How do I disable subtitles on Plex?

General Discussions
1

It seems like every time I update my Plex, a handful of movies begin playing with subtitles and I can’t seem to disable it. I think I have followed the instructions to fix it (Subtitle Mode: Manual), but it still plays a handful of movies with subtitles. I would appreciate suggestions from anyone on how to fix this.

2

  1. Are you using the Safari web browser? If so, Safari has an own preference to activate subtitles when playing mp4 files.

  2. Take a look at the movie’s preplay page in Plex Web. If there is a subtitle selected there, then it is activated for all clients. This manual selection is stored per Plex user account. It means that you (or someone logged in as you) have activated these subtitles in the past.

3

Thanks for the reply and sorry it took so long for me to respond back. No, I do not use the Safari web browser, but I think I figured it out. I examined your second point about the preplay page. Now from my tv, I was never able to change anything with subtitles on the preplay section of the movie, it just wouldn’t let me do it. So I tried changing the subtitles on preplay on my pc and it worked, and I don’t know why but I can now change them on the tv as well. However, one movie that I know of still plays subtitles, regardless of changing it in preplay on the pc or tv. I have Optimized several movies for Custom: Universal Tv and this movie is one of them. Now, with the subtitles turned off in preplay, it still plays with subtitles on the Custom version, but it does not play with subtitles in the original version. Can you think of any reason that the movie plays with subtitles in the custom version and not the original. Do you think it might be an issue with the Plex Optimization function? Thanks again OttoKerner for your previous input, it was helpful.

4

@shelbyRoku said:
I have Optimized several movies for Custom: Universal Tv and this movie is one of them. Now, with the subtitles turned off in preplay, it still plays with subtitles on the Custom version, but it does not play with subtitles in the original version. Can you think of any reason that the movie plays with subtitles in the custom version and not the original.

The optimized version has the subtitles “burned in” to the video picture. This means the subtitles were previously ‘selected’ on the preplay screen in Web. When you started the optimization, Plex “burned” them in, because not every TV supports every subtitle type.

I guess the original subtitle was in the VOBSUB format, which is not widely supported apart from DVD and BluRay players.

5

Thanks for the response to my last inquiry. So I deleted the optimized version that was playing with subtitles, verified the subtitles were shut off in the preplay and optimized it again…problem fixed :slight_smile: Thanks for your help, you really know your Plex:)