Subtitles on LG TV

[datahoarder]

Hi all, I am ripping some DVDS but I am having a bit of a nightmare with subtitles on an LG C1 TV

I have used two methods.

1) Use MakeMKV > put the produced files onto a hard drive > plug hard drive into tv > play using the TV's built in media player app - the subtitle button is greyed out

2) Use MakeMKV > Convert with Handbrake making sure all subtitles are present > put the produced files onto a hard drive > plug hard drive into tv > play using the TV's built in media player - the subtitle button is greyed out

When using VLC on my PC, subtitles that are contained within the MKV (not separate subtitle files) from both methods are selectable. The TV just won't give me that same luxury.

Having googled the TVs app, there is an LG support page that says I can either use separate subtitle files or I can play MKVs that contain the subtitles already. I know the MKVs must have the subtitles in them already because VLC recognises them? Also Handbrake recognises them if I go down the conversion route.

I cant figure out where I am going wrong. Does anyone have this same set up and may be able to point me in the right direction?

Thank you

[dcoke22]

Subtitles come in lots of formats. DVDs often have vobsub while blu-rays often have PGS. You probably need to dig deeper into the details of what kind of subtitles your TV app supports.

[Chetwood]

As dcoke22 mentioned it's quite possible your TV only supports text-based subs like SRT and SSA but no image-based like Vobsub and PGS. In that case you would have to OCR them with Subtitle Edit or Subextractor.

[MaxNexor]

LG Developer Guide lists .vtt
https://webostv.developer.lge.com/devel ... -audio-230

[dcoke22]

.vtt ? Really? That's an unexpected choice.

[Chetwood]

Right. Still, seems to be supported by Subtitle Edit so you could OCR + convert and add that as an additional (external) subtitle stream.

[datahoarder]

Thanks Chetwood, dcoke22 and MaxNexor. The replies are very much appreciated. Will have to look into the OCR+convert method as I am a bit of a n00b to all of this sort of thing. Thanks for that LG resource as well MaxNexor.

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Ideally I would have liked the subs to be within the MKV container to keep the file system tidy. I do know the LG will recognise the subs within the MKV container because I have MKVs from other sources that play fine with subs.

I found this link from an internet search:

https://www.lg.com/nz/support/product-h ... 0157647951

Seems to imply the following are supported:

" Supported External Subtitles
- smi, srt, sub (MicroDVD, SubViewer 1.0/2.0), ass, ssa, txt (TMPlayer), psb (PowerDivX), dcs (DLP Cinema)

Supported Embedded Subtitle Format
Matroska (mkv) : Sub Station Alpha (SSA), Advanced Sub Station Alpha (ASS), SRT
- MP4 : Timed Text "

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Am I right in understanding from some of your replies, that the MakeMKV software will produce an MKV file that has embedded subtitles in whatever format they were presented in on the disc itself?

Rather than producing an MKV file with a standard embedded sub format of the software's choosing?

Apologies if that sounds like a n00b question, I don't really know how the software works under the hood.

I guess the separate Handbrake software doesn't have the ability to change the embedded sub format when it converts the file either - I couldn't find an option for it when I was messing around with it.

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I think this added wrinkle to my plan means I may have to rejig my project due to time/space constraints.

I may separate my remaining DVDs/Blu Rays into ones where I only want certain Special Features off the discs and ones where I want the full contents of the disc including the main feature.

For now, I think I will rip all the discs that I only need the Special Features from because its not essential that they have subtitles and save the discs that I need the fully subbed main features from for a later date when I have more time to go through, work out and learn the extracting/converting process.

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This isn't entirely relevant but I thought I might add some context to what I am doing in case it is of interest. Basically I am a bit of a hoarder and the physical burden of my DVD/Blu Ray collection became too much. So over the past year I have culled around 1000 titles from my shelves (I have one shelving unit left full of titles I want to keep physically).

But before I get rid of the physical discs, I have been acquiring digital copies so I can keep my hoard digitally instead. I know it may not be entirely helpful to my hoarder mentality but honestly, the extra space and much clearer walls has seen a great improvement to my mental health. Turning 3 bookshelves with shelf extensions into a 3.5inch hard drive has lightened the burden significantly.

These last couple of bags of titles are ones that I couldn't find digital copies of the main feature or ones where I found a digital copy but it didn't include the special features.

[dcoke22]

Am I right in understanding from some of your replies, that the MakeMKV software will produce an MKV file that has embedded subtitles in whatever format they were presented in on the disc itself?

Rather than producing an MKV file with a standard embedded sub format of the software's choosing?

Yes, MakeMKV will produce a .mkv file that can include the subtitles in whatever format they're in on the disc. You can also choose not to include the subtitles. Generally speaking, MakeMKV is used for getting all the bits off the plastic disc and stripping away the DRM. It leaves transformation of those bits to other programs.

Have you considered an alternate playback option? For example, a Plex server using the Plex app on an Apple TV 4K as the client can display subtitles in the native DVD/Blu-ray format.

[datahoarder]

Thanks for the heads up dcoke22.

I may look into Plex in the future, I think when I had a brief look before, I was put off by the account making and the premium options. Admittedly, I didn't look into it much so I may have another look in future.

Another playback option I have is the Xbox which has its own media player as well as VLC - both struggle with 4K content which is why I settled on the TV's built in LG Media Player as that has the broadest scope for media playback, at least until I found out it struggled with certain subtitle formats!

It may not be too much of an issue if VLC on the Xbox recognises the subs because I am not ripping 4K content. It is a bit annoying to swap the USB from TV to Xbox but I do have USB extensions presented from both devices so its not as big a hassle as one might expect.

Anyway, I will do some more testing in a couple of weeks when I have some more free time.

Thanks again,