External Subtitles added to MKV - Feature Suggestion - Question

[webbos]

Hello

I'm in need of a little bit of support from you guys, due to the Panasonic UB820 limitation to display PGS subtitles within MKVs (such a stupid nonsensical situation, if you ask me, since UHDs / BRs have PGS subtitles and of course they display perfectly)

Ok, we're having the movie X with a DTS-HD or DolbyTRUE HD soundback, we convert that to FLAC, that's fine, works perfectly.
Then we have the subtitle selection, PGS won't be displayed, my question being, can we add an external SRT into the MKV somehow without the need to use another piece of software (like for example - MKVToolnix GUI) - a lot of time is lost on this multiplexing of the mkvs for a simple subtitle.


Thank you and hope my question / concern was understood

[Woodstock]

Search for "mkvtoolnix", and you will find your solution already exists.

[webbos]

Search for "mkvtoolnix", and you will find your solution already exists.

Yes, I know it does, but mkvtoolnix doesn't offer the option to convert DTS-HD / DolbyTrueHD to FLAC.
I haven't managed to find anything related to this....

[Woodstock]

When you rip, you can have MakeMKV do that conversion, then mux in the subtitle track with mkvmerge.

Personally, I use handbrake instead, because I'm going to be compressing the video anyway. Handbrake can incorporate separate subtitle files in SRT or SSA format. The output will be SSA if your output format is MKV.

If you want fancy fonts with SSA, though, you really have to merge the track AND the necessary fonts in ahead of time; the external SSA support doesn't load external fonts at this time.

[webbos]

When you rip, you can have MakeMKV do that conversion, then mux in the subtitle track with mkvmerge.

Personally, I use handbrake instead, because I'm going to be compressing the video anyway. Handbrake can incorporate separate subtitle files in SRT or SSA format. The output will be SSA if your output format is MKV.

If you want fancy fonts with SSA, though, you really have to merge the track AND the necessary fonts in ahead of time; the external SSA support doesn't load external fonts at this time.

Thanks for the inputs.
Bottomline is - I can't use the same software (MakeMKV in this case) for both the operations. I need to use mkvtoolnix anyway for inserting / adding the external SRT.
Something else that might work to get incorporated / developed within MakeMKV is subtitle conversion options - meaning, from PGS to SRT / SUB / TXT, an option like that.

[Woodstock]

Converting PGS or VOB image subtitles to any text-based format is a specialized task.

Trying to make one tool do "everything in one step" gets you a Microsoft product. It would almost do everything poorly, instead of doing what it is supposed to do very well.

MakeMKV has conversion of some audio formats, because it uses a library (ffmpeg) that is well maintained. But it doesn't do everything that ffmpeg can do, even in the area of tuning the audio conversions being done.

Subtitles is an area that I've been fighting as long as I've been ripping disks. I used to do things like mux in compatible subtitles from other sources to "fix" video. I found my life was much easier when I started using playback software and devices that understood the existing subtitles.

[webbos]

Converting PGS or VOB image subtitles to any text-based format is a specialized task.

Trying to make one tool do "everything in one step" gets you a Microsoft product. It would almost do everything poorly, instead of doing what it is supposed to do very well.

MakeMKV has conversion of some audio formats, because it uses a library (ffmpeg) that is well maintained. But it doesn't do everything that ffmpeg can do, even in the area of tuning the audio conversions being done.

Subtitles is an area that I've been fighting as long as I've been ripping disks. I used to do things like mux in compatible subtitles from other sources to "fix" video. I found my life was much easier when I started using playback software and devices that understood the existing subtitles.

Yep, I guess you're right. The Microsoft bash was indeed hilarious, but true. We live in those times....

[dcoke22]

Some playback systems like Plex have the ability to use subtitles that are external to the video file.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200471 ... our-media/

I use an AppleTV 4K as a Plex player and it can display PGS subtitles without transcoding, which is handy. How do you play MKVs on your Panasonic?

[webbos]

Some playback systems like Plex have the ability to use subtitles that are external to the video file.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200471 ... our-media/

I use an AppleTV 4K as a Plex player and it can display PGS subtitles without transcoding, which is handy. How do you play MKVs on your Panasonic?

Plex is a smart solution, not the case here.
Well, directly from an USB, is there any other way?

[dcoke22]

Well, directly from an USB, is there any other way?

I own many 4k movie discs. I have never owned a 4K UHD player. My old blu-ray player hasn't been powered on in more than a year. That's a long winded way to say, I have no idea how the Panasonic works, having never used it.

https://help.panasonic.ca/viewing/ALL/D ... BS0258.pdf

The manual for it is online. On page 42 in the specifications is says:

specs.jpg (156.11 KiB) Viewed 14861 times

That sure seems like you could put a .srt in the same folder as your .mkv.

[webbos]

Well, directly from an USB, is there any other way?

I own many 4k movie discs. I have never owned a 4K UHD player. My old blu-ray player hasn't been powered on in more than a year. That's a long winded way to say, I have no idea how the Panasonic works, having never used it.

https://help.panasonic.ca/viewing/ALL/D ... BS0258.pