I’m wondering if someone can provide some feedback as to the best method of incorporating subtitles into my blu ray rips. I use Make MKV to extract the video portion of a given movie which allows for the inclusion of subtitles (I chose every option for English available). However, after transcoding in handbrake (using the HQ 1080p30 surround preset), the subtitles are no longer available. I’ve tried downloading subtitles in the past (I think they are .srt files?), but in my experience, they’re out of sync with the dialog in the movie. Also, how do I go about including subtitles for movies that are included by default (e.g., English subtitles for Avatar when characters speak Na’vi). Thanks a lot in advance.
Hi jfk4100,
first of all, you can actually keep subtitles with Hand Brake, you just need to select them
It seems like you were able to play with subtitles before transcoding, so this is probably what you are looking for.
Generally both internal and external subtitles are fine, depends on what you actually want, a tidy library with videos only or a library sortable by language files
MakeMKV captures the PGS subs from disk and adds them to the MKV Video File. If a Forced Sub track exists that track will have the fewest elements in it - make note of that track number.
Let’s take this movie - I already have the tracks extracted/fixed and ready to go to Handbrake (hypothetically):
In your case - those subs tracks will be contained therein and you’ll have to Add New Track (for as many tracks as you want to have) - then select the correct Forced track (from your notes) - and any other tracks you wish to include (within reason).
The Forced track should be first - that might be a rule written down somewhere, but at my house I’ll always know where they are if they’re first. I’ll need to know 'cause Handbrake won’t TAG 'em as Forced (very helpful) and I’ll have to do that later with MKVToolNix.
You can Burn in the Forced Track - so there will be no mystery about where it went - but that also means you can’t turn it off, or display the full subs without a lot of Drama.
Also note the bloody PITA of PGS subs that won’t Direct Play on - much - which is why I have some Text subs ready to go for the Movie also ready to go. If I wanted to run that file through Handbrake again and embed those sub files - I would ‘Import’ and HB would look next to the movie for a couple of sub files I have there. I would add them one at a time and the Forced track would be first.
Note:
Handbrake does the dumbest thing ever at this point - it turns those Direct Playable SRT subs into ASS subs - with their own set of issues… and yes… a lot of the time I just mux those in later or lay 'em along side, like these will, as they’re already named and ready to go.
Embedded sub tracks in an MP4 File?
I wouldn’t.
Subs are a whole different thing. Welcome to the nightmare…lol
Subtitle Edit (Windows):
will allow you to perform a very annoying OCR session to turn those PGS subs into Text srt subs (and a whole lot more - very handy).
So this is what my Subtitles tab looks like. I’m honestly not sure what to select… As was mentioned I assume burn in means that the subs are actually incorporated into the video without any option to select or deselect. I think, for simplicity, I’d prefer to have the subs included with the video file. As I mentioned, I’ve tried messing with SRT files without much success.
It’s starting to make sense to me now… The PGS subtitles included with blu ray are actually bitmap files that aren’t compatible with the MP4 container. I used subtitle edit to try to convert them to SRT, but the results were mixed… I’m assuming it’s attempting to scan an image file and convert them to text? There were lots of errors that would be pretty time consuming to correct though. I did manage to find a premade SRT from subscene that matched the timing of my rip perfectly though. Hopefully I can get lucky with my other rips as well.
So you don’t recommend embedding the SRT directly into the MP4 file? I should just include it in my Plex library?
Also, should I burn the subs into the MP4 file for movies that have a foreign auto track (e.g., Greedo in Star Wars)? Would I then have an issues where the SRT would overlay the burned in subs for those movies when selected?
Crap I can’t believe how complicated this is!! I thought the real hassle would be the time commitment it takes to rip and transcode, but subtitles are a whole other animal.
That’s the issue - I use Subtitle Edit to REMOVE the forced lines from the full sub in the event it gets burned in, but… it’s way easier to use sidecar files, leave the forced lines in the full sub so you can use either if you want with no issues.
You’ve experienced all the PITA factors - it’s all downhill from here…
So you also suggest using a separate SRT for the forced elements (e.g., Greedo) and having those stored in my Plex library as well? Is there a way to have Plex select them by default so they appear automatically for movies like Avatar but then go away when a different SRT file is selected? Normally I never use subs anyway, but there may be that one off occasion.
I’m starting to get why you don’t like them burned in. It would look like crap to have a selected SRT overlaying the burned in one.
Note the file naming for the subs. All three of those files can happily live in the movie’s folder.
If your Plex.tv account - your account - no one else’s - is set to English as the primary, and the subs are set to “show with foreign audio” and the audio track is identified with a language tag, and the subs are identified with language and type tags (.eng.forced.mkv) - everything will work as expected. Plex will select the forced subs.
If any media has a foreign language audio track - and is properly tagged as such - Plex will select the English subtitle track/file automatically. There will be no forced subs in this instance.
Fail with any of those aforementioned parameters and… good luck.
Get used to tagging your audio tracks with a language - so Plex can know what to do.
Get used to using MKV containers.
There probably isn’t a good reason to stick with MP4/M4V - unless you can think of a reason to use an inferior container for your media…
Note:
Another reason for not burning them in - they look different than the non-burned ones. Can you deal with that? I can’t…lol
