Channel with subtitles

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
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Hi!

 

To my understanding, Plex does not support subtitles for plugins/channels.

 

Is there someone here that has tried to get subtitles working via HLS in a plugin?

 

The HLS standard seems to have this option(separate playlist/WebVTT standard):

https://developer.apple.com/resources/http-streaming/examples/

http://ben.slashpunt.org/bipbop_16x9_variant.m3u8

 

I thought that this might work if using a local webserver for the subtitles?

 

 

 

 

 

2

I tried this, sort of, and had no luck. I suppose you could setup some kind of separate infrastructure that takes the raw video and lays subtitles on top and then feeds that HLS stream to a Plex plugin. However, i doubt any user would want to go to that kind of trouble just to make a plugin work. 

Honestly it really sucks that Plex removed subtitles from the new framework. The info i got when i asked was that it was on the list somewhere near the bottom. Hopefully they'll come to their senses and try to get it added back.

3

Honestly it really sucks that Plex removed subtitles from the new framework.

Subtitle support for channels has not been removed from the framework, it has never been supported.

4

I tried this, sort of, and had no luck. I suppose you could setup some kind of separate infrastructure that takes the raw video and lays subtitles on top and then feeds that HLS stream to a Plex plugin. However, i doubt any user would want to go to that kind of trouble just to make a plugin work. 

Thanks for the input!

However, I was thinking of a different approach by(in the Callback routine when user has pressed play):

  • Getting the original playlist and add subtitles extensions according to Apple spec above
  • Change all url's in the playlist to refer to the local server, i.e. replace the host-address but keep the rest.
  • Download the subtitles(and perhaps convert into WebVTT format) and store for later use on local server

On the local server:

  • Relay all "normal" video segment requests, i.e. when segment x is requested just grab and return the segment from the original host
  • For subtitle segment requests, make a routine that creates a y second long WebVTT subtitle and return(y can be found in the original playlist).

One thing that is unfortunate about all this is that only IOS seems to be able to handle subtitle extensions in playlists. I have looked at the FFMpeg code and sadly no support for subtitles(yet)

It is still though, a lot of work, and also very fragile since you don't know if/when the sites are going to make it harder/impossible to get raw access to the HLS streams.

I agree that it would be much better if the plugin API/Plex could take care of subtitles(which already have the "muxing" capability via local video playback).

Still though, I have one question before I even can start trying:

- Do you know how to determine the IP-address of PMS? Without that address, this will never work...

Regards

5

Subtitle support for channels has not been removed from the framework, it has never been supported.

Ah. I thought i read somewhere in the older documentation of this feature. Guess i was wrong. 

6

Subtitle support for channels has not been removed from the framework, it has never been supported.

Any chance of support? Users of the NRK plugin keep asking :)

7

Any chance of support? Users of the NRK plugin keep asking :)

Not yet. Some day (hopefully).

8

Would really really be nice to have ;)

Might not be a priority for english native channels, but for other language channels, it would be much useful.

Not into the framework, but since there is already support for subtitles for local media, a fork for channels should be doable.

Guessing that it has something to do with the fact that Services does not have write access to HD, or that the subtitles has to be present on the HD.

Don't get me wrong, i love al the new features, like trailers, but i hardly ever use them, whereas a subtitle option would be used on several channels.

/HuX

9

Those of us who are both news junkies and cable tv cord cutters AND are deaf (or nearly deaf) really NEED captions/subtitles for Fox News. CNN, etc., etc.

It took Netflix years to provide subs for most content. -- but they did it because it was in their financial best interest.

PLEASE -------- How can we raise the issue to a higher level of resolution ---- PLEASE

Plex has so many good channels to offer, but until captions are available for them,  count me as an UNPAID subscriber (not Plex's best financial interest)

TR Shelby

10

Those of us who are both news junkies and cable tv cord cutters AND are deaf (or nearly deaf) really NEED captions/subtitles for Fox News. CNN, etc., etc.

It took Netflix years to provide subs for most content. -- but they did it because it was in their financial best interest.

PLEASE -------- How can we raise the issue to a higher level of resolution ---- PLEASE

Plex has so many good channels to offer, but until captions are available for them,  count me as an UNPAID subscriber (not Plex's best financial interest)

TR Shelby

I agree 100%. The entire channel/plugin api has been neglected and stagnant for far too long. (At least one and a half years for this request, maybe more) I know the core Plex product is transcoding and media management, but there is so much potential in the channel/plugin api. It needs some serious love. 

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