[vlc] Re: Comments on 0.6.1, plus Subtitle questions

[Sigmund Augdal]

On Thu, Jul 31, 2003 at 07:23:43AM -0400, -= Shrubbery =- wrote:
> So I've picked up the new version of the VLC, and am so-far pleased with 
> the progress.  However, I have a few questions regarding subtitle support.
> 
> I'm very pleased that I can now select my own font (MacOS X Version, I 
> wasn't able to do this with standard fonts before).  However, I'm a little 
> sad to see that subtitles are now rendering on the left/bottom part of the 
> video, and don't seem to support being centered.  Now, I understand this is 
> the first release version that is using the freetype library for text 
> rendering, and while I'm sure that's making a whole new world of things 
> possible, it leaves me with two questions...
During my life I've seen lots of movies, tv-series and other things with
subtites, in theaters, on tv and dvd and never, ever have I seen something
with subtitles centered. I really do not see why so many people want's it to
be that way. But I do see that many people want it that way, so I will
implement it, as an option of course, since I want the subtitles left aligned.

> 
> 1. Will there ever be support for changing the color that subtitles are 
> rendered in?  White subtitles with little to no border can be quite 
> bothersome when viewing brightly colored scenes.  The become mostly 
> invisible in some situations.  An option to change the font color, or 
> perhaps just to surround the text with a thicker black border would be 
> sufficient.
Changing colors is doable, and on my todo-list, but it is not _the_ solution
to make the subtitles more readable. I've been searching for a solution to
this problem, but still haven't found anything, so any help whould be
appreceated. Actually there is no black border at all anymore, and this is
regression from earlier versions.
> 
> 2. Will there be support for centering the subtitles, or perhaps this is 
> available elsewhere, and just not as a menu option?  It's certainly more 
> visually pleasing to have them render in the bottom/center of the video.  
> I've opened the vlcrc preference file, and it doesn't seem to list any 
> options other than those available through the preferences dialog in VLC.
> 
> Anyhow, I am glad to see the freetype library being used, as it appears to 
> be much more capable of handling subtitles (and looking better while doing 
> so).  I understand that with this being your first inclusion, not all 
> features may be present.
> Even if not, I'd hope you'll consider putting 
> these options (if possible) in a future release.  Excellent work with your 
> player though!  Without it, MacOS X wouldn't have a decent way to play half 
> the video files out there!

Thanks for your feedback. 

Sigmund
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