That would be a welcome feature addition.
I think I did not pay attention to the mp4 container. Actually, these subtitles do not require transcoding if embedded in an mp4 file. Since I have mostly mkv files, I'm not sure it's worth creating an mp4 version of each file. Am I right?
That all depends on how often you use clients which prefer mp4 I would say.I think I did not pay attention to the mp4 container. Actually, these subtitles do not require transcoding if embedded in an mp4 file. Since I have mostly mkv files, I'm not sure it's worth creating an mp4 version of each file. Am I right?
Glad to see that this feature request just passed 50 votes, thus making it into "Popular" status :)
I like how prescient my "one-year incubation period" comment was. <_<
Hang in there mate.
I like how prescient my "one-year incubation period" comment was. <_<
Hang in there mate.
Yeah. Some times it is super frustrating that Plex Inc. does not have the same world domination view as I have. But I have been in this business for way to long to let it make me too depressed. There are so many things to add, and only a certain amount of man hours to utilise. As I see it, really, is that the Plex ecosystem that we see today will be much much stronger and better in one year from now. Does that mean that I will have my top 3 features built in to Plex by then? Not likely. Will I still be using Plex? Likely. The upsides overweigh the downsides by quite a margin. I do not see any other suites overtaking Plex anytime soon.
But do I believe that a subtitle system that is top of class will bring in tons of new customers? You betcha! Keeping my fingers crossed, be a pain in their ■■■■ once a month asking for a better subtitle handling system, and recruiting more people to like the feature requests that surrounds my point of interests is all I can do.
Considering how likely it is that apple will finally include app support in it's next apple TV, this feature will be increasingly important when it finally does. Nobody wants all of it's videos transcoding just for the sake of subtitles.
Has there been any update on this? I'm surprised that this thread isn't more popular. The only reason I can think of, is that people just transcode with subtitles and don't really care.
Well, I do care. I'd like to have all my devices direct play where I can. I have a bunch of H.264+DTS/AC-3 MKV files, and I'm thinking about whether I should convert all the audio to AAC and add it as an extra track. I have already tested this, and it works great with Direct Stream. It's basically the original MKV file, plus the AAC track.
However, this leaves the problem of subtitles. Assuming Direct Stream with SRT subtitles still is not possible, what would the best alternative solution?
1. Am I correct in that external subtitles don't work in any case?
2. Would it be possible to convert SRT to TX3G and embed it in an MKV file?
3. If MP4 is the only way, what would be the deal with DTS tracks? As I understand it, DTS inside MP4 files is not very well supported.
4. What are the chances that Plex will have its own player in the near future (like Infuse)? It's quite a hassle to convert the files, so I must be quite sure it's all worth it...
Thanks in advance.
EDIT
I just tried muxing DTS to an MP4 with MP4Box, and it gave this error: "Error importing input.dts: Corrupted Data in file/stream". So it looks this is a no-go.
It's been a long time but I'll try to answer your questions:
1. Yes, you are correct. External subtitles will always transcode.
2. No, tx3g is only supported in mp4. If you do it in another container, it will transcode (I'm not even sure mkv supports tx3g).
3. DTS will always transcode on apple devices (apple tv with digital output excluded). Video should be unimpacted.
4. Chances are quite slim I guess. Using the default iOS player is easy to implement and the best way to go. Autoconverting subtitles -should- be pretty easy and by a long shot the best way to fix this problem.
People should care more about not transcoding. If it's not necessary, it only consumes energy and degrades picture quality.
It's been a long time but I'll try to answer your questions:
1. Yes, you are correct. External subtitles will always transcode.
2. No, tx3g is only supported in mp4. If you do it in another container, it will transcode (I'm not even sure mkv supports tx3g).
3. DTS will always transcode on apple devices (apple tv with digital output excluded). Video should be unimpacted.
4. Chances are quite slim I guess. Using the default iOS player is easy to implement and the best way to go. Autoconverting subtitles -should- be pretty easy and by a long shot the best way to fix this problem.
People should care more about not transcoding. If it's not necessary, it only consumes energy and degrades picture quality.
I understand in iOS the Plex team has moved to a custom player that currently supports subtitles in some scenarios (in others they're transcoded at source). Is this correct?
Whether we're using a custom player that supports soft subtitles at the moment (I can't imagine it wouldn't) or we're using the native video player (which supports them) I'm missing a piece where this seemingly simple (said as a programmer) routine can't be implemented.
