Integrating .SRT File Into .MKV File...?

[The Lord of the Flies]

Please tell me how to like integrate an .SRT file into an .MKV file, please.

That way I'll have better .MKVs with properly embedded subtitles and can then get rid of the .SRTs as they would no longer be needed.

Please help.

[Chandalen]

mkvmerge should do what you are asking for.

[The Lord of the Flies]

Hokay, I wanna make sure that I'm doing this correctly.

As you can see in the middle pane, there already some sets of embedded subtitles in the .MKV video file. I thought I'd get rid of them by unchecking their respective boxes. I guess that will work.

But as far as embedding the subtitles of the .SRT file: That .SRT contains (I think) the same subtitles that should have come with the movie, the movie being District 9 [2009] (which is a really excellent film). It's English subtitles for all the non-English languages spoken in the film, like that or those of some of the Johannesburg citizens, and of course the language of the "prawns". It's the same set of subtitles you would have seen if you'd seen the (English language) film in the theatre, ya know!

I pressed the Add button to get the .SRT file into the top pane. Should I have pressed Append instead?

Okay, now what about the settings in the lower area, just above the Output filename field? I do want the subs from the .SRT, after being embedded, to always play with the film--there is no reason to turn them off. But I am a bit confused about how to set Default track flag and Forced track flag. They both can be set to no and yes, while the Default track flag can also be set to default. Hmmm....

So what about those settings, and the Add and Append buttons? ???

[Crayon Shin Chan]

Add means you add more sources so you have more choices in the checkbox section to decide what will go into the output MKV. That is what you want to use.

Append: in MKV, you can join two videos together. Say you downloaded a rip that comes in 3 CDs, you can join them together to create a (seamless?) movie. I think. Never tried it before.

EDIT: BTW it seems you already have 3 subtitles inside the MKV.

[The Lord of the Flies]

BTW it seems you already have 3 subtitles inside the MKV.

Yes, that's right. I'm getting rid of those. None of those are the right subtitles that I need. The right subtitles are in the .SRT, and I want those embedded into the movie.

So what about those settings in the lower area? ???

[Crayon Shin Chan]

I think they're rather self explanatory. The track name should hold a description of what the subs translate, e.g. "Signs/CC", or "Dialogue", or if you put nothing, they'll just appear as (language) subs. And they'll appear by default since the default track flag is set. In format specific options you can choose things like the encoding of the srt (it is after all just a text file), and delay/advance. I don't know why you would want to set that in the MKV instead of using something like Aegisub to delay/advance the subs, though.

[Captain Ned]

Pardon me, but I just want to make sure we don't have any Rule 1 issues here.

Thanks for listening.

[Crayon Shin Chan]

Nuthin of the sort, guv'nor.

[Captain Ned]

Nuthin of the sort, guv'nor.

Carry on, then.

[The Lord of the Flies]

I think they're rather self explanatory.

Ah, boy! Okay, you're losing me here, sorry to say.

The track name should hold a description of what the subs translate, e.g. "Signs/CC", or "Dialogue", or if you put nothing, they'll just appear as (language) subs.

Okay, I guess I'm gonna fill "English for Non-English Dialogue" into the Track name, unless I or someone else can come up with something better and more Professional-looking and such.

And they'll appear by default since the default track flag is set.

Really? Well, as I said earlier, I'm a bit confused about that. What's the difference between setting the Default track flag to default and yes? Or will the program like set that correctly automatically for me or something?

In format specific options you can choose things like the encoding of the srt (it is after all just a text file), and delay/advance.

Well why should I do that when it seems that the subs are like perfectly synced to the movie already?

I don't know why you would want to set that in the MKV instead of using something like Aegisub to delay/advance the subs, though.

Huh? ??? Gee, I dunno--who cares? hehehehe

Can you tell me about the Default track flag and Forced track flag, please? ???

[Crayon Shin Chan]

If the user hasn't defined in the player settings that he likes to listen to French audio with English subs, the default track flag here tells the player which track to prefer of each track type (e.g. video, audio, subs). Alternately, the topmost track of each type is by default the default track for that track type. Which means, if you have French audio and English audio listed beneath it, then French will be preferred unless you say so otherwise in Default track flag.

I don't know anything about this forced track flag. But it's all explained in great detail in the Help file that comes with mkvmerge. Just press F1.

[The Lord of the Flies]

Ooo, ooo, thank you, thank you!

I made a new and better .MKV! AND I got to throw away that .SRT file, yay, woooooo!

And it didn't even take long either, only like 4mins., 19secs.! hehehehehehe

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are the bestest! I'm gonna now fix up all my movies that (now) need those .SRT files! YAY! hehehehehe