Historically I have baked forced subs into reencoded copies of movies. Does PLEX have a way to handle forced subtitles? I’m still open to the format of the files but thinking MKV for the container. If it can handle it, would the subs be in the container, next to it on the drive? How are they supposed to be named between the forced vs the regular subs? Using an NVidia Shield Pro by the way with a stand alone PLEX server if it matters.
Subtitles in a MKV or MP4 container can be flagged as forced.
Use the Header Editor in MKVToolNix to set the flag in MKV files.
For the MP4 container I use Subler, which is Mac only.
Edit: For MP4s, you can also use XMedia Recode (Windows) to remux the file and set the forced flag for subtitles. Remuxing to set one flag is a bit of overkill. I’m sure there’s a better tool, just not aware of it.
External subtitles must follow a specific naming format and be located in the same directory as the movie/tv show/etc…
Example:
Avatar (2009).mkv
Avatar (2009).eng.forced.srt
See Using Subtitles support docs for more info:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/using-subtitles/
Additionally, you must tell Plex to enable subtitles when necessary
“Shown with foreign audio”
This is actually almost impossible with XR.
XR will set the flag to forced - if it’s rendering. It can’t copy a sub file to a stream and set it’s forced flag.
I’m annoyed by that every time I have to fire up MKVToolNix to do it right before it goes to he library - 'cause almost always I forget and have to do it really fast before Plex sees it…lol
Anywho - if you’re not pressed for time in panic mode - XR does put the forced track first, the full track second (how I always place them), and ideally you do this before it goes to the library, but if you’re fast you can catch it - or just wait a minute until the gears stop whirring:
^Setting the flag is a Header Edit and does not require a remux^
(really fast - as in instant)
MediaInfo: MediaInfo - Download
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
If I’m Handbraking an item with Forced Subs and there aren’t many lines of foreign dialog I will ‘Burn’ the Forced track in with HB. If doing that I remove the Forced track lines from the full sub track with Subtitle Edit - so if selected they won’t be doubled on the screen.
If there are a LOT of foreign language lines I just run two tracks - one forced, one full - so If I do nothing Plex already has the Forced Track on. If I turn it off and run the full track it has the foreign language lines intact so I get it all.
LOL - I thought I was the only one with a severe enough case of OCD to take that extra step.
1 Like
I only needed to see it once - trigger an OCD panic room situation - then realize what has to happen to prevent same…lol
1 Like
Thanks for the clarification.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
