Convert DVD to VideoCD with permanent subtitles
Just wanted to produce a short guide that allows all of you, who require subtitles in your movies (and IMHO, even English speaking guys need them with movies like Croughing Tiger -- dubbing can be considered as the eight deadly sin..), to convert DVD movies to VideoCD format with permanent subtitles. I know that the tool I use in this guide, DVD2SVCD, is really a no-brainer to use, but our policy has always been to produce extremely newbie-friendly guides :-)
Requirements
First of all, you need these tools:
· DVD2SVCD
· TMPGEnc
You also need to have DVD-ROM drive (no, CD-ROM doesn't do the trick), appx. 10GB of free HDD space and CDR writer.
First steps
Install TMPGEnc first and after that proceed and install DVD2SVCD. After you've done this, launch DVD2SVCD. At first, DVD2SVCD seems to be extremely confusing, but every single switch in it has its own purpose in life :-)
Misc tab

Process priority for all used programs determines how much of your CPU power DVD2SVCD will take. If you plan to leave your computer running and encoding the movie while you sleep, switch it to High, otherwise consider using Idle selection.
Next, make sure that Input file type is set as DVD and that DVD2SVCD level is set as Advanced.
DVD Rip tab

DVD2AVI tab

Audio tab

Frameserver tab

Bitrate tab

If you wish to use only 74min CDs, simply change all CD size drop-down menus to 740.
Encoder tab

For TMPGEnc x.xx selection, select the directory where you installed your TMPGEnc originally. For Save in Folder selection you must select a directory and partition of your HDD that has at least 1.5GB of free space (depends on your movie length -- 10mins of movie takes 100MB of space, so 3-hour movie takes 1.8GB of space).
In Rate Control Mode, select Constant Bitrate (CBR) (VCD specs don't allow other than CBR encoding), Change Field order to Automatic and change Motion search precision to Highest quality (very slow) -- this selection is very important, because it is virtually the only one in VCD that actually makes a difference between good and bad video quality.
Matrix tab

bbMPEG tab

Subtitles tab

Change Save in folder to a directory that has appx. 10MB of free space for subtitle files. Leave everything else untouched.
CD Image tab

Select Include movie info on CD (this will include movie's IMDB information on CD, like the cast, basic plot, cover art, etc) and select VCDImager from the bottom of the window. Now, click Movie info (IMDB) button and DVD2SVCD will open a new window for you.
Movie Information window

Finalize tab

Conversion tab

Aspect ratio is one of the main things on this tab -- you should check your DVD's cover and see if it says "4:3" or "widescreen enchanced". If this is the case, movie is encoded on the disc in old 4:3 format. If the cover says something like Anamorphic Widescreen, it means that the movie is "real" 16:9 also on the DVD. So, select either 4:3 (No borders, encoded as 4:3) if the movie is 4:3 or 16:9 (Borders added, encoded as 4:3) if the movie is 16:9 anamorphic. Don't select Anamorphic as none of the DVD players can handle anamorphic SVCD material correctly.
As a final check, doublecheck that you have a correct audiotrack selected in this tab. After you've done this, click Go and DVD2SVCD will popup a small menu. Select Preview video (still picture) from this menu and program will open a new window that lets you check that your settings are correct before you start your encoding process.
Preview video window

If the aspect ratio seems to be incorrect (people look thinner and taller than usual or shorter and wider), you can change it here using the Aspect selection -- just remember to select either 4:3 or 16:9. You should also check that the Resize to is set as VCD.
This is also a very good place to see how various Deinterlace filters effect the video. I recommend in most of the cases to use Smartdeinterlace filter as it normally works very well -- but if there are horizontal lines in contrast areas or extremely clear "smoothing", you should try something else instead.
You should also see the subtitles you've selected -- if subtitles don't appear, try to click New frame until they do. Please note that in some versions of DVD2SVCD there are bugs in this part and program might show wrong language subtitles -- don't care about this, because you have an option to manually select the subtitle language before the encoding begins.
After you've satisfied with your selections, simply click OK to close the window.
Ready to encode

Program should now open a window that lets you manually select the subtitle language you wish to use -- this page is the page that lets you really choose the correct language, unlike previous steps that tend to have issues recognizing the correct language. So, simply select one subtitle language (you can't have multiple permanent subs, obviously) and click OK.
After this, program will start its journey, opening zillions of tools and windows all over your desktop -- remember that you are not allowed to touch any of those windows, otherwise the encoding process might fail. So, we seriously recommend that you go to sleep now.
Finally
Now, you should have tons of files in your HDD. Be free to delete everything else except the .bin and .cue files that contain the final movie files. Your next step after this is to burn the CD images to a CDR -- you can use our BIN/CUE with Nero guide to do this.
As usual, if you have issues, problems or suggestions related to this guide, please feel free to post your comments to our discussion boards.
Written by: Petteri Pyyny