Could be, but all I did was install it, point it at and SSD with 4K movies, and then tried to lay them. It failed, I removed it. (I’ve been using VLC).
I agree as well about subtitles, I often end up reviewing video quality of the latest DVD rips on my Plex server on inner city road trips. Let a friend drive and listen to their music as loud as they want. Of course. I cant hear “diddly” as I review my Plex rips for quality control, or just to catch a flick on long rides. In which case, subtitles are a mercy!
I’d go mad without that service and use it many more times a month now, than I ever thought I would. I rip all my dvd’s to my server in English (my primary) and Spanish. Living in Arizona you can’t help having friends of all races and creeds.
Not to mention, friends who have their children with them over for various events, birthdays, long weekends, etc. make so much noise… Again for those not interested in the conversation can still watch the movie.
Subtitles are a fantastic addition to Plex. Not to mention, should I ever actually entertain someone with hearing impairment, I won’t be embarrassed to tell them, "Oh… Sorry. I went through all the trouble to rip all these dvds. Just not for you. lol.
No thanks.
I want to keep any friends I have, regardless of their (or my) various disorders or handicaps.
In short, I believe subtitles have their place even for non impaired folks. The point is, they ARE there. If needed. Its fantastic! This is of course my opinion and anyone my feel free to disagree, just be sure to keep that to yourself! HAHA! Peace!
What DVDs are you ripping that don’t include the subtitles? Or are you saying you forgot to rip the subtitles so it’s handy to have Plex download them after the fact? Or do you have people watching that are outside the DVD’s target market?
I’m just curious how or why this feature is used by people.
If you have some really, really old DVD’s, and you use MakeMKV, the subtitle track is lost in the translation somehow. MakeMKV works great for newer DVD’s that use the sub/idx format, but not so well with ones that use the old fashioned CC method.
You can still get the subtitles thru the DVD (if they are available, it wasn’t always a requirement) by using software that is as old as the DVD. I have some old ripping software that is on a floppy disc. No idea how I would actually get it onto my computer if I actually needed to re-install it that way. Good thing it’s o a backup DVD disc 
That is interesting. I usually re-compress things in Handbrake to save space and include all available subtitle tracks. If none exist I’ve assumed they didn’t exist on the disc. Now I wonder how many just didn’t get ripped.
I started just ripping my collection of DVDs one night after spending an inordinate amount of time, digging through the three army style foot lockers I’ve been filling up with my most favorite movies since… Well since DVDs became a popular media choice. Especially after Blockbuster Video went under. I had a store down the street and got an early warning about the sale of all their store inventory, just before the store closed their doors forever. I went in an purchased as many DVDs as I could afford. I ended up with a couple hundred 5 star movies, basically one night before the public picked it clean the following day,. The weeks that followed sold out the less favorable picks. I did go back a few times as money allowed.
At any rate, those dvds have become more a chore than an enjoyment, to “dig through” just to find “that one”, I had not already seen or had a friend over who wanted to watch a particular movie… Id be digging through movies again lol.
As far as subtitles go, I have Spanish speaking friends as well as English. I don;t want them to feel left out if we bbq or do Superbowl. Parents watching the game in one room and disinterested friends, wives and kids watching movies in the other.
I realized during a drive across town with a friend, driving I could review my newly ripped movies and such for quality and on occasion, I could watch an entire movie on the ride across town. Had a really hard time hearing so I started ripping them all with the subtitles available.
Mostly, I’m a perfectionist with regard to projects and simply prefer my movies to play exactly as they can off a dvd. Now its just a habit after about the last 150 rips lol.
Sorry so long, I hope I answered a few questions lol.
- Have a great week!
MakeMKV has always supported all subtitle formats that I’m aware. Of course CC isn’t used on DVR or Blu-ray but subtitles are which are two different things.
I think a lot of people “blame” MakeMKV for a problem caused by conversion programs they run after ripping. If you don’t setup your converting program to extract or keep the subs then they could be easily eliminated at that point in the chain.
I’ve got DVDs I ripped years and years ago and have the full sub tracks for all of them.
Yeah, I do too. You might be right, but older DVD’s would have a closed caption track, rather than a subtitle track in the idx/sub format. Here in Canada, I would often be able to extract the french subtitle, but the English one went missing.One subtitle track was in one format, the other subtitle in another. The DVD box/cover even sort of listed it that way - English CC and French subtitles.
CC is completely different than subtitles. CC are used in the broadcast industry and the information is embedded in the video itself. Subtitles are separate tracks just like the video and audio tracks.
There are two main types of subtitle tracks which are image based or text based. Most people use SRT type subtitles these days which are one form of the text based variety.
The DVD box you reference is likely wrong but might not be. DVDs can be produced with CC (since it’s embedded in the video) but a DVD player doesn’t have to respect it (unlike a subtitle) because it’s not part of the DVD spec.
