicking the “Browse” button.

You can download more wallpapers from these websites:
Tim Samoff’s Christmas present, Maemo UI Teams’s Christmas present part 1 and part 2.
[via itT]

End Notes:

Here are some more screenshots of my tablet’s screen with different themes and wallpapers and my selected applet layout. Enjoy!

Hendrika Theme and Abstract Wallpaper:

Glasser Theme and `Lauttasaari Sunset` Wallpaper:

Felicia Theme and `Driving in Vermont` Wallpaper:

Glasser Theme and `Driving in Vermont` Wallpaper:

Hendrika Theme and `Lauttasari Sunset` Wallpaper:

Felicia Theme and Echo Wallpaper:

Media Player in Echo Theme: