Continuing the discussion from Non-forced Subtitles NOT default anymore:
Plex seems to prefer to use a Forced sub even though I have a non-forced sub and settings set appropriately.
Plex will ALWAYS use a forced sub first. <— in the default language.
The ‘forced sub’ settings you enabled is for ‘Searches’ only I would imagine. Sub look-ups at opensubtitles for Plex Pass members. That won’t change the power of an existing Forced Subtitle. It rules the day.
So there is absolutely no way for it to prefer a non-forced sub that’s available?
Other than ‘de-flagging’ or removing those forced subs - no.
Plex gives top priority to forced subs, 'cause in their normal use they MUST be played above ALL others.
You could flag those forced subs with another language. That’ll stop 'em dead.
Just to be clear, Forced subs are the subs that are in the same container as the video file but not in the video stream, right?
Do you know of any programs on Linux that can scrub subs from video files?
How?
Keep in mind that the auto-selection only works on videos where you didn’t touch the audio and subtitle selectors before.
Forced Subs are ‘Flagged’ in the video thusly:
(Note: Text 1 is Forced - Text 2 is Not)
General
Unique ID : 15125292195752520219533589625215761978 (0xB61067B17A6194128CFC3FCF25DBE3A)
Complete name : G:\TV - Sci-Fi\Star Trek Picard\Season 01\Star Trek Picard - S01E01 - Remembrance.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 962 MiB
Duration : 44 min 18 s
Overall bit rate : 3 036 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2020-01-31 16:16:31
Writing application : Lavf58.26.100
Writing library : Lavf58.26.100
ErrorDetectionType : Per level 1
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 44 min 18 s
Bit rate : 2 650 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Variable
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Stream size : 821 MiB (85%)
Writing library : x264 core 157 r2935 545de2f
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2650 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 44 min 18 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 122 MiB (13%)
Title : English
Writing library : Lavc58.46.100 ac3_fixed
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 9 min 25 s
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : Yes
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 42 min 18 s
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : :Amazon Original
00:00:06.006 : :Keep the game from ending
00:04:01.116 : :Activating a new weapon
00:06:55.081 : :Opening Credits
00:08:33.013 : :An important interview
00:16:38.164 : :Dahj finds Picard
00:22:06.033 : :A clue hidden in a painting
00:26:33.092 : :Focus and find help
00:28:08.020 : :The truth about Dahj
00:33:49.069 : :A visit to Okinawa Research Facility
00:40:38.061 : :Another sad story
00:43:17.095 : :End Credits
Or if external srt files, they’ll be ‘flagged’ like this:
Star Trek Picard - S01E01 - Remembrance.mkv
Star Trek Picard - S01E01 - Remembrance.eng.forced.srt
Internals can be either - depending on their flag - as can externals.
You can easily change the flag for internals with MKVToolNix or similar.
The ‘Header Editor’ is all you need - no remux necessary.
Of course not.
Thank you. That clears it.
Is it possible to automate this with Sonarr/Radarr?
I have no idea.
This will sort it in seconds:
If you have two tracks - and are CERTAIN you don’t want those Forced subs - remove them 'cause if they’re not flagged, they’ll just be a constant irritant.
You will need the multiplexer for a ‘de-mux’ of tracks.
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Was that output made with mediainfo?
It was.
I just:
CTL/A - CTL/C
That’s simply wrong.
If you set it to ‘always enabled’, then it should use ‘full’/‘non-forced’ subs.
This sounds like a bug.
I don’t think it is a good idea to modify your files to work around a bug in Plex.
Is your server signed into your plex account? If it is not, the settings in your account don’t apply. You then want to go to Settings - Server - Languages instead.
I hope it’s not a bug.
In a ‘users’ mind (particularly this one) - it’s working perfectly:
I have a full sub track (containing both language lines), but if I do nothing - forced plays - as it should.
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You want ‘Shown with foreign audio’ then. This will activate ‘forced’ subs if present.
Otto - it’s working exactly as expected with ‘Always On’ selected.
Shown with Foreign Audio means I’ll get no subs at all unless they’re forced or I’m watching a Chinese Language film e.g.
I want the subs on always, but if there’s a forced track I want that one in priority - in case I’m lazy and don’t switch tracks for the full.
That doesn’t make sense to me. If I say ‘always use subtitles’ then I’m implying that I need them in every part of the movie, due to bad hearing. So I always want the ‘full’ subs.
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What’s the difference between a forced sub and a normal one?
Well, if there isn’t a forced track or file gumming up the works it’ll work as you expect - and if there is - it’s working as I expect.
It’s been this way for as long as I can remember and I’ve built my whole life and everything I hold dear around it…lol
A Forced sub only has the foreign language lines in it.
A Good full sub has All Languages - but then there are those times…
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As far as Plex is concerned, ‘forced’ is a subtitle which only contains translations for dialog in a foreign language or translations for on-screen text (e.g. in signs or documents) in a foreign language.
e.g. You understand english and you have a movie with a mainly english audio track and ‘forced’ english subs. If some character in the movie starts speaking spanish or russian or whatever, the forced subtitles kick in and show these parts translated into english.
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Aren’t those supposed to be hardcoded by the content makers?
