Downloading Dramas?

I promise you that it's really not that complicated when you actually do it (downloading, etc) :p

First of all, so that you can see the subtitles in the dramas you're downloading, make sure to put both files (video file with the extension .mp4/ .mkv/ .avi and subtitles file) in the same folder and that they both have the same name. For example: mystery_drama.mp4 and mystery_drama.srt

As for special software for downloading, you just need that for torrent. (For "regular" downloading of raws, you just do it like you usually do. It's just that those raw files don't have subtitles, in contrast to hardsubbed files.)

So the difference between regular downloading and torrent downloading is this. With regular downloading, you download the file completely from one place. With torrent downloading, you're basically downloading pieces of a file from many places (think of pieces of puzzle, that eventually get arranged into a complete whole within your computer)--and that is why you need a special software for it, which is called torrent client.

Those many places that provide you with pieces of a file is called seeders. And you, the downloader, is called leecher. 

But how do your computer know which seeders (which computers out there) to connect to? For that, you need trackers (think of it as a kind of phone book). Public trackers can be accessed by anyone, but to access private trackers, you need to register first (most of the time by invitation)

(I personally never use private trackers because it's bothersome :p)

 OhSoEnthusiastic:

Thank you for the reply! When playing a video that is two separate files, the raw video and the subs, do you have to click on both in order for the subs to show on the video or do you just play the video and the subs automatically play as well? I guess that's the part that I'm the most confused about, figuring out how to get both to play simultaneously.

Just play the video and the subs will show up automatically, as long as they have the same file name :)

 OhSoEnthusiastic:

If you find subs in one place and the raw somewhere else, will they work together, or do you have to download them both from the same place? I found subs for a particular drama I've been searching for, but it doesn't link to the raw videos, so I have to go find them somewhere else. Will that be a problem?

Soft subtitles like .srt can play on any video regardless of what that video is.

The only thing to worry about from your perspective is that the video length has the same start point and end point.

Like if I have subtitles to say... Mr Queen in .srt format. I could play the subtitles for Episode 1 on the Episode 2 video but it would make no sense and the timing would be off.

Similarly if I download Mr Queen episode 1 video from one source and it skips the opening credits but the .srt file was created using a video that did include opening credits... the timing between the .srt file and video will be off.

That being said generally speaking most places that upload or stream videos have the same length regardless of who is hosting. This means the chances of an .srt file not working for a video are low.

Finally as @kura2ninja suggests above - if you have VLC Media Player, consider naming your video and SRT file the same thing and keep them in the same folder on your hard drive.

Example:

Mr Queen Episode 1.mp4

Mr Queen Episode 1.srt

And when you open the video file in VLC, the subtitles should automatically load for you.

 OhSoEnthusiastic:

Thank you guys for all your help. I appreciate it.

One more thing to mention - if you get some comfort level with .srt files (open them up in Notepad on your PC or whatever opens .txt format on Mac), you can see it's essentially a timestamp + the subtitle.

It should look similar to this:

1
00:00:04.060 --> 00:00:06.060
First subtitled lines of the drama you are watching would replace my sentence.

2
00:00:06.060 --> 00:00:07.930
Second line of the drama erasing the first one

3
00:00:07.930 --> 00:00:10.340
More words appearing on screen

The files are very simple and this is a good thing. It also means if for whatever reason your video file and subtitles seem to be out of sync... you can download a program and tweak them if you can understand basic words/sounds in that particular language.

Lets say I'm watching and my subtitles feel a little slow. Well then I'd look online for a program that adjusts .srt files and make my changes:

1
00:00:06.060 --> 00:00:08.060
First subtitled lines of the drama you are watching would replace my sentence.

2
00:00:08.060 --> 00:00:09.930
Second line of the drama after the first on erases

3
00:00:09.930 --> 00:00:12.340
More words appearing on screen

Notice the time stamps are changed. Now this is inconvenient to change each line manually but there are programs that will do it for every subtitle. They will read the file and add 2 seconds to each time stamp or whatever you want.

One other minor note - I have this written so that a subtitle is on screen 100% of the time. This is not necessarily the case for most .SRT files. Sometimes there is silence so you might see gaps like:

00:00:06.060 --> 00:00:08.060

First subtitle here

00:00:10.930 --> 00:00:13.050

Second subtitle here