www.makemkv.com

My apologies but I think I may have first posted this topic in the wrong forum, namely "MKV file processing and playback". I think this forum "DVD error reports" is probably where it belongs, although one can argue it's not an error, maybe more questioning a design decision?

The original topic is here:
http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13501

If you agree, please feel free to move that topic to this forum.

Thanks,
Helen

The original post is in the right place, but I think it is one of those things that only Mike can answer...

After your first post, I ran a test on a disk that claims to have closed captions, but VLC did not see them in the result. Of course, I'm not sure it found them on the orignal disk, either, since there was no toggle to enable them (usually only valid if there is something to turn on/off). However, the one VOBSUB subtitle track for the disk looked remarkably like "closed captions", with explanations of sound effects and background music, and identification of the character talking...

Since you replied to this post, I will reply here, too. I usually see this on older DVDs, ones produced in the early 2000s. I think it's most common with material that has been broadcast in North America with CCs. I think you will only find them on NTSC DVDs, not on PAL DVDs. VLC can't find the CCs playing the rips made using MakeMKV (that's the problem, I believe they've been stripped by MakeMKV), but VLC can play the CCs playing the original DVDs. That's Rincewind version 2.1.6 on both Linux and Windows. Same for mplayer version 1.1-4.8 on Linux using the "-subcc 1" option. I also have a Panasonic DVD player connected via component video, and when it's configured to output 480i instead of 480p, my TV can display the CCs on the same DVDs.

If VLC can find CCs in a DVD title, you can see the evidence in the Subtitles sub-menu where it will list options like:

• Add Subtitle File...
  Sub Track ->
  • Disable
    Closed captions 1
    Closed captions 2
    Closed captions 3
    Closed captions 4

whereas if there's a vobsub track, you'll see:

• Add Subtitle File...
  Sub Track ->
  • Disable
    Track 1 (English)
    etc...

I have also seen the occasional DVD that has both CCs and vobsub subtitles. If there are vobsub subtitles, no problem. It's the ones that only have CCs that take extra work to preserve.

If you select "Closed Captions 1" and there's valid CC data, VLC will display them. Sometimes, you have to play several seconds of the title, enough to the point where there's dialog, before VLC will detect the presence of CCs.

Regards,
Helen

This seemed like the right place to post an issue with MakeMKV and closed captions.

I’m using version 1.9.5, and I didn’t see any fixes in 1.9.10 or any version between that specifically addressed Closed Caption issues.

As far as I can tell, Closed Caption information is getting lost because it appears that MakeMKV is re-encodeing the video.

When i view the source DVD or ISO files with VLC or Kodi (ver 15+) im able to see the Closed Caption info in the video tracks of the discs or files.

However this info is lost after MakeMKV process them.

A possible solution for this problem could be reached if some collaboration could be done with the makers of ccextractor. Ccextractor does a really good job of pulling Closed Caption info from VOB files and outputting SRT as a result.

Maybe the code for this could be integrated into MakeMKV or maybe MakeMKV could call out to it in some way to make SRT files for all the “title” files that MakeMKV produces.

Or is it possible that MakeMKV could produce title files with Closed Caption info still embedded in the video tracks.