# Plex / AppleTV / Massive issues with subtitles **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124 "2016-10-29T21:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ken.beaudry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5e925/32.png) [@ken.beaudry](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ken.beaudry)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/1 "2016-10-29T21:24:56Z")
Good day all, I had posted about this in the non plex pass forums with no responses, so I thought I would try here. I am having a massive issue with Plex and AppleTV with subtitles. Server Version: 1.2.3.2914 Apple TV Client: 1.4 When I play almost any movie with subtitles, it will not start. If I turn the subtitles off before playing, it plays fine. When I try to play with subtitles on, all I get is the spinning circle. I am not sure what to do, as it makes some content really hard to watch when you can’t get the subtitles to display for non-English. This is happening with almost any mkv I play. If I turn direct stream off on the ATV client and have subtitles on, it seems to work, but then I am getting a CPU hit on the server. I am not sure what else I can do. Please see the media info below for one example. If anyone else has experienced this and knows of a solution, I would be grateful for any assistance. Thank you all video: Direct Stream Audio: Transcode (ac3) Media Duration 1:35:31 Video Profile high Video Frame Rate 24p Container MKV Aspect Ratio 2.35 Height 536 Width 1280 Bitrate 6541 kbps Video Resolution 720p Audio Profile dts Part Size 4.36 GB Duration 1:35:31 Video Profile high Container MKV File Ghost Rider - Spirit of Vengeance.mkv Audio Profile dts Language English Duration 1:35:31 Height 536 Width 1280 Bitrate 5032 kbps Scan Type progressive Ref Frames 5 Profile high Pixel Format yuv420p Level 4.1 Frame Rate Mode cfr Frame Rate 23.976 fps Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0 CABAC true Bit Depth 8 Codec H264 Language English Duration 1:35:31 Bitrate 1509 kbps Profile dts Bit Depth 24 Codec DCA Sampling Rate 48000 Hz Bitrate Mode CBR Audio Channel Layout 5.1(side) Channels 5.1 Title Forced Language English Codec SRT Format SRT Forced true Language English Codec SRT Format SRT Language English Codec SRT Format SRT ---
**Author:** ![ntrevena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ntrevena/32/20931_2.png) [@ntrevena](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ntrevena)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/2 "2016-10-30T22:09:34Z")
I’ve noticed Subtitles seem to be a bit hit or miss with my library and devices. When you disable direct play on your client, and you choose subtitles, the server burns the subs into the video during transcoding, this is why you get a CPU hit on the server. I’ve got some movies that play with subtitles just fine, others that dont. I’ve noticed that A.S.S (excuse the periods, it was detected as foul language) subtitles are the worst. In cases like those, I tend to look for an external SRT to use, instead of the embedded subtitles, which seems to resolve most of the issues. Some places to look: - [http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search](http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search) - [https://isubtitles.net/](https://isubtitles.net/) - [http://www.english-subtitles.pro/](http://www.english-subtitles.pro/) I hope it helps a little 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ken.beaudry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5e925/32.png) [@ken.beaudry](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ken.beaudry)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/3 "2016-10-30T23:03:43Z")
Thank you very much. At least I know that I am not alone with these issues. I appreciate the response and the links. ---
**Author:** ![ntrevena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ntrevena/32/20931_2.png) [@ntrevena](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ntrevena)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/4 "2016-10-30T23:08:12Z")
> @ken.beaudry said: > Thank you very much. At least I know that I am not alone with these issues. > > I appreciate the response and the links. No problem. If you have a video with embedded subs, you can extract them to an SRT file using ffmpeg like this: `ffmpeg -i Movie.mkv -map 0:s:0 subs.srt` ---
**Author:** ![ken.beaudry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5e925/32.png) [@ken.beaudry](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ken.beaudry)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/5 "2016-10-30T23:10:27Z")
🙂 thank you very much for that!! I think I will have to do that for all my media that has forced Eng for foreign audio. I appreciate your help. thank you ---
**Author:** ![ntrevena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ntrevena/32/20931_2.png) [@ntrevena](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ntrevena)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/6 "2016-10-30T23:13:51Z")
> @ken.beaudry said: > 🙂 thank you very much for that!! I think I will have to do that for all my media that has forced Eng for foreign audio. > > I appreciate your help. thank you All good. Just remember to rename the SRT file to the same as your video. So if the video is `my.tv.show.s01e01.mp4`, then the SRT file should be `my.tv.show.s01e01.srt`. 🙂 Plex will autodetect it, and relate it to the correct video. ---
**Author:** ![daan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/daan/32/86276_2.png) [@daan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/daan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/7 "2016-10-31T00:05:39Z")
Yep, it’s the same on iOS. It’s indeed hit or miss. Even with files that have the _exact_ same media info (including the exact same subtitle format), one might work and the other not. I have to wonder whether it has something to do with the fix in PMS 1.2.3: (Streaming Brain) Issues transcoding sidecar subtitles while Direct Playing a video. (#5540) This seems to be related to the issue. In the Plex Media Server log I see: `subtitles => sidecar`. But sidecar subtitles are external files right? All my files have embedded subtitles. Could it be that it’s trying to load external subtitles where there aren’t any? When the movie is endlessly loading my CPU % stays low, so it’s not trying to burn in the subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![ntrevena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ntrevena/32/20931_2.png) [@ntrevena](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ntrevena)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/8 "2016-10-31T00:09:49Z")
