Hello there,

Working in my SRT Merge program, I have found two issues with PD that I already have reported to technical support (ID = CS000976701). So until CL fixed, this are the workarounds

ISSUE #1
PD9 EXPORTED .SRT FILES, DOESN’T USE STANDARD SRT FORMAT

First let me explain what the two attached files are. Both files are .SRT subtitles example, originally created in PD to demonstrate the issues. Both have the same 4 subtitles but with different structure:

SRTOriginal is the original created with PD9 and exported to .SRT (with has 1.17Kb)
SRTSaved is the same file but opened with WordPad and saved as normal text .SRT file (0,6Kb)

As you know, the SRT subtitles files are normal ASC TEXT based files, that use carrier return(CR)+line feed(LF) to separate each line and have the following structure:

<SUBTITLE NUMBER> (CR+LF)
<STARTtimecode --> ENDtimecode>(CR+LF)
<subtitle lines> (separated with CR+LF)
<BLANK LINE >(CR+LF) to separate from next subtitle

PD9 can read both, but others .SRT programs fail to read the PD9 original created file. The reason is that PD9 use none conventional way to save the .SRT file:

- Adds the FFFE characters at the beginning of the file
- All next characters are separate by a null character 00
- They use only LF (0A) to separate each line and only use CR (0D) to separate the subtitles lines
EDITED:
- Also it doesn’t add or recognize SRT text commands like for italic.

WordPad can read it because it omit those FFFE and null (00) characters and it save it like normal Unicode text file (using CRLF)

WORKAROUND:BEFORE YOU USE PD9 EXPORTED .SRT FILES IN OTHER PROGRAMS:
First Option: OPEN IT WITH WORDPAD AND THE SAVE IT HAS NORMAL TEXT FILE (RENAMED To .SRT)
Second Option: USE MY SRT MERGE PROGRAM WHEN IT’S REALESED FREE

ISSUE #2
PD9 FAILS TO IMPORT SUBTITLES THAT STARTS WITH NUMBERS

If any imported subtitle line starts with a number, PD stop importing the remaining subtitles. PD9 thinks that the number is a SUBTITLE header NUMBER. The attached files demonstrate this issue (you can use any of them). The file has 4 subtitles and PD9 only imports the first 3, because the last line of subtitle #3 is phone number to be displayed in the movie.

Suggestion to CL: I think that PD9 is looking for a number in the first character of each line, before it cheeks’ the <blank line>(CR+LF). If PD9 first check for the blank line, there will be no problem.

WORKAROUND EDIT SUBTITLES THAT HAVE NUMBERS AT THE FIRST POSITION OF A LINE. Example:

1
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:03,0
Hello, this is my phone number..
305-1234567

You must change it to

1
00:00:00,0 --> 00:00:03,0
Hello, this is my phone number..
(305)-1234567

Have a Nice day.
NICOLAS