XTI and SRT files

I am interested in using XTI (X-Title Importer) to bring some subtitle files into FCP X titles.
The files I have are in SRT format, which XTI is supposed to support, but all I get "Non matching file type or not correctly formatted file".

I have created several small test files, some with one subtitle only, and they all give the same error.
This regardless of the files being created with Subler, or manually written. Even the example from XTI manual gives the error.

A file in SUB format worked perfectly, though.

Any ideas?

Just did a new test. Downloaded XTE, extracted titles from FCP X XML, saved as SRT.
Again, importing this file with XTI produces the same error.
It appears that XTI is not working with SRT files.

I found the same problem, not all the time, but it happens sporadically, some times with a SRT file that already worked, so I started converting the SRT to STL and that works like a charm. I use Jubler to do that.

sperezrleon wrote: I found the same problem, not all the time, but it happens sporadically, some times with a SRT file that already worked, so I started converting the SRT to STL and that works like a charm. I use Jubler to do that.

Thanks, that is a feasible solution.

Have checked whether the SRT files are Unicode text?

- Andreas

I have tried it with simple ASCII text, like the example from the manual. This should be a valid Unicode file.
For example,I typed the following minimal example containing just three lines (typed directly into Smultron, just plain ASCII). I got the error from XTI. The same file, opened in Jubler, shows the expected content and translates into an .stl file that XTI has no problem with.

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
A simple subtitle

ASCII text is different from Unicode. ASCII works fine for English, but even with several European is doesn't it doesn't work correctly - not to talk about the languages which can't handle ASCII for native text.

It not a problem to change text endoding to Unicode with TextWrangler or similar app.

I will have look at XTE tomorrow when back in the office. Maybe the download linls to the wrong .dmg.

- Andreas

Andreas

Thank you so much for looking at this!

I know that ASCII is different from Unicode. I am Portuguese, so I have had to deal with the MacRoman encoding, several ISO variants and Unicode more than I would have liked. Even today I often struggle with documents and web pages with encoding issues.

Unless I'm profoundly mistaken, the subset of ASCII below 127 is also a subset of UTF-8, meaning that a valid ASCII file without accented characters and such (like a typical English text, using only letters, digits and punctuation symbols) is also a valid Unicode file. I think the example I posted before qualifies as such.

Hi Andres, I'm having problems too with French subtitles, I just can't make the work with importer. Im attaching the file... hope you can help.

I managed to make it work by converting it using subtitle exchange

Sorry for my late reply.
A double Sorry to lichinho for my too short and not very helpful replies.

So here try to start over again.

Here the easy part.
@sperezrleon:
XTI never claimed to handle binary EBU-STL files like the one you attached.

XTI website wrote: …It is a unique tool which allows an easy import of WebVTT, SRT subtitle files, YouTube SBV, Spruce STL, chapterlists and FCP X chapters as individual subtitles into Apple's Final Cut Pro X…

Additionally it was created by Aegisub which is not known as a good app to create EBU-STLs There is no app I know which retrieves your French subtitles into correct French from that file.
Anyway I will implement a filter that displays that EBU STLs are not handled.

And here the less easy part.
@lichinho:
Fun thing is that most of the users actually take XTI to convert SRT to FCPX. Starting this year a European news channel uses XTI to add all needed subtitles from SRT into their 24/7 workflow. And these are quite a lot.
So it can't be the main problem that XTI doesn't handle SRT - but there obviously is a problem to handle all kind/flavours of SRTs.
So to fix these issues I really need those files which don't work, So lichinho PLEASE send me the files.

The example text:

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
A simple subtitle

pasted into TextEdit and saved as plain text just works fine. Seems the problem is somewhere else, maybe Smultron. But I don't know without access to the files.

Kind regards
Andreas

Andreas, thank you so much for looking at this!

And now for the embarrasing part: after reading your post I figured this could not be Smultron's fault - after all, this is just plain text. So I did what I often recommend to people with trouble on FCP X - I logged in into a different user account. Lo and behold: it worked perfectly. So it is some setting on my part that is causing the issue.

Thanks and sorry for the trouble.

Dear Andres, you were right je je, it was easy to fix, I just passed it thru Tittle exporter and everything went perfect!

Good to hear that problems are solved.

I have uploaded a version which displays a dialog in case of wrong type with STL.
It also puts an error message into XTI's internal log, so errors like the one from lichinho can be better tracked by me.

- Andreas

Thank you for the great importer. However, I need to be able to adjust the time-code to align with Final Cut Pro X. When I import the subtitles from aegisub there is a time shift because the timecodes formats are different milliseconds versus frames.
What work flow do you suggest to import subtitles from Aegisub into Final Cut Pro X to void timecode shifts and line the subtitles up with the dialog.

I would appreciate the guidance.

Best Wishes,
Steph

Hello Steph,

Interesting issue. I think I understand what's going there.
Just to make sure send me an example. You find my email address at the end of the manual.

Regards
Andreas

Hi Steph,


I've upated XTI to version 1.8.51.
Beside several fixes it includes a lot of useful new features including your feature request.

Regards
Andreas

Download: www.spherico.com/filmtools/TitleExchange/XTI/XTI.dmg

Even with version 1.8.73 it's impossible to import an SRT file rendered by SpeedScriber. It's a Dutch text.

Any example or something more detailed rather than: "it's impossible to import an SRT file"

Andreas