Most DVDs provide subtitles for the hard of hearing and those who don’t speak any of the languages provided on the disc. That’s not always the case, however, particularly with home recordings, and even legal downloads have a tendency to drop subtitles to trim a little more from the file size.

Whatever your reason for needing subtitles, Sublight may well be able to help. It’s not just for English-language speakers either; the program can also procure you subtitles in a different language should you want to entertain visitors from overseas.

Subtitle files are supported by numerous media players, provided you have the correct file to go with your video and the timings are properly entered. However, subtitles aren’t always easy to find online and they can be stymied by similar named videos or different cuts of the same film.

Sublight can search several subtitle repositories automatically, either using a traditional keyword-based search or by using your video’s file name and attributes as the basis of its hunt.

If the subtitle set that you found was linked to the movie file you’d chosen, which is likely if you found it using an automatic search, it should be highlighted with an orange background in Sublight. Double-click it and your linked video player will launch, displaying the subtitles with the video. If the file you want to use isn’t linked to the movie, right-click it and choose Link subtitle with video file.

It’s all very simple to use, backed up with an attractive front end that will appeal to fans of Office’s ribbon interface, but the key ingredient making Sublight a winner is that you should be able to quickly locate and add subtitles to your videos in minutes with the minimum amount of hassle.

Version 5 is now trial software.