Hello everyone
When I have a movie file named i.E. “3 Idiots.avi” and have external subs next to it like “3 Idiots.srt”, serve that from my Linux server to my Xbox 360 Plex App, then it won’t play these subtitles at all.
But the are played in Plex on my iPad. Just not on XBox 360. Smells like a bug when both behave differently.
Then I tried to rename “3 Idiots.eng.srt” and then it worked on XBox 360. Looks like a language code is mandatory.
In my opinion it is a bug for two reasons:
- same Plex app client behaves differently on iPad + Xbox
- language code should be optional, not mandatory. I have a huge movie collection of more than 500 movies, all with external srt files without the language code in their name.
What do you think? Does it look like a bug to you too?
The language code is mandatory. The language code permits multiple subtitles to be stored with the movie and not interfere with each other or non-subtitled playback.
English is not the most commonly spoken language in the world by far. It’s actually #3 in the list of the top 100 behind Mandarin and Spanish.
So no, it’s not a bug. A little shell script work is all it takes to rename the files and put in the appropriate default language code if it’s missing from your files.
And FYI, while your collection is huge to you, you and I both are ‘little fish’ in the ‘number of video files’ count.
@ChuckPa Understand, you have some valid points but still think it is a bug. Why does the iPad app work fine without language code? That’s reason enough to classify this as a bug I think.
Secondly, I use lots of other devices at home, i.E. a Samsung TV which does not work when subtitles come with language code. It works without.
If I rename all my srt files with a bash script to add a language code, then they wont work on Samsung TVs but on Plex. Then, the other way around, if I remove language code, then it works on Samsung but not on Plex. Bad. That’s another reason I recommend to make Plex more robust and to work with srt files without language code as well. Just display them as “Unknown” and all is good. Is there a good reason not to support this??
Interesting… You make good points as well. It is industry inconsistency for certain.
Out of curiosity, because I’ve not tried it, have you tried this condition:
- Video is tagged with one language (presumably something non-english) which plex recognizes as non-english.
- You place a subtitle file in with the video, without ‘eng’ naming.
- Go to Plex.tv and set english as your locked default language.
- Then play the video and see if Plex picks up the subtitle
I suspect it won’t because it has no way of knowing whether the only subtitle file present is ENG or not. That may indeed be why the ISO language code is needed.
I am curious about the iPad app working without the language code. Are you saying if you place the SRT in with the video, the Plex iPad app will pick it up and use it anyway where the Web app or other Plex apps won’t / aren’t consistent?
Right mate, it is an inconsistency between xbox 360 and ios when it comes to ext subtitle naming behaviour. How can I contact the developers best and tell them to look at this?
Re your suggestion:
- With the Linux Plex app I cannot tag a language to a movie - dont see such an option. But the movie “3 Idiots” is highlighted as Hindu under Audio
- Already done that
- English is already locked here
- Plex on Xbox does not pick it
I am curious about the iPad app working without the language code. Are you saying if you place the SRT in with the video, the Plex iPad app will pick it up and use it anyway where the Web app or other Plex apps won’t / aren’t consistent?
Exactly. The Plex iPad app picks it up without language code fine!
To fix the inconsistency, I like the behaviour of the iPad version. To be able to pick up the subs without lang code as a fallback when nothing else exists. Would be really much much better that way.
I can contact the developers (part of being a ninja, I’m a front-end buffer/information gopher).
You’re correct, putting tags into your media is against Plex’s fundamental rule of NOT modifying your media… EVER
Clarifying this further, so I can take this to them with a single post, Please verify with me one last time
Given the situation where a video exists, whose internal language track (only 1 track ?) is non-english tagged.
- Plex/Web will not auto-select any subtitles unless specifically named ‘eng’ in the subtitle file.
- Plex for Xbox will not auto-select, like the behavior of Plex/Web.
- Plex for iOS will auto-select a subtitle, without ‘eng’ in SRT name, for the same film and play it
I am restating, to put it all in a single post; You are assert Plex should auto-select (case 3 above) across all playback platforms not just iOS, whether forced or not forced subtitles. In turn, I ask you if it’s appropriate for Plex to assume you want subtitles on in the first place? I sometimes watch German films and hate English subtitles popping up .
I have tested use of a non-tagged subtitle. Plex sees the ‘Unknown’ subtitle but will not play it by default in my case because English is my default language and there is an internal english subtitle track. (see attached). This isn’t a proper example. See below. As you can see, I can manually select the unknown track.
I do know Plex/Web, Plex/Roku, Plex for Samsung, and Plex/iOS will pick up the forced subtitle without question.
Can you create a test case:
- Verbose logging OFF (it makes a mess at this level)
- For each of the 3 platforms; Start playback and let run 15-20 seconds. This lets all the info get into the log. Stop and start the next device.
- Screen cap the media info (‘info’ button, those 3 dots, under the film) and or the the XML
- directory listing of the file names as you have them.
with all the information packaged up in a tgz, please attach it here.
Great, thanks for your efforts and summary. I verified what you wrote. All is correct:
- Plex/Web will not auto-select any subtitles unless specifically named ‘eng’ in the subtitle file.
- Plex for Xbox will not auto-select, like the behavior of Plex/Web.
- Plex for iOS will auto-select a subtitle, without ‘eng’ in SRT name, for the same film and play it
Yes, exactly. I confirm again that I can reproduce this inconsistency every time. On a side note, I am Deaf and hence always want subtitles in the first place, regardless of the audio language.
But I am afraid, I do not have the time to assemble all the files for these three cases. Not getting paid for this and would take me more than half an hour. But the Plex developers should be able to look at this inconsistency and figure out something.
Hope you can go from here and contact them?
Again, many thanks
Michael,
I don’t get paid either. I’m just a Ninja (volunteer) for all linux and synology forum questions 
I will write this up and see why the inconsistency and ask if it’s on the radar with the particular developers I do have direct contact with.
I did some research on Samsung. When you plug media into it, it’s indexer sees the .SRT and grabs it regardless of language if not labeled.
I will bookmark this thread so it stays on my radar and keep you apprised.
Oh I see. Thanks, please do that and you have my respect!
Michael,
Also, in the fwiw column, I’ve found that if the ‘eng’ is present, all the apps find the subtitle file.
Thinking outloud, If you were to label a standard .SRT to include .eng and .forced as shown in the naming convention,
Movies/Movie_Name (Release Date).[Language_Code].forced.ext Plex should pick up the subtitle and play it regardless. When playing an English language film, with foreign language subtitle segments, this is the best way to do it. The subtitle file is populated only for those segments needing english subtitles. That said, if you have the entire film as subtitles, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work.
Thoughts? A possible interim solution until it’s properly worked out? If so, I can see a find /blah -name \*.srt -exec my-script {} \; being a nice way to do it en-mass 
Yeah, I could do such a bash script very easily but then the Samsung TV won’t pick up the subtitles anymore if I use …eng.srt or …forced.srt - that’s the problem. Plex for Xbox 360 should be able to pick up those without language code IMO if the iPad app already does it.
“What if”… “danger Will Robinson” haha… you copied the SRT and renamed it in the process, putting two copies of it with each movie / episode.
Wild hair?
to be clear you do this once if you do… “.eng.forced.ext” Set both attribute flags. What Plex will show in Plex/web is “English forced” and “Unknown”. Which hopefully is fine if you get what you need.
When the word comes back from the request/inquiry, more permanent plans can be laid in place.
Well, I could but that would break functionality on Samsung TV, so no thanks
Michael, how so?
If you have , using my example, “Lucy (2014).srt”, “Lucy (2014).eng.forced.srt”, and then your “Lucy (2014).mp4/mkv” file, how would that break functionality?
You mean, I should duplicate the SRT file for all my 500 movies? Have two in their folders so that Samsung and Plex both can pick it up? This as a temporary solution until Plex has fixed the inconsistency for Xbox?
Hmmm, I dont like that idea but that might work for now …
Yeah, I know… It would be a hack but it would allow you to use both. I’m not happy with it either but am thinking of how I can get you what you need
Yes, this is temporary until the inconsistencies are addressed.
Still waiting on this
English is not the most commonly spoken language in the world by far. It’s actually #3 in the list of the top 100 behind Mandarin and Spanish.
Great, now how many of them are Plex users? Again, how many of those use subtitles in multiple languages? Again how many of those then struggle to differentiate between subtitle files.
I don’t understand why literally every other media player works one way and Plex works another.
Why is a language code required on external subtitles?
Because there are so many languages.
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.mkv
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.ger.srt
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.eng.srt
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.fre.srt
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.ita.srt
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.spa.srt
Star Trek The Next Generation.S01E01.Encounter at Farpoint.chi.srt
PMS finds the series episode and 6 external SRT subtitle files.
See how that works?
Friends of mine in Europe have family in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and all over the place. This is what they must do to share with family.
The more I think about my earlier posts (about any "hack’ ) , please disregard. I was misunderstanding or just plain too tired to reply clearly.
The post above ^^ is how it works. No “hack” involved.