> @daan said: > Yep, it’s the same on iOS. It’s indeed hit or miss. Even with files that have the _exact_ same media info (including the exact same subtitle format), one might work and the other not. I have to wonder whether it has something to do with the fix in PMS 1.2.3: > > (Streaming Brain) Issues transcoding sidecar subtitles while Direct Playing a video. (#5540) > > This seems to be related to the issue. In the Plex Media [Server log](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) I see: `subtitles => sidecar`. But sidecar subtitles are external files right? All my files have embedded subtitles. Could it be that it’s trying to load external subtitles where there aren’t any? When the movie is endlessly loading my CPU % stays low, so it’s not trying to burn in the subtitles. Odd, I’m not certain. Could you perhaps post your logs? Someone here might have more information to help 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![daan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/daan/32/86276_2.png) [@daan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/daan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/9 "2016-10-31T00:21:54Z")
Sure. For the Plex Media Server log, playback starts at 23:33. For the Plex for iOS log, playback starts at 00:14. ---
**Author:** ![ntrevena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ntrevena/32/20931_2.png) [@ntrevena](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ntrevena)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/10 "2016-10-31T00:37:03Z")
> @daan said: > Sure. For the Plex Media [Server log,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) playback starts at 23:33. For the Plex for [iOS log,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201636593-ios-logs/) playback starts at 00:14. Ok, had a quick look. While I cant figure out the exact issue, I have found a couple of errors that may be related: `2016/10/31 00:14:12.780 (130 MB) (774432) E PMKAVQueuePlayer.m:117 | New error log entry: ` and `2016/10/31 00:10:15.715 (59 MB) (774469) E PMKConnectionManager.m:717 | Error when testing connection [https://10-0-1-3.3b02ac86a07a4271944a2232be0eb2a4.plex.direct:32400 - 10.0.1.3:32400 (plex,discovered,direct)] for standard server NAS - f1ea50a7db99916f0f30738a033ba14c18114f1d: Error Domain=PMKHTTPResponseError Code=401 "(null)"` They seem to both kinda point to login token problems. Is it possible for you to logout of your server; your device and also myplex (the web app [https://app.plex.tv/web/app](https://app.plex.tv/web/app)), and then log them all back in again? I know it has nothing to do with the subtitles directly, but it may help resolve some of the connection issues. _fingers crossed_🙂 ---
**Author:** ![daan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/daan/32/86276_2.png) [@daan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/daan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/11 "2016-10-31T17:18:27Z")
I’ve just completely uninstalled (logging all off, deleting all data etc.) and installed PMS to 1.2.3, and the issue is still present. So it’s most definitely not a login issue. For the files that don’t work, when I disable subtitles they play fine, but when I enable subtitles, they hang. Once again, it’s not hanging because it wants to burn in subtitles and transcode the video. I’d love to hear from any of the Plex folks what the reason is. ---
**Author:** ![ken.beaudry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5e925/32.png) [@ken.beaudry](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ken.beaudry)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/12 "2016-10-31T20:06:37Z")
Yup, you seem to have the exact same problem that I have been experiencing > @daan said: > For the files that don’t work, when I disable subtitles they play fine, but when I enable subtitles, they hang. I have let the AppleTV site there for 10 minutes waiting to see if anything happens, but all it does is just spin with little/no CPU activity ---
**Author:** ![daan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/daan/32/86276_2.png) [@daan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/daan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/13 "2016-11-04T13:16:51Z")
To be sure, 1.2.4 and 1.2.5 didn’t solve this problem. Are the Plex devs even aware it? I’d love to hear at least an acknowledgement of the problem. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jrozelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jrozelle](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jrozelle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/14 "2016-11-07T17:26:19Z")
Hi, Exactly the same problem here, spinning circle for movie with mkv srt, playing fine when subtitles deactivated. No problem with Tv show subtitle (same kind, mkv with embedded srt). ---
**Author:** ![chazplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@chazplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chazplex)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/15 "2016-11-10T01:09:10Z")
FYI – I just started running into the issue with PMS version 1.2.7.2987 regardless of which device I use for playback (2016 Roku Streaming Stick, iOS, AppleTV 4, or macOS). The files are Norwegian, with embedded Norwegian subtitles and external English SRT’s. The embedded subtitles are always available to select, the English SRT’s are inconsistent. Sometimes they’re available initially, but then they disappear during playback and don’t show up in the list to reselect. Other times even though they’re identically named to the corresponding video file, they don’t show up at all. They also sometimes appear as a selection and after turning them on, they don’t appear. Until it’s fixed, I’ve resorted to re-encoding them with the English subtitles burned in using [VideoConverterUltimate](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videoconverterultimate/id423292019?mt=12 "VideoConverterUltimate") prior to copying them over to Plex. ---
**Author:** ![jjrjr1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jjrjr1/32/10993_2.png) [@jjrjr1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jjrjr1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/16 "2016-11-10T01:20:21Z")
Subtitles definitely are not ready for prime time. My PMS is i7 with SSD for transcoding and it can consume 100% CPU for just 1 1080p file with subtitles. Now my DVD player can overlay subtitles just fine. My dvd player has a more powerful CPU?? Do not know what Plex is doing here. Do they use the ffmpeg switch “overlay filter”? Dunno… ---
**Author:** ![daan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/daan/32/86276_2.png) [@daan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/daan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/17 "2016-12-06T20:14:03Z")
I’ve given up and use Infuse for the time being. Infuse has its drawbacks, but the playback is much quicker and it plays DTS. 🙂 But please let me know when you decide to look into the subtitle issue. ---
**Author:** ![AlekT](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/alekt/32/702_2.png) [@AlekT](https://forums.plex.tv/u/AlekT)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/18 "2017-02-18T13:44:45Z")
Have the exact same issue and have also had to resort to using Infuse. It’s disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-appletv-massive-issues-with-subtitles/165124/19 "2020-01-07T22:08:55Z")