Nvidia SHIELD/Android app SSA/ASS format anime subtitles + transcoding problems

[sixones]

@nx6

Bonus: If a program is playing transcoded it many times will start but then pause immediately. This happens most when you are resuming a partially watched video. I forced that here by changing the Subtitle Burning option to “Always” later in my testing.

Will investigate this as well, shouldnt ever start paused. Do you only see this on the FireTV?

@nx6

I tried my other test file as well, but it didn’t try to play transcoded like it has been and it played back direct. Although, when doing additional attempts at playing it I did get the right-offset subs:

Hmm very odd that this happens, did you notice if it fixes itself and if it only happens when you resume from an offset, rather than the beginning?

Thanks for all the additional information, logs and test files, its been a huge help!

[TubeBoy]

My Shield TV Pro still forced transcoding with H265 10bit + external ASS sub : (

[nx6]

@sixones

Will investigate this as well, shouldnt ever start paused. Do you only see this on the FireTV?

I’ve tried here tonight on the Shield and I’m not able to reproduce the problem so far.

@sixones

Hmm very odd that this happens, did you notice if it fixes itself and if it only happens when you resume from an offset, rather than the beginning?

It seemed to play with the subs positioned fine the first time, but replays after that caused the subtitle offset issue. It would stay that way for the entire clip (which that test clip is only two minutes long). It didn’t really matter if I was playing from the beginning or resuming it.

I’ve also not been able to reproduce that issue on the Shield here tonight with any files. I did see the oversize and offset subs issues once on it a few nights back, just watching a show. But that was an earlier app build and it was only the very first line of subtitles at the start of the show, it was fine after that. I tried backing up to replay it at the time to get a picture but it didn’t happen again.

Speaking of oversize subs, it’s time for “Issues I Noticed Years Ago, and Never Reported”…

There is a setting for subtitle size on the Plex app, which I like because I find the default display size of SRT subs to be a little small on some smaller screens. But I don’t use that feature, because when I have it set it also changes the size of ASS subtitles (which are a fine size to start with). There is a secondary setting to “Override included subtitle styling” - but that does not work as designed since ASS subs are styled and even when it’s off the size change is still applied.

Subtitle size left on “Normal” Size:

After changing subtitle size to “Huge” (but with the override still off):

(that’s the Railgun test file I posted earlier, playing on the Shield Pro – transcoding automatically since it’s 10-bit).

Now that we can direct-play ASS subs, the issue is the opposite.
Even when you have the “Override included subtitle styling” set to on ASS subs play at their originally-scripted size and are not changed.

[Varo99]

That is interesting. My Galaxy S22+ direct played h265 10 bit with ASS.

[nx6]

We’re the subtitles external, though?

[TubeBoy]

Thanks for your finding, your workaround worked for me!
Set “Override included subtitle styling” on then we have direct play with external ASS sub.

[nx6]

@TubeBoy

Thanks for your finding, your workaround worked for me!
Set “Override included subtitle styling” on then we have direct play with external ASS sub.

I didn’t have a workaround, though.
It’s just an intermittent bug they are still looking at. The override is for the sizing preference and doesn’t do anything on direct play, even when turned on.

[sixones]

Still looking into an issue where external subtitles won’t load and end up falling back to transcoding. Also looking into the issue where the subtitles can be offset at times, but haven’t been able to replicate this just yet.

@TubeBoy

Set “Override included subtitle styling” on then we have direct play with external ASS sub.

This is unlikely to change how external ASS subtitles load, the issue loading them however is pretty random, most of the time it works and sometimes it won’t.

[SonicGD]

@sixones

Still looking into an issue where external subtitles won’t load and end up falling back to transcoding.

Hello. It happens for me in one show when i use autoplay or when i just quickly switch between episodes. Sometimes it uses direct play, sometimes transcode. Here log when direct play fails.
directplay_fail.txt (64.8 KB)

[ben_choi]

Is there new links for the download?

[FordGuy61]

Released. Update via app store.

Plex for Android

Plex for Android 9.7.0 Available on Google Play and the Amazon App Store. NOTE: We are performing a staged rollout, which means the update may take a day or two before it becomes available. WHATS NEW: LiveTV: What's On tab for Plex FAST channels. Player: full ASS/SSA subtitle support. [Mobile] Profile: pages to view the full Watchlist and all ratings. FIXES: LiveTV: tab separators on TVGuide could appear in multiple places. Search: use correct subtitle in header of location picker. Ensur…

[ben_choi]

Unfortunately that version isn’t available for my Hisense android yet.

[FordGuy61]

Does the TV use the Google or Amazon app store?

If Google, it should be available in ~24 hours. Plex does a staged rollout, and it can take a day or two to propagate everywhere. My Shield updated yesterday evening (US Central time zone).

If Amazon, it may take several days to become available. Amazon app approval process is slower than Google’s.

You can sideload if desired. Search on the Internet for “Sideload Android” or similar terms. The process is straightforward. I’ve used the Downloader app to sideload on a FireStick (no need for USB sticks/cables/debugging software on a PC,etc).

Note that sideloaded apps cannot be updated via the app store. To resume normal updates, delete the sideloaded version and re-install the app store version.

[nx6]

I just checked and 9.7.0 is available to me now on the Play Store on my HiSense. Might try having it recheck for updates now @ben_choi

[Micha11]

Are you going to remove the transcoding for the ass subtitles ?

Thanks

[DynamiC1998]

I am glad to see that the player is finally supporting ASS. However, I noticed that when the “ScaledBorderAndShadow” parameter is not set in the subtitle file, then the player sets it to “no” by default, unlike MPV, for example, which sets it to “yes”.

You can see the difference in the rendering when this parameter is set to “yes” or “no” here → unknown | Slowpoke Pics

So if we could change this default behavior to something similar to MPV, that would be great (The setting is on “yes” by default).

Thanks

[Walt_Draper]

@sixones

This looks to of been caused by the update to libass (to the latest revision), I’ve managed to isolate the changes:

Using libass 0.14.0:

Using libass 0.16.0:

It looks like in 0.15.0 they made improvements to outline rendering and changed how it behaves so that it’s likely to be correct now, and was incorrect before. I will see if I can confirm this with someone who works on libass.

@sixones

@Walt_Draper

This also occurs in mpv player but after pasting sub-ass-vsfilter-blur-compat=no in the config fixes this

@nx6

I’ve always seen this as a difference of opinion on how to render subtitles that are being upscaled to a higher-resolution display device. You would see it on MPC-HC’s internal subtitle renderer vs a external filter being used. It boiled down to: When you scale up the font size on text are outlines/shadows also supposed to be scaled up? Or should an outline of, say, 2 pixels still be an outline of only two pixels at the new target resolution.

Will see if we can do something similar and set this option on libass, as I agree it looks better with the bigger border.

any update regarding this? @sixones

[sensei321]

So now that SSA/ASS is pretty functional in the stable build the only thing missing is an advanced “secret” option for software playback of Hi10P on capable devices.
Are you up for the challenge of implementing it @sixones ?

[shavit]

NVIDIA SHIELD Pro 2019 - Latest beta version (Play Store) and the last build provided here in the thread:
Subtitles appear and disappear slightly more delayed than intended.

Example when watching on SHIELD: https://streamable.com/tdz2u6
Results are fine when transcoding and watching on the SHIELD.

Example when watching with mpv on Windows: https://streamable.com/0zcizz

[Colin1224]

I can confirm this issue. Subtitles seem to be delayed roughly 2 or more frames at 24 fps on the Shield Pro 2019, so they are showing up late and leaving late. This isn’t too obvious during dialog, but it’s pretty clear for on-screen text.

I also tried it on my phone (Pixel 6 Pro) and the issue seems to exist there, but it’s less obvious. Maybe because of the phone’s greater processing power over the shield or maybe because my phone is displaying at 120Hz vs 24Hz on the shield (refresh rate switching)?

I tested it out on my Shield with refresh rate switching on vs off, and the issue was much more obvious at 24Hz vs 60hz despite the fact that the content is always 24fps. I don’t know much about how subs are displayed, but should the subs be displaying at the display’s refresh rate, or should they be staying in sync with the video’s fps?