I know there are a ton of threads about the subtitle challenges but nothing that I can find to help a complete stranger to them.
I watch 100% English content. When the language switches as naturally happens during a movie, no subtitles are displayed. If I hop into the playback settings the only option I have is English SRT. No idea what that means but if I turn it on I get the complete closed captioning. All that I want is subtitles to appear as intended by the filmmaker.
What am I missing? Is there a 101 how to guide? I’ve run through the server settings and set my default language but other than that I’m at a loss.
If you are watching a film that has infrequent foreign language sections (The Godfather, Star Wars, Lord of the RIngs), those movies normally have the non-english language hard burned into the video, just as you would see it in the theaters.
If you downloaded a version of a film that didn’t do that, you will need to either find a non-english only SRT file ( SubRip Subtitle files) to add externally (or MUX it in with MKVToolNix) or see if one of the available subtitle files you can add via plex are set up that way. The subtitle file is just a text file with a timecode stamp for start and stop and a line or two of text. You can manually edit them in notepad to get what you want if you use external SRT files. The text in them looks like this>>>
1
00:03:16,280 → 00:03:18,700
Please, please, you must come quick.
2
00:03:18,824 → 00:03:21,334
There’s a woman lying dead
out on the moors.
3
00:03:29,751 → 00:03:33,341
It’s alright, miss.
No need for you to take another look.
Find a line in there you don’t want, delete it. If you don’t want “There’s a woman lying dead out on the moors”, you can either delete just that test or everything in that block including the #2 that starts it and resave the file.
But nothing, PLEX or anything else that I’m aware of, knows how to parse an SRT file to only give you part of what is in it.
Super helpful, thank you. One quick follow-up question; is it possible to turn off subtitles that are hard burned into the file? I’ve just looked at one of the files that I had an issue with in MKVToolNix. It shows the Subrip/SRT subtitle with a checkbox yet when I play the video, nothing
I think we need to be clear about terminology.
Hard subtitles / burned in subtitles refer to the subtitle being integrated into the video stream itself. Those cannot be enabled or disabled… they’re just part of the video.
Soft subtitles are the ones you can enable/disable – they can be a separate stream/track inside your media file or stored in a separate file (e.g. SRT).
Can you check the content of that SRT file to see when the first sample is supposed to show? Some subtitle files only contain the subtitles for certain parts (e.g. those where language other than the actual audio track language is spoken)… By checking out when the first sample is to appear you can see if that sample appears when watching the video.
Thanks for clarifying. Just checked the file and there is nothing defined under Timestamps and default duration so I assume it’s the full subtitle file meaning everything.
I was referring to the content of the actual SRT – not its metadata.
If you’re using an MKV file and the SRT is embedded into the file, you can export it to check it out. You’ll see its content will look like what tramp78 posted above
One type is the normal just English subs. This is what you would expect in closed captioning.
Another is just the Foreign language parts of an English language movie. This will be a subset of the above.
The third is often labeled SDH which are Subtitles for the Deaf or Hard-of-hearing. These are a superset of the first with added subs for sound effects and music. So you might see stuff like (gunshot) or (Screaming).
There have been times when I wanted a subtitle file and all I could get was the SDH and I had to manually edit out everything I didn’t want in order to get the version I did.
MKVToolNIx is good for adding a sub file to the movie but without burning it to the video so it becomes an optional sub if you want it. You can also add alternative audio tracks if you want to add a commentary from a low quality version of a file ot a high quality version that doesn’t have it.
That always depends on what software you use and in what format you rip them.
MP4 files are technically not supposed to support image based subtitles (as you find them on DVDs or BluRays) – therefore they won’t survive “ripping” unless you have a program that either downloads compatible SRTs or converts your image based subtitles into SRTs (like scanning a document and recognizing the text… usually that’s producing mixed results).
If you use an app like MakeMKV you can configure it to keep the original streams and subtitles – however those files will also be significantly bigger and less compatible.
When ripping out with MakeMKV - the Forced Subs are the sub tracks with the fewest elements. MakeMKV is highly recommended - as is maintaining wanted subs, particularly Forced, from the original material. That stuff is hard to find after the fact.
When using Handbrake, for instance, sub tracks aren’t automatically maintained - unless HB is set to do that automatically - in a somewhat tedious procedure that isn’t immediately apparent to the User.
Also noteworthy:
Most DVD/BluRay provide Image Based Subtitles (PGS/VOB), that cause all sorts of issues for Players not able to Direct Play Image Based Subtitles. Another somewhat tedious procedure with more software - Subtitle Edit - facilitates the change of Image Based to Text Based.
Ain’t nuthin’ easy, is it?
You might find something here - on occasion:
https://subscene.com/
(just might save your bacon some day - it’s saved mine more than once)
It is not that easy. If you simply use a text editor for doing that, you will end up with an invalid SRT file, which doesn’t play that well in some client types.
The numbers of these lines need to start at 1 and they need to be consecutive and have no missing numbers.
One better uses a subtitle editor software, which is automatically taking care of this. Like e.g. Nikse.dk
Wow, a lot more complicated than I thought. I use handbrake so that would explain the issue. I guess I wouldn’t have a problem manually editing the file but there’s literally no way to know what is needed as everything is in there, regardless of language. I’d have to watch the movie, pause and edit.
You’ll use MakeMKV first, so you can maintain the subs and audio tracks you need - and not rip out that which you don’t need - then from there you can Handbrake. Trust me - the two-step process is quicker (and cleaner) in the long run.
I’ve never run into this in practice. If you try to import an SRT file with missing numbers into an editor you might get a glitch but when you mux it into a show it just skips the entries that aren’t there.
