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The thing that most amazes my about Popcorn Time is how they find the subtitles. It seems to succeed even when I can't find subtitles myself. More related to t

The thing that most amazes my about Popcorn Time is how they find the subtitles. It seems to succeed even when I can't find subtitles myself. More related to the article, you would think that subtitles are literally the easiest file format in existence to safely handle. It's incredibly well-defined in terms of textual data and times.

etix 9y ago
They use a hash function to match subtitles. http://trac.opensubtitles.org/projects/opensubtitles/wiki/HashSourceCodes http://trac.opensubtitles.org/projects/opensubtitles/wiki/Ha...
- tydok 9y ago
  The problem isn't only about matching subtitles to movies but also where to look for subtitles, e.g. opensubtitles.org, subscene.com, etc.
  - bingojess 9y ago
    I believe it just scrapes them all. I can't remember the last time opensubtitles didn't have a sub I was looking for
    - tydok 9y ago
      Perhaps the most difficult problem is to find a subtitle in multiple languages.
      - bingojess 9y ago
        True I have only needed English subs
  - heinrichf 9y ago
    A great script: https://github.com/Diaoul/subliminal https://github.com/Diaoul/subliminal
    - tydok 9y ago
      Very interesting. It contains a few subtitle providers I've never heard before. Thanks for posting it.
FranOntanaya 9y ago
> literally the easiest file format in existence to safely handle. Well, which one of them. There's nearly a hundred different subtitle formats, and each one has a whole set of variants. Just Timed Text alone (XML) can have more layouts than one could count, specially since it's meant to be able to replicate technically all previous industry formats.
- amptorn 9y ago
  > it's meant to be able to replicate technically all previous industry formats Even the DVD subtitle format, which is just a mostly transparent image overlaid on the picture? In XML?
  - FranOntanaya 9y ago
    Yes, in the TTML2 spec https://www.w3.org/TR/ttml2/#embedded-content-vocabulary-chunk https://www.w3.org/TR/ttml2/#embedded-content-vocabulary-chu...
- kutkloon7 9y ago
  Let me phrase it this way: one would expect that the class of file formats for subtitles are easiest to handle (as opposed to say, the class of file formats for images or videos). On the other hand, images and videos are likely to be handled using some library, which might be better at safely handling the files.
phkahler 9y ago
It seems subtitles aren't important enough to have reduced the number of formats. From reading the comments, it seems like the world would benefit from a single format with most capabilities and have everyone convert all files to that. Until then, we need players that understand everything.
stordoff 9y ago
> More related to the article, you would think that subtitles are literally the easiest file format in existence to safely handle. It's incredibly well-defined in terms of textual data and times. Depends on the format. SSA for instance can have embedded font and image files, which presumably have much more complex decoders.

etix 9y ago

They use a hash function to match subtitles. http://trac.opensubtitles.org/projects/opensubtitles/wiki/HashSourceCodes http://trac.opensubtitles.org/projects/opensubtitles/wiki/Ha...

tydok 9y ago
The problem isn't only about matching subtitles to movies but also where to look for subtitles, e.g. opensubtitles.org, subscene.com, etc.
- bingojess 9y ago
  I believe it just scrapes them all. I can't remember the last time opensubtitles didn't have a sub I was looking for
  - tydok 9y ago
    Perhaps the most difficult problem is to find a subtitle in multiple languages.
    - bingojess 9y ago
      True I have only needed English subs
- heinrichf 9y ago
  A great script: https://github.com/Diaoul/subliminal https://github.com/Diaoul/subliminal
  - tydok 9y ago
    Very interesting. It contains a few subtitle providers I've never heard before. Thanks for posting it.

FranOntanaya 9y ago

> literally the easiest file format in existence to safely handle. Well, which one of them. There's nearly a hundred different subtitle formats, and each one has a whole set of variants. Just Timed Text alone (XML) can have more layouts than one could count, specially since it's meant to be able to replicate technically all previous industry formats.

amptorn 9y ago
> it's meant to be able to replicate technically all previous industry formats Even the DVD subtitle format, which is just a mostly transparent image overlaid on the picture? In XML?
- FranOntanaya 9y ago
  Yes, in the TTML2 spec https://www.w3.org/TR/ttml2/#embedded-content-vocabulary-chunk https://www.w3.org/TR/ttml2/#embedded-content-vocabulary-chu...
kutkloon7 9y ago
Let me phrase it this way: one would expect that the class of file formats for subtitles are easiest to handle (as opposed to say, the class of file formats for images or videos). On the other hand, images and videos are likely to be handled using some library, which might be better at safely handling the files.

phkahler 9y ago

It seems subtitles aren't important enough to have reduced the number of formats. From reading the comments, it seems like the world would benefit from a single format with most capabilities and have everyone convert all files to that. Until then, we need players that understand everything.

stordoff 9y ago

> More related to the article, you would think that subtitles are literally the easiest file format in existence to safely handle. It's incredibly well-defined in terms of textual data and times. Depends on the format. SSA for instance can have embedded font and image files, which presumably have much more complex decoders.