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#1 2026-09-16 12:27:32
- tux_99
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- Registered: 2025-06-17
- Posts: 158
Handbrake in Devuan 6 / Debian 13 corrupts DVD subtitle timings
Just a heads-up for all Handbrake users here:
In the last few days I used Handbrake (installed from the Devuan/Debian repos) to convert some DVDs to h264 mkv files (as a backup on hard disk) and noticed that the VOBsub subtitle timings were all corrupted (subtitles appearing sometimes way too early, sometimes way too late, all within the same file).
So I built the latest official Handbrake release from source and with this build it does not happen, the subtitle timings are perfect exactly like on the original DVD.
Luckily I caught this in time before doing too many conversions.
Last edited by tux_99 (2026-09-16 12:32:32)
“Either the users control the program – or the program controls the users” Richard Stallman
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#2 2026-09-16 17:40:07
Re: Handbrake in Devuan 6 / Debian 13 corrupts DVD subtitle timings
Thank you for the heads-up. Nothing more frustrating than converted videos not coming out as expected due to some program's bug or quirk, and as a result you've wasted time and thrashed the disk for no good reason. Which does tend to happen with Handbrake...
MKVToolNix can be used to fix certain problems in mkv files, but with the sub timings so off in both directions it probably wouldn't be of much help.
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#3 2026-09-16 20:08:19
- tux_99
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- Registered: 2025-06-17
- Posts: 158
Re: Handbrake in Devuan 6 / Debian 13 corrupts DVD subtitle timings
Yes, I know MKVToolNix but I don't think it could fix the random subtitle timings, I only did 4 DVDs before I noticed this so I will just redo them with the self-built Handbrake binary.
TBH I never had problems with Handbrake on other non-Debian based Distros before, I suspect the problems are specific to the Debian package which builds Handbrake differently compared to how the Handbrake devs recommend.
Building your own Handbrake binaries is not difficult it's explained in detail here:
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/dev … linux.html
Last edited by tux_99 (2026-09-16 20:09:46)
“Either the users control the program – or the program controls the users” Richard Stallman
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