Viewing subtitle files
Sometimes Videos come with an accompanying subtitle file. This is particulary useful in a copy and distribute culture as this can be used as a base for a further translation into a different language.
These files come in many different formats. Some common ones are *.smi, *.str, *.sub
Video Lan and Subtitles
If you are not using Windows then You can Use Video Lan to view Subtitle files that come with Video files.
To do this you Select File > Open, and after you have browsed for your Video file you can then tick the box maked Subtitle Options [1] and then browse for the Subtitle file [2].
Using Direct VobSub
By far the best way I've found of displaying subtitle files in Windows is using DirectVobSub. This can be downloaded here.
It is a little bit of software that starts working when you start to play a video file which has a subtile file of the same name [different extension].
When it is running connectly you should see the subtitles appear on the screen. The settings can be configured. If you open up DirectVobSub, then you have many options for changing the way the subtitles look. You can override normal placement of subtitles to display them at the top of the screen - which is very useful if showing films in crowded locations.
