# Repair three structural SRT errors

This is an original, deliberately broken subtitle exercise, not a Descript export or a transcript of real media. It demonstrates Video Tools Compared's existing subtitle inspection function. It does not demonstrate subtitle synchronization, accessibility compliance, or successful playback.

## Files

- [Broken SRT](https://cutroom.editorialdeskmedia.com/downloads/subtitle-repair-before.srt)
- [Repaired SRT](https://cutroom.editorialdeskmedia.com/downloads/subtitle-repair-after.srt)
- [Authored source script and intended timings](https://cutroom.editorialdeskmedia.com/downloads/subtitle-repair-source.txt)

## Try the exercise

1. Keep the broken file unchanged as your reference. Load its text into the subtitle checker linked from the [subtitle export guide](https://cutroom.editorialdeskmedia.com/guides/descript-subtitle-export-check.html).
2. Use 20 characters per second and 42 characters per line. These are this exercise's review thresholds, not a delivery specification.
3. Inspect the three errors. Cue 1 uses “intro” where a numeric identifier belongs. Cue 2 ends before it starts. Cue 3 has no text.
4. In a copy, change “intro” to “1”, restore cue 2's end to 00:00:04,000, and restore cue 3's text to “Keep a copy of the original.”
5. Inspect the repaired copy. Compare it with the supplied after file and source script.

## What actually ran

On September 14, 2026, the existing inspectSubtitles function in public/reader-tools-core.mjs was executed with both fixtures under Node v26.8.2. The before file returned three errors and zero warnings. The after file returned three readable cues, zero errors, and zero warnings. Assertions also compared every repaired cue's start, end, and text to the authored source script.

The unchanged original parser was used; this exercise does not add another validator or perform automatic repairs. The reproducible runner and detailed hashes/results are retained in the project's evidence/subtitle-repair-run.mjs and evidence/subtitle-repair-results-2026-09-14.json.

## What a clean result leaves unanswered

The source script gives us the intended values for this synthetic exercise. With a real export, do not invent missing words or timing merely to clear an error. Recover them from the source transcript and verify them against the actual video.

A structurally valid subtitle file can still contain wrong words, mistimed cues, poor line breaks, incorrect positioning, or player-specific problems. Watch the real output in the intended delivery player before accepting it.