It’s much harder to produce a DVD with CC in it because the source is compressed down to ridiculous bitrates and sizes to fit on the puny disc (as we know). The compression can kill CC info but wouldn’t have any affect on a subtitle since it’s a different track just like audio is.
I really wish they were in trouble. They deserve it for selling us to Tidal&co.
Not disagreeing with you at all. If I used the right software, I could extract the CC track. That is actually what they were, the box and cover descriptions were correct. 
However, MakeMKV didn’t retain the data for the CC track. It might now, but there were many posts on the forum there regarding the subject at the time. I know the only way I had to get CC subtitles off of the Canadian DVD’s was with an old program called DVD-Decrypter (I think that was the name) It kept the CC info when it ripped the DVD.
I then used another program to convert the CC to srt files. (CC extractor???) It was pretty quick, I think the CC info was actually text based, it only took a minute or two in the worst case. In any event, one program didn’t read and maintain the sub/idx files, and the other didn’t read or keep the CC info.
Agreed, out of all the plugins, Trakt is the only one I use. Hopefully they will add support for that service directly to plex.
TimT
The thing is if it was CC and you copied the video track then you also got the CC as well. CC is part of the video itself, it’s not a separate track. It’s “encoded” into line 21 of the vertical blanking interval if the video which is part of the TV picture that sits just above the visible portion for North American NTSC content. ATSC (digital) has expanded options but roughly the same and still used line 21.
PAL/SECAM used teletext and not CC and was more versatile.
CC extractor or others built from it will extract most but not all CC information from videos if it’s in line 21. It does in fact convert to the SRT format which is a simple text file with the text wording and time codes.
If you still have the DVD disc it would be cool to try and rip that disc again completely. Use MakeMKV and then try playing it back in VLC right after ripping to see it has the CC embedded or not.
I don’t miss DVDs at all! Seems weird to say or think about it but the quality you can record off TV these days is much better quality then the way DVDs were mastered. If only the networks didn’t display those nasty channel logos on the screen (work of the devil)! LOL
I knew I wasn’t crazy. Here’s some screenshots from an old “When Harry Met Sally” DVD. The cover shows Spanish and French subtitles and the “CC” logo for English closed captions. MakeMkv refused to see the English subtitles, and VLC couldn’t find the English CC track to use from that rip. I also tried ffmpeg and ffprobe, and both told me there was no English subtitle of any kind.
But, when I found an old copy of DVD Decrypter and installed it, and ripped the DVD, VLC can see the English CC and play them, and I can extract the CC as a srt file. Ffmpeg tells me there is a closed caption track in the mpeg2 video.
The CC info might be included in the MakeMKV rip, but I have never been able to get to it, and I think I’ve tried almost everything that my best friend Google told me to try. 
MakeMKV won’t need to see CC as it’s embedded. It’s not listed as a track. Some other programs will list CC as a “virtual” track but it’s really not a track at all.
Just rip everything and then try and play it back in VLC.
I did exactly that — you see the results. There is not an embedded CC track in the MakeMKV rip. As I said, VLC doesn’t see it, or any other media player I have. ffmpeg doesn’t see it either.
@cayars here’s the ffmpeg output from the MakeMKV rip:
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'title00.mkv':
Metadata:
encoder : libmakemkv v1.12.3 (1.3.5/1.4.7) win(x64-release)
--- bunch of chapter metadata here ---
Stream #0:0(eng): Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m, progressive), 720x480 [SAR 32:27 DAR 16:9], SAR 186:157 DAR 279:157, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 1k tbn, 59.94 tbc
and this from the other ripping software: the closed captions are included in the video track:
Input #0, mpeg, from 'VTS_07_1.vob':
Stream #0:0[0x1bf]: Data: dvd_nav_packet
Stream #0:1[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m, progressive), 720x480 [SAR 32:27 DAR 16:9], Closed Captions, 31 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
I’d be happy if you can tell me how to see the CC data in the MakeMKV rip, with ffmpeg or whatever, but I don’t think it’s there.
What does media info show you?
If it is embedded, I would think Handbrake should see it also, as an optional track to add. Handbrake does see the CC tracks from OTA broadcast recordings.
I actually hope you can prove me wrong, cause this has been a headache when I rip old DVD’s., so I’ve attached the MediaInfo from both rips. I don’t see a reference to any sort of CC info in the MakeMKV rip, but I might not know where to look. However, it’s clearly there in the Media info from the DVD-Decrypter rip. Just sayin… 
I’ve also included the full ffmpeg info from both rips in the attached file. It basically says the same thing. You will notice that the old software doesn’t include the French and Spanish idx/sub subtitles in the rip, only the English CC.
I have never used Handbrake, but I might download it and try if you can convince me the English CC are there.
MediaInfo.zip (4.2 KB)
