DVDs marking first subtitle as "Default"

[ch1ma3ra]

I've only observed this when ripping DVDs, not Blu Rays, but the resulting MKV file always has the first subtitle track marked as "Default=yes" regardless of whether its tagged forced or not.

It's not a bit deal since I invariably end up modifying the headers or entirely remuxing the files but its a few extra clicks I'd sooner not have to do.

I found the following but that doesn't seem to apply to the Windows version:
https://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7505

Note: I want the subtitle files to be included with the file, so its not a matter of stripping them out, I just don't want them being marked as default since 95% of the time time I don't need them there front and centre

[Woodstock]

If you have turned on expert mode, and edited a profile to make sure that setFirstSubtitleTrackAsDefault="false" is included in the mkvSettings container, then MakeMKV should not be setting defaults on subtitle tracks.

My experience, though, is that "most" players default to displaying the first subtitle track, SOMETIMES using the "first track in the selected language".

I haven't seen a hardware player yet that doesn't; They may exist, but I have never owned or used one. Out of 4 different software players I've tried, the only ones that didn't display the first subtitle track, regardless of "default" flags, were the ones that didn't support the format of the subtitle. VLC respects the "default" flag, but, if it isn't present, it displays the first subtitle track found.

This is why I always process ripped videos with handbrake (or mkvmerge if I have reason to NOT compress the video) to rearrange the order of the subtitle tracks, to place the "correct" one first.

[ch1ma3ra]

If you have turned on expert mode, and edited a profile to make sure that setFirstSubtitleTrackAsDefault="false" is included in the mkvSettings container, then MakeMKV should not be setting defaults on subtitle tracks.

My experience, though, is that "most" players default to displaying the first subtitle track, SOMETIMES using the "first track in the selected language".

I haven't seen a hardware player yet that doesn't; They may exist, but I have never owned or used one. Out of 4 different software players I've tried, the only ones that didn't display the first subtitle track, regardless of "default" flags, were the ones that didn't support the format of the subtitle. VLC respects the "default" flag, but, if it isn't present, it displays the first subtitle track found.

This is why I always process ripped videos with handbrake (or mkvmerge if I have reason to NOT compress the video) to rearrange the order of the subtitle tracks, to place the "correct" one first.

Hi Woodstock, thanks for your reply

Did a bit more digging after I saw it and got to the bottom of it - The reason I thought the instructions you provided in my original post didn't apply to Windows (aside from the location of the forum post) was that I couldn't find the XML files you referenced in there. When I looked again I found *another* forum post you'd made relating to the most recent version that explained the discrepancy - they're hidden away in an archive in the program directory. Once I found that I was able to create a copy of the default profile with the settings I wanted.

Thanks

On the other note - I don't use many players, mostly VLC on the desktop or Plex elsewhere and have learned the hard way it's worth going in with the MKV tools to set things up as I want them in order to be sure they play as I expected, taking into account languages, commentaries, forced and non-forced subs ETC.