The way this seems to me, it looks like the Plex team has decided (and they probably have their reasons) that Transcoding should be the desired behaviour in most situations, as that way the server has more control over all aspects and the clients can be dumbed down substantially.
The problem with this approach is that, as mentioned, it adds overhead in energy spent, heat, time (taks longer to start and scrub transcoded files). It also prevents from NAS users to use Plex without transcoding if they want to see subtitles.
I don't really believe it's the case, but it looks like the decisions are being taken by people for whom Subtitles (or CPU!) are not an issue, and the real impact of having subtitles that most experience isn't really sinking in. Especially for those of us that have multi-language subtitles and can't just burn them in in advance.
Air Video currently can do soft-subtitles for "transmuxed" (direct streaming) video so it's not an unattainable goal. I'm convinced the amount of "weird" scenarios where people report "random" problems are also tied to this, since subtitles may not be mentioned explicitly and are what's triggering the issues due to transcoding happening "silently".
The iOS app does not use a custom videoplayer. It uses Apples own. And Apples own only support tx3g (timed text).
The iOS app does not use a custom videoplayer. It uses Apples own. And Apples own only support tx3g (timed text).
Thanks for the response. This was one of my options.
I'm a bit confused, as this seems to be written as if it answered the larger question of why streaming subtitles can't be included in direct streaming (tx3g is a subtitle format capable of streaming, obviously and famously so). It's trivial to convert existing subtitles into tx3g so there must be some technical reason I'm missing.
Thanks for the response. This was one of my options.
I'm a bit confused, as this seems to be written as if it answered the larger question of why streaming subtitles can't be included in direct streaming (tx3g is a subtitle format capable of streaming, obviously and famously so). It's trivial to convert existing subtitles into tx3g so there must be some technical reason I'm missing.
Sure. But there are between 100 and 1000 trivial things that can be added to the app. It is all about were the priorities are.
With that said, I think it will happen. We are too many that wants this feature :)
Sure. But there are between 100 and 1000 trivial things that can be added to the app. It is all about were the priorities are.
With that said, I think it will happen. We are too many that wants this feature :)
Add 1 more to this request, please. I am a subscriber, only because I think further development of this nifty tool is worth paying for. I stumbled across this thread after watching Fury and several other movies without subs... Most of this dev stuff is over my head, but I know what happens when my Drobo 5n tries to transcode. No Bueno.
Now that I am paying attention, I realize that the type of movies that I like all seem to have some brief foreign audio in need of subtitles. I have subtitles downloaded in .srt format, which just looks like time codes and text. Why couldn't the text broadcast as a separate channel or stream to the player app, and the player app overlays it in a window? I can't imagine that my 60 dollar blu-ray player is transcoding on the fly to add subs.
Add 1 more to this request, please. I am a subscriber, only because I think further development of this nifty tool is worth paying for. I stumbled across this thread after watching Fury and several other movies without subs... Most of this dev stuff is over my head, but I know what happens when my Drobo 5n tries to transcode. No Bueno.
Now that I am paying attention, I realize that the type of movies that I like all seem to have some brief foreign audio in need of subtitles. I have subtitles downloaded in .srt format, which just looks like time codes and text. Why couldn't the text broadcast as a separate channel or stream to the player app, and the player app overlays it in a window? I can't imagine that my 60 dollar blu-ray player is transcoding on the fly to add subs.
Your 60 dollar BluRay player support the PGS subtitles that are included in the movie. PGS subtitles (and VOBSUB before that) are basically images which are layered on top of the video. I suspect your BluRay player does not support srt subtitles though.
I really would like to see this implemented. This is the only thing still needs transcoding for me. I already re-encoded my whole library to ensure none of the devices me and my family use needs transcoding. This would be the last step, so yeah i would really like this!
I don't use apple products so this really doesn't affect me BUT I'd still like to know workarounds to help others.
Is it possible to pull the subtitles from existing media into SRT and then convert these to apple format outside of Plex and have these new subtitles picked up by Plex?
Obviously this is no help if you are using the "online subtitle" feature unless Plex converted them on the fly or quickly before using them.
Thanks,
Carlo
To be sure: it's not possible to convert the srt track to an external tx3g file, and have it stream alongside your mkv (h.264/dts) file in Direct Streaming mode?
To be sure: it's not possible to convert the srt track to an external tx3g file, and have it stream alongside your mkv (h.264/dts) file in Direct Streaming mode?
Not as I have understood it. I am not even sure tx3g exists as an external file format. And even if it does, it is not supported in Plex.
We lost the “Like” count when we switched forums, so please remember to “Like” the original post in this thread again.
