Server Version#: 1.16.3.1402
Player Version#: multiple
First of, the server version I run is the last known to me where this issue didn’t exist. If there is one after 1.18.3, which is now forced upon us, please, do tell.
My language settings (server and player):
Prefer audio tracks in: Japanese
Subtitle mode: Shown with foreign audio
Prefer subtitles in: English
My situation on 1.16.3.1402:
I watch my anime, get Japanese audio and English subtitles as I set them. I watch my English show, get English audio and no subtitles.
Every server version thereafter:
I watch my anime, get Japanese audio and no English subtitles because Japanese is my preferred language. I watch my English show, get English audio and English subtitles because you guessed it, English audio is not what I prefer.
To my knowledge 1.16.3.1402 was the last version where “Shown with foreign audio” meant “subtitle language differs from audio track language”. After that it meant “subtitle language differs from preferred audio track language” which makes no sense.
Whenever I updated my server (and afterward rolled back for obvious reasons) it would play my anime in Japanese without English subtitles and my English shows with English subtitles. Absolutely bonkers.
It really wasn’t a problem until now: This is a friendly announcement that we will soon be increasing the minimum version of Plex Media Server required by our player apps to 1.18.3 or newer. This new minimum version will be required in our Roku app shortly, and other player apps will soon follow.
Now my friend can now no longer access my server after her TV updated the Plex app. I would just stay on this version forever and never update my players but I’m pretty sure she can’t rollback a TV app version.
What you were getting was actually a bug. That’s not what those settings were meant to do.
Preferred Audio language - the language you want your videos to use if it is available
Shown with foreign audio - show subtitles when the audio track is any language other than the preferred one
Preferred Subtitle language - when a subtitle is needed due to the above setting, use this language
If nothing else this gave me a good laugh. A bug trying to make sense of a human decision.
May we get this “bug” as a separate option? The “subtitle language differs from audio track language”-option? You may call it Bug’s Choice or Skynet’s Way, something.
Some of them have multiple audio tracks (not restricted to Japanese and English only) and some don’t (because they were never dubbed). My friend does actually prefer to watch English dubs when possible, so I’d like to keep them.
Anyhow, with the “bug” this setting is unnecessary as it always checks whether the audio and subtitle tracks’ languages are the same or not. Preferred audio language in this case simply means “play as default if existent”. In my eyes, this is also the sole case for when the “intended” behaviour works. But maybe that’s just me, thinking that a language can’t be foreign to itself. Although that is of course the primary definition of “foreign”.
you are absolutely right for me it was much more logical I could put my films in French without subtitles and my animated manga in Japanese with French subtitles and they forced the update that gets on me frankly it was too good before, the problem now is that the preferred audio language is considered as the default language in the example option you put japonnais in the option and French subtitles you will have French subtitles on a French film because it is considered as a foreign audio while it is the language of the server but not the language of the option it is really stupid I hope for an update to define this this option is really the most important of plex it does not realize for people who watch movies in English or French and wish to have their anime manga in Japanese please update for that or option like netflix please !!!
do not confuse preferred audio language and default language, if above preferred audio language you set default language we can watch animated in Japanese and our films in French without subtitles it just takes an effort on your part because it is really the only fault of plex it is the languages or a system to the netflix which is quite simple thank you very much hoping that you will see this message
I have many shows with multiple audio tracks, not just anime. How would Plex know that I sometimes prefer English, sometimes prefer French, and sometimes prefer Japanese?
The previous behavior was equally broken and affected a different group of users.
It seems like this is really a feature request - the ability to choose:
Yes, but what solution for us we were long before we were forced to do so with the update, we couldn’t add a parameter in the subtitles with foreign audio or could not choose with which language directly? it is really a big need for us thank you for finding a solution I beg you
I struggle with audio and subtitle languages as well. It would be nice to allow preferences to be set by either library and/or by series. Having to manually choose settings for each episode is cumbersome not only because having to do it for each episode but the settings for subtitles are buried in the settings interface as well.
You wouldn’t need to define what a “default” is in the library or go as complicated as to find out which the original language of a movie is. In actuality it is much easier.
Every video/audio/subtitle track has a default and a forced tag. I could set any language as default in my file without changing how shown with foreign audio works right now. Plex would then do the same search it does for the forced subtitles options to determine whether there is a default track. Please note that the default track doesn’t have to be the first track as is also true for forced. If there is no default it should choose the first available track (or “preferred” if found).
As for the difference between default and preferred. “Default” is the track that, if available, will be chosen by default without taking my preferences into account. “Preferred” searches for the language I prefer and if found overrides the default option.
Let’s make it a bit more complicated…
If I’m about to stream a video of a library you’ve shared with me… I’ll get to use the default audio track configured in your files? My own personal preferences configured in my own Pkex account are going to be ignored?
I consider there’s a use case where users have different preferences for different types of content… from my point of view there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to that problem. That leaves the question how best to use it if the implementation is missing out on some (special) use cases.
I suggested adding Original language as a choice because it’s already available from the metadata aggregators. It would work with all container formats and wouldn’t ask users to modify files.
Does that work as a general solution? I’m struggling to understand it. Maybe it would be helpful to explain with a couple of examples.
For instance: I always prefer the original audio language. I want English subtitles when the audio isn’t English.
I have movies with various combinations of audio tracks, including English, French, Japanese, and others. I have movies where each of those is the original language.
I don’t prefer French or Japanese if the original audio was English. I don’t want Japanese if the movie was originally French.
EDIT: At this point I’m basically rewriting the whole comment. I misread what you meant.
Yes it does, and doesn’t.
What we have to do is set preferred audio language = “default”. That way the first two options on the hierarchy become one and the same. Plex looks for the language with the “default” tag (if there is none set as default it should automatically move to the next on the hierarchy: “first track”) and set it whatever language that is as our preferred audio language.
The reason it doesn’t work.
Plex doesn’t compare the audio language (x) with the preferred subtitle language (y), only with the preferred audio language (z). Pretty much like if x!=z y=true, instead of if x!=z & x!=y y=true
The solution to make it work (without breaking the system as it is for those who like it).
By setting preferred audio language = “default”, instead of comparing x and z (because x==z is always true) plex should compare x and y. Meaning, if “default” language equals preferred subtitle language don’t display preferred subtitles.
Examples for your preferences:
The “default” language is Spanish. preferred audio language = “default” returns Spanish. Comparison of subtitle language with “default” language returns Spanish does not equal English. You get Spanish audio with English subtitles.
The “default” language is English. preferred audio language = “default” returns English. Comparison of subtitle language with “default” language returns English does equal English. You get English audio without English subtitles.
If there is no “default” tag: preferred audio language = “first track”, after that it’s the same.
That’s not true. These are set when the file is encoded by the user. These could be left blank or every track could be tagged. This is not a requirement when making the file. Also, that only works with MKV files.
Not sure if you know but the “forced” tag does not mean to force (override) using this track. It’s to help identify that the track is a “forced subtitle” which means only having translation for some parts and not for all spoken parts. This tag won’t help for anything.
That’s an interesting option. I like it.
[edit] - Just realized this would only work for movies. We don’t have original language for TV shows.
