Embedded or external subtitles not loading

General Discussions
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1

Hi there,

Suddenly, my subtitles stopped working for certain shows.

For example, this one, with embedded subtitles. The subtitles show correctly in VLC.

General
Unique ID                                : 30555586150661131492937742586294243669 (0x16FCCAB59B1CAF0805EE7775B7E31155)
Complete name                            : Special A - S01E01.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 271 MiB
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Overall bit rate                         : 1 601 kb/s
Movie name                               : Special A - S01E01
Encoded date                             : UTC 2020-09-02 07:45:43
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v47.0.0 ('Black Flag') 64-bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.10 + libmatroska v1.5.2

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L4.1@High
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate                                 : 1 150 kb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 24.079 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.138
Stream size                              : 195 MiB (72%)
Writing library                          : x265 3.4+6-g73f96ff39:[Windows][GCC 11.0.0][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings                        : <Check Link Above>
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 30 ms
Stream size                              : 37.9 MiB (14%)
Title                                    : Stereo - ENG (AC3)
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : Yes

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 30 ms
Stream size                              : 37.9 MiB (14%)
Title                                    : Stereo - JPN (AC3)
Language                                 : Japanese
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

Text #1
ID                                       : 4
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration                                 : 23 min 39 s
Bit rate                                 : 13 b/s
Count of elements                        : 66
Stream size                              : 2.31 KiB (0%)
Title                                    : Signs & Songs - ENG (SRT)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : Yes

Text #2
ID                                       : 5
Format                                   : UTF-8
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration                                 : 23 min 39 s
Bit rate                                 : 83 b/s
Count of elements                        : 425
Stream size                              : 14.5 KiB (0%)
Title                                    : Dialog - ENG (SRT)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

2022-03-29 23_12_43-Window
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Another show with external subtitles, doesn’t load them either:

kurenai_menu
kurenai_menu1026×269 32 KB

Naming convention:

kurenai_naming
kurenai_naming717×274 49.3 KB

If I re-upload the same subtitle file via the upload dialog, it starts working:

2022-03-29 23_15_55-Window
2022-03-29 23_15_55-Window1283×390 89.8 KB

Some system info:

2022-03-29 23_15_55-Window
2022-03-29 23_15_55-Window710×211 8.01 KB

I’ve tried:

  • renaming the subtitle and files to exclude any unnecessary characters,
  • rescanned the files,
  • restarted the server,
  • updated all packages,
  • checked permissions (they are 777).
  • converted the ASS format to SRT
  • forced metadata refresh
  • forced burned subtitles

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

2

From what I can see, the naming convention is absolutely wrong. (except for the special episode)

What is the folder structure? For external subtitles to get properly recognized, you need per-season folders.

For the server to recognize embedded subtitles, you trigger “Analyze”.
For external subtitles, you trigger “Refresh Metadata”.

3

Thank you for the quick reply, regrettably, the issue persists. What I’ve tried:

  • added /Season 01/ for the show with external subtitles
  • Moved the files out of the library
  • removed both shows from the Plex UI
  • moved the shows back to the library
  • scanned for changes
  • Analyzed both shows
  • refreshed metadata on both shows

Do you have any other ideas?

Thanks!

4

Which metadata agent is used for this library?

Could you inspect the Plex media info XML of one episode, and copy the contents of the guid=".... XML property into here please?

5

The weird thing is, that the Get info dialog is showing the SRT subtitles, but the UI isn’t loading them:

