Converting PAL subs to NTSC subs

I know there are a few threads that deal with this topic, I have read them and they aren't very clear to me.

I have a Japanese language DVD with English subs in PAL format and I need to get the subs into NTSC format. The audio and video portion is straightforward to me but the subs? I used VSRIP (1.006) to extract the *.idx and *.sub files, I can use Sub2Sup to get a *.sup file that I can mux into dvd format files, but the sub's position is almost off screen.
What is the simplest way to convert (with FREE software) these subs either to NTSC *.sup format or *.srt format (if they can be converted to text, I can use Subtitle Creator to rebuild my *.sup the way I want it), actually, *.srt format is preferable. There should be some software able to pull characters from the quot;bitmapquot; files...
Any help would be appreciated.

Paul

Subtitle Workshop cannot seem to read either the *.sub or the *.sup files..

The DVD is available in NTSC, but I'd like to know how this is done for when that is not an option..

Originally posted by Paulcat
I know there are a few threads that deal with this topic, I have read them and they aren't very clear to me.

Even this one?
Originally posted by Paulcat
There should be some software able to pull characters from the quot;bitmapquot; files...SubRip

I was looking for a one or two step solution, not a 10 step solution and more software downloading. If SubRip will get me right from the DVD to a text sub, that's all I need, as I can open that with Subtitle Creator and arrange them the way I want, and make the final *.sup file for muxing.

Originally posted by Paulcat
If SubRip will get me right from the DVD to a text sub, that's all I need

Subrip does (if you want to rip from disc, you will need some decrypting tool running in the background), and so does the vobsub package (rip to idx/sub, then use subresync for OCR - yeah, it's two steps, but then again ...).
Steve

SubRip worked 99% (there was some trouble determining between I and l (lowercase L) but apart from that it worked fine (oddly, there were tons of L's in the sub file I had to edit!) . I did read in the info for MuxMan that the current version of SubRip creates some problems in the SRT file, but I loaded it up with notepad and found no aberrant characters, so I'll give it a go. After all, creating the SUP file takes only seconds...

subrip has the option to fix those errors, they're common.

Originally posted by Paulcat
SubRip worked 99% (there was some trouble determining between I and l (lowercase L) but apart from that it worked fine (oddly, there were tons of L's in the sub file I had to edit!).

Some of these errors can be fixed using the quot;post-OCR spelling correctionquot; option ... you will fix some errors, but it might introduce a few new ones as well .

In that case, there is always subtitle workshop to fix it all
step 15?

You can use Subrip another way.

just extract your subs as bitmap and create a corresponding srt file with the filenames of the bitmaps in it (by changing the format while or after ripping to srt), then it's no problem to slow that down 23.976 fps and create a new sup for authoring.

MvB

Occasionally some error might get through Subtitle Workshop too, that's why I usually prefer to keep original subtitles and use OCR only as a backup solution. And BTW, it's not really that hard as it appears and it can be done with less clicking and typing then with manual OCR. Once you have vobsub files you only need subtosup (few clicks), dvdsupdecode (1st command), Subrip save to bitmaps (few more clicks), change framerate and indent in text file and dvdsupencode (2nd command). And if you have original IFOs you don't even need to mess with colors.