Vobsub subtitles (idx/sub) not working (curl error)

General Discussions
1

Hi,

I’ve run into problem using vobsub subtitles (idx/sub).

They work fine when only one language is included in the idx/sub files.
When they contain multiple subtitles no subtitles are shown, even though they’re selected in the client.

It appears that the streaming of the subtitles is failing because of a curl error.

I’ve attached a part of my plexmediaserver.log that shows the start of the streaming a TV show episode.
Near the end of this log exerpt is the curl error followed by an http error for the stream.

If I rip out the one language I need from these failing idx/sub files it works fine.
Seems like some sort of bug to me.

The behavior is the same for all of the different client types I’ve tested (web, Android, Kodi plugin)
I’m running Plex in a docker (from linuxserver.io) on Unraid.
I’ve tried versions 1.3.4, 1.4.3, 1.4.4 & 1.5.0. The result is always the same.

Would be great if someone could look into this.

Thanks,

Joeri

2

This is an error on your part.

Curl error 23 indicates it could not write while performing the GET action.

Do you have a permissions issue? It cannot be failing for so long and only now be reported.

3

@ChuckPA said:
Do you have a permissions issue? It cannot be failing for so long and only now be reported.

It would indeed be somewhat strange if this was a universal issue for this long.

However, if this was a permissions issue I’d think it would also not work when I used idx/sub files that only have on language in them.

I decided to try to rip out only the language I need because of this thread

So it seems I’m not the only one with this issue. I haven’t validated the 19Mb limit though.

Someone mentioned this about curl error 23:

This happens when a piped program (e.g. grep) closes the read pipe before the previous program is finished writing the whole page.

So perhaps it takes too long to process large .sub files somehow.

4

vobsub subtitles are bitmap images.

The error you quoted is also valid. If the receiving processes gets EOF and believes it is done (or at a maximum), it will close that side and signal the condition you see but this would mean a

curl 'url' | other task condition. I do not know of any of those in PMS. When the get completes, then it picks up the data. Agents do this… curl get then curl post or curl put.

Please do check the file size.

5

So, just to see if the size (or number of language tracks) has anything to do with this issue I decided to take the original idx/sub files and remove 1 track at a time and see if the issue persisted.

Here’s what I’ve found:

9 tracks IDX: 255 KB (261,279 bytes) SUB: 30.3 MB (31,858,688 bytes) > doesn’t work
8 tracks IDX: 254 KB (260,702 bytes) SUB: 30.3 MB (31,827,968 bytes) > doesn’t work
7 tracks IDX: 217 KB (223,090 bytes) SUB: 25.6 MB (26,865,664 bytes) > doesn’t work
6 tracks IDX: 186 KB (191,375 bytes) SUB: 21.9 MB (23,050,240 bytes) > works

I didn’t try with 5 tracks and so on because I already knows it also works with just one track.

6

OK, so it’s not the number of tracks because I’ve included the first one that I removed again, which is a very small one, and it still works.

7 tracks IDX: 187 KB (191,952 bytes) SUB: 22.0 MB (23,080,960 bytes) > works

7

Anyone care to comment?

8

@DialMforMumbojumbo said:
7 tracks IDX: 187 KB (191,952 bytes) SUB: 22.0 MB (23,080,960 bytes) > works

This still sounds like the aforementioned 19MB limit.

9

Well, from my experience it seems to be somewhere between 22MB and 25.6MB.

But I’m more interested to learn if it’s a bug or by design that there actually is a limit, regardless of what size it is exactly.

10

@DialMforMumbojumbo said:
But I’m more interested to learn if it’s a bug or by design that there actually is a limit, regardless of what size it is exactly.

Unknown. It is reported as a bug since quite a while already.
Until this may eventually get fixed, mux the subtitles in with the video file (which is the better method anyway)
MKVtoolnixGUI

11

Alright, will do.

Thanks OttoKerner.

12

@ChuckPA said:
This is an error on your part.

Curl error 23 indicates it could not write while performing the GET action.

Do you have a permissions issue? It cannot be failing for so long and only now be reported.

Oh my Lord… again, the same attitude again.
I also have subtitles not showing. I have no access to my System this Werk but will happily provide logs if - and only if - somebody wants to review this behaviour with an open mind without telling me to remux 1000 video titles.

Symptoms: mkv, x265, more than one voxsub subtitle detected, being selectable but not showing. Used Player ATV2.

13

@rossinior

Kindly provide a clear example of the problem , recreated in the logs (without Verbose mode), and I’ll review it.

On a personal note? I don’t take kindly to sniping.
Present me a logical, well grounded, thought process, with data I can follow which supports an assertion and I will agree with that assertion.

“ASSume” is a dangerous word. Please use caution.

14

If you guys wouldn’t mind I’ll chime in with a couple of questions to see if I can reproduce the problem and lend a hand in logging or support to the dev/support team.

I just jumped in so please ignore my ignorance but can you tell us:
What is the client you are trying to use and what version>
Do you get the same problem with other clients? If so what other clients?
What server version are you running?
Does this client (client in the Op post) support idx sub titles or does Plex server have to transcode?
What is the XML of the file you are trying to play?
Is the subtitle internal or external?

Carlo

PS just noticed these are HVEC/h.265 files but your are running on a NAS device. What is the passmark score of your NAS?

15

@cayars said:
PS just noticed these are HVEC/h.265 files but your are running on a NAS device.

I cannot see this in the small log file snippet above. How did you conclude it is HEVC?

16

“Symptoms: mkv, x265, more than one voxsub subtitle detected, being selectable but not showing. Used Player ATV2” is what he typed in his post.

17

@ChuckPA
Help that guy who opened that thread, please. As I stated above, I do not have access to my systems including the logs this week.

While we are at “assume”… you were assuming that it can’t be a software failure without even looking.
You believe - you cannot know. All I want to say: look at the logs without these kind of theories in your mind (or at least do not show that to a public audience - you have only one credibility to loose).

For my problem, I will open another thread with logs attached.
If I were you, it would ring all my bells, if somebody is telling me that he can reproduce a problem by simply cutting out all other subtitles. Same remaining subtitle plays well, add more subtitles - subtitle refuses to Show up. Smells to me like a bug.

And I jumped at it in the moment that you assumed that it can’t be a failure of Plex software. You are frequently telling this in different threads to people reporting problems. You might be world’s greatest programmer… I don’t know and I don’t care.
It is all about support in this forum and you are not world’s greatest supporter - that I can say.

@cayars said:

What is the client you are trying to use and what version>
Do you get the same problem with other clients? If so what other clients?
What server version are you running?
Does this client (client in the Op post) support idx sub titles or does Plex server have to transcode?
What is the XML of the file you are trying to play?
Is the subtitle internal or external?

I am using two NAS systems, one QNAP, one Windows Storage Server 2012 (symptoms are the same on both).
I am using most recent Software Versions (Plex Pass) for Amazon Fire TV (v2) and Plex Servers.
I don’t have other clients which would be capable of “direct playing” h.265/HVEC content.
The subtitles which are not showing are embedded VOBSUB
IDX/SUB is showing.
Not sure, if it is happening only for movies with more than one subtitle, I saw this Happening on movies with more than one subtitle.

Bear with me for the rest of Information. I don’t have Access to my System for the whole week.

PS just noticed these are HVEC/h.265 files but your are running on a NAS device. What is the passmark score of your NAS?

??? I do not know. It is direct playing the things, so passmark score (do not even know how to measure this) was never a topic for me. Can you provide info on why you think it is necessary and a manual of how to calculate this?

18

@rossinior

If you like some help with this since you can’t get to your system I can try and help you. IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE setting me up an account on your system send me a PM that you’ve shared your server with me and give me a lib/file to play.

I can pull down the XML of the file in question as well as try a brief test for the subtitle issue you are reporting. If I can duplicate it I can then forward or elaborate this information to Plex on your behalf. If need be I’ll recreate the same type of file on my system so that I can get logs to send to them.

If interested in this or similar help just shoot me a PM. I’ll do what I can to help you.

Carlo

19

@DialMforMumbojumbo

Can you post the XML (get info) of a file in question so we can take a look at it? If possible can you also view this file in something like MediaInfo and take a look at it and compare it to the XML view Plex has of the file. Do you see any major differences? Any particular languages shown in one and not the other? Any high ASCII characters (non english) in the stream names?

Carlo

20

@cayars said:
@rossinior

If you like some help with this since you can’t get to your system I can try and help you. IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE setting me up an account on your system send me a PM that you’ve shared your server with me and give me a lib/file to play.

I can pull down the XML of the file in question as well as try a brief test for the subtitle issue you are reporting. If I can duplicate it I can then forward or elaborate this information to Plex on your behalf. If need be I’ll recreate the same type of file on my system so that I can get logs to send to them.

If interested in this or similar help just shoot me a PM. I’ll do what I can to help you.

Carlo

Thank you Carlo… cool and very helpful.
I do not remember which of those files had the subtitles which did not show. So I do want to separate these into a small test library (for future test purposes) and do “exact” tests to enable myself to pull logs.
Plex guys are right if they want to see logs. I thank you very much for your offer. Thumbs up.