2022-03-30 00_18_51-Window

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<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="5" librarySectionTitle="Anime" librarySectionUUID="5ab98dd8-1522-4cdf-ad73-0b002053c12a" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1647864947">
<Video ratingKey="20502" key="/library/metadata/20502" skipParent="1" parentRatingKey="20501" grandparentRatingKey="20500" guid="com.plexapp.agents.hama://anidb-5584/1/1?lang=en" parentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.hama://anidb-5584/1?lang=en" grandparentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.hama://anidb-5584?lang=en" type="episode" title="Hikari and Kei" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/20500" parentKey="/library/metadata/20501" librarySectionTitle="Anime" librarySectionID="5" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/5" grandparentTitle="Special A" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-14" summary="At six years old, Hikari Hanazono was unbeaten at pro-wrestling until she was easily defeated by Kei Takishima. Since that day, she has vowed to defeat Kei, who proves to be remarkably talented at whatever he attempts, at anything and convinced her father to allow her to attend the same expensive elite schools as her rival." index="1" parentIndex="1" rating="9.0" skipCount="7" lastViewedAt="1648553381" year="2008" thumb="/library/metadata/20502/thumb/1648558159" art="/library/metadata/20500/art/1648558125" parentThumb="/library/metadata/20501/thumb/1648558125" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/20500/thumb/1648558125" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/20500/art/1648558125" duration="1420907" originallyAvailableAt="2008-04-07" addedAt="1648558064" updatedAt="1648558159" chapterSource="media">
<Media id="21578" duration="1420907" bitrate="5385" width="852" height="480" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="480" container="mp4" videoFrameRate="24p" optimizedForStreaming="1" has64bitOffsets="0" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="22088" key="/library/parts/22088/1647942321/file.mp4" duration="1420907" file="/mnt/plex/anime_tv/Special A Class/Plex Versions/Optimized for TV/Special A/S01E01.mp4" size="956408288" container="mp4" has64bitOffsets="0" optimizedForStreaming="1" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="49824" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="4932" anamorphic="0" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="864" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt709" frameRate="24.079" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="480" level="30" pixelAspectRatio="11160:11147" profile="high" refFrames="2" streamIdentifier="1" width="852" displayTitle="480p (H.264)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (H.264)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49825" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="224" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="2" displayTitle="English (AC3 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (AC3 Stereo)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49826" streamType="2" codec="ac3" index="2" channels="2" bitrate="224" language="Japanese" languageTag="ja" languageCode="jpn" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" streamIdentifier="3" displayTitle="Japanese (AC3 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Japanese (AC3 Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Media id="21595" duration="1420908" bitrate="1601" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="hevc" videoResolution="480" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="main 10">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="22105" key="/library/parts/22105/1647837213/file.mkv" duration="1420908" file="/mnt/plex/anime_tv/Special A Class/Special A - S01E01.mkv" size="284283010" container="mkv" videoProfile="main 10">
<Stream id="49827" streamType="1" default="1" codec="hevc" index="0" bitrate="1153" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="10" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="480" codedWidth="720" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt709" frameRate="24.079" height="480" level="123" pixelAspectRatio="186:157" profile="main 10" refFrames="1" width="720" displayTitle="480p (HEVC Main 10)" extendedDisplayTitle="480p (HEVC Main 10)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49828" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" forced="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="224" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" title="Stereo - ENG (AC3)" displayTitle="English (AC3 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Stereo - ENG (AC3) (English)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49829" streamType="2" codec="ac3" index="2" channels="2" bitrate="224" language="Japanese" languageTag="ja" languageCode="jpn" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" title="Stereo - JPN (AC3)" displayTitle="Japanese (AC3 Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="Stereo - JPN (AC3) (Japanese)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49830" streamType="3" selected="1" default="1" forced="1" codec="srt" index="3" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" title="Signs & Songs - ENG (SRT)" displayTitle="English Forced (SRT)" extendedDisplayTitle="Signs & Songs - ENG (SRT) (English)"> </Stream>
<Stream id="49831" streamType="3" codec="srt" index="4" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" title="Dialog - ENG (SRT)" displayTitle="English (SRT)" extendedDisplayTitle="Dialog - ENG (SRT) (English)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Director id="60554" filter="director=60554" tag="Miyao Yoshikazu"/>
<Writer id="60553" filter="writer=60553" tag="Minami Maki"/>
<Producer id="60209" filter="producer=60209" tag="Hanada Jukki"/>
<Chapter id="1347" filter="thumb=1347" index="1" startTimeOffset="0" endTimeOffset="115300" thumb="/library/media/21595/chapterImages/1"/>
<Chapter id="1347" filter="thumb=1347" index="2" startTimeOffset="115300" endTimeOffset="754600" thumb="/library/media/21595/chapterImages/2"/>
<Chapter id="1347" filter="thumb=1347" index="3" startTimeOffset="754600" endTimeOffset="1313900" thumb="/library/media/21595/chapterImages/3"/>
<Chapter id="1347" filter="thumb=1347" index="4" startTimeOffset="1313900" endTimeOffset="1403900" thumb="/library/media/21595/chapterImages/4"/>
<Chapter id="1347" filter="thumb=1347" index="5" startTimeOffset="1403900" endTimeOffset="1420920" thumb="/library/media/21595/chapterImages/5"/>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
<Related> </Related>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>

The above is only for the embedded subtitles, the stand-alone subs don’t show even in the Get info dialog:

2022-03-30 00_20_41-Window
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Agent: HamaTV

6

Precisely. guid="com.plexapp.agents.hama://anidb-5584/1/1?lang=en"
Ask the developer of this agent about it.

7

Thanks, wasn’t aware that Agents are responsible for the subtitles. Will update and check, cheers Otto the Plex Ninja! :+1:

8

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