Newbie question about subtitles

[jhy2a]

I have been using MakeMKV for over a year now and the only thing that I can't figure out is how to do subtitles. Understand that specifically what I am talking about is with my Game of Thrones DVDs. I don't want constant subtitles for the parts that are spoken in English. I am looking for just the subtitles when the Dothrakians speak. If I watch the DVD itself, the only time subtitles appear is when they are speaking something other than English. When a create my MKV, I use the file in conjunction with Plex Media Server. When I watch through Plex (which of course is using the mkv file) it doesn't show any subtitles. Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?

[Woodstock]

What you're doing "wrong" is that the player you are using does not use the "default" flag, so it plays the first subtitle track present in the MKV file, rather than the one that is flagged as default. This happens a LOT on DVDs and Blurays - the tracks are not in what you would think is "correct" order.

The fix I use is to arrange the subtitle tracks with the "forced" subtitle track first. I use handbrake (because I am recoding the video anyway), but you can also do it with mkvmerge, which is included with mkvtoolnix (google will find it if you look). Using the graphic user interface that is included, you can change the order of the tracks in a few minutes.

[jhy2a]

Woodstock, Thank you so much!!! I never realized that was what was going on. This worked!!! Once again, thank you for helping me!!!

[Dex150489]

Sorry to reopen this thread again, but going on jhy2a's question, is it possible to add a function similar to what mkvtoolnix does into MakeMKV directly?

I'm currently in the process of converting all my ISO files to MKV so each movie can take anything from 3mins to 15mins to just convert to MKV and then an additional 15mins for MKVtoolnix to just to re-flag the required sub track to play as "default" and "forced".

Thanks

[Woodstock]

If you're meaning "re-open the MKV file and compress the PGS subtitle tracks", that MAY be in there already - you CAN open an MKV file with MakeMKV.

But I only use it for opening disks and the occasional ISO file, so I cannot confirm that.

[Dex150489]

What i mean is when i open an iso file in MakeMKV i get the usual sections;
Video, Audio, Subs
When an MKV is created the sub track that shows foreign language no longer displays automatically, i have to go through the sub title track list to find the correct one.

ThereforeI use mkvtoolnix to then open the MKV and select the required sub track and "re-flag" it as a forced sub track (but i also make it the default).

Instead of using mkvtoolnix could a right click open be put in place so we can ensure the required sub track is marked as default and/or forced within MakeMKV itself?

Dex

[Chetwood]

Nope, cause as has been discussed to death on this forum, forced subs can be authored with different methods (on Blurays at least) and are thus not always detected automatically by MakeMKV (or other rippers), so manual inspection will be necessary.

[Dex150489]

No problem, thanks for confirming keep up the good work, it's all appreciated!

[thewombat]

What you're doing "wrong" is that the player you are using does not use the "default" flag, so it plays the first subtitle track present in the MKV file, rather than the one that is flagged as default. This happens a LOT on DVDs and Blurays - the tracks are not in what you would think is "correct" order.

The fix I use is to arrange the subtitle tracks with the "forced" subtitle track first. I use handbrake (because I am recoding the video anyway), but you can also do it with mkvmerge, which is included with mkvtoolnix (google will find it if you look). Using the graphic user interface that is included, you can change the order of the tracks in a few minutes.

I still can't get subtitles to appear even after using MKVToolNix. See the attached screenshots. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

[Woodstock]

I really can't give specific advice on Plex, because I don't use it. When I looked at it a while back, though, how it handled subtitles depended on several things - the type of subtitle, the source file type, the server's capabilities, and the playback device's capabilities. Some combinations do not work, or require special settings.