Thanks for the reply BSPeter. Actually subsync was the tool I meant that was fiddly. While handy that it can convert subtitles files, it doesn't do it so well.
For example, occurences of &nspb; from the .smi format remain in the converted files. I have to use a file editor to replace all these occurences with a space, which is a pain.
Also, it doesn't correctly convert coloured text - it leaves in control characters from the .smi format in the converted files.
While I really like BSplayer for its great functionality and convenience, this remains a niggle for me. If any of the developers are reading: surely you great coders could whip up an .smi parser for BSplayer in about 20 minutes?
Regards,
Graham