Convert SBV Subtitles to PGS Format
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About SBV
SBV (SubViewer) is a very simple, comma-separated subtitle format. It's most known for being one of the formats used by YouTube for caption uploads. The format consists of a start and end time on a single line, followed by the subtitle text. It's a very basic format without any styling capabilities, similar in simplicity to SRT.
About PGS
PGS (Presentation Graphic Stream) is an image-based subtitle format used exclusively for Blu-ray discs. Unlike text-based formats like SRT, PGS subtitles are stored as a sequence of bitmap images that are overlaid on the video. This means they can have any font, style, or color imaginable, but it also means they are not text-searchable and cannot be easily edited.
SBV vs PGS
| Feature | SBV | PGS |
|---|---|---|
| Styling Support | false | true |
| Positioning Support | false | true |
| Animation Support | false | false |
| Learning Curve | beginner | expert |
| Quality Rating | 3 | 5 |
| Patent Status | proprietary | proprietary |
| Year Introduced | 2009 | 2006 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SBV the same as SubViewer (.sub)?
They are very similar but have distinct formatting. The .sbv extension is specifically associated with YouTube's variant of the format. While they share the same core principle of 'start_time,end_time' followed by text, there can be minor incompatibilities between them. Our converter handles both.
Why would I use SBV?
The primary reason to use SBV is for uploading captions to YouTube, as it's one of their natively supported formats. It's a simple, no-frills format that is easy to create and edit in a plain text editor.
Can I edit a PGS subtitle file?
No, you cannot edit the text in a PGS file directly because it's a series of images, not text. To 'edit' a PGS file, you would need to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to convert the images back into a text-based format like SRT, edit the text, and then optionally convert it back, though this is a complex and often error-prone process.
Why do Blu-rays use image-based subtitles?
Image-based subtitles guarantee that the text will be displayed exactly as the designer intended, with specific fonts and styles, on any certified Blu-ray player. This avoids issues with players not having the correct fonts installed or not supporting certain text rendering features.
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