Subtitles issues are of course usually ignored. But hopeful maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I have been searching the forums and other sites for weeks for answers.
On Apple TV 4k (1st gen) all my subtitles needs are met, except when it comes to the the dreaded unknown (closed captions). Basically the tech info says they are there and selected. But they are not displayed. For almost everything I have this is not an issue because I have properly embedded subtitles or .srt files for most of my movies and tv shows. If I run in to a file that has the unknown (closed captions) issue I will simply use CCextractor and make an .srt.
But that is not an option with LIVE TV. Everything comes up unknown (closed captions) and nothing will display. If I use the old video player it will transcode and then I get the subtitles, which is fine for LIVE TV. But unfortunately that means the player is used for all my other files too, often forcing transcoding and other problems on those other files.
So is there any way to have Apple TV automatically revert to the old player or (burn) transcode files with unknown (closed captions) subtitles. Or at least set just the LIVE TV to the old player.
Like I said, this is really just an issue for me with LIVE TV because I can simply extract the subtitles for my TV / Movie library. Maybe there is a hidden configuration file I can manually edit some place.
Server Version#: 1.24.1.4931
Player Version#: 7.22 (922)
Live TV device: HDHomeRun CONNECT
Also, side note: If I am using the default (new) player in LIVE TV and change my resolution while watching a show to force transcoding subtitles will not display. They seem to only display with the old player.
2nd Side Note: Those same channels from the same device work fine in ChannelsDVR. Obviously not plex software, but does indicate the HDHomeRun CONNECT is sending CC Data.
I wanted to update and summarize this problem so that maybe it can be followed up.
The issue I can confirm continues and actually is not isolated to LIVE TV but to all media files with Unknown (Closed Captions).
Summary: Any video file or LIVE TV that has Unknown (Closed Captions) will play fine with playback settings showing Unknown (Closed Captions) check marked automatically. But the subtitles/closed captions do not display automatically. A selection of Off, followed by reselecting Unknown (Closed Captions) in playback settings will start the display of the subtitles/closed captions. This happens across all files with Unknown (Closed Captions) with the Apple TV client when using the new video player. This is not an issue when using the old player.
This appears to be a simple issue of the Apple TV client knowing that the unknown (closed captions) are supposed to be automatically displayed but not automatically doing it. I would imagine this would be a simple fix if someone would spend just a little bit of time caring about this issue. I know the Plex developers don’t care about subtitle issues, but some of us do and depend on them. And it is not in the grand scheme a big issue, but it is a bug, and a fixable bug.
Plex Server Version 1.24.5.5173 (Windows 10)
Plex Client Apple TV 7.24 (1284)
Did you happen to notice if your server transcodes the files when you select “Unknown (Closed Captions)” in playback settings? Mine does, and since it’s running on a Synology NAS and not a Windows server it lags terribly, until I turn captions back off.
Well…. When I first start the show/movie the Unknown (closed captions) is selected and being direct played but the subtitles are NOT displayed. Then I turn off subtitles. Then I select Unknown (closed captioned) again and then they ARE displayed and it is being direct played. So, they are not being transcoded when they finally work. It is just simply an issue of actually having the Apple TV client actually display them on screen the first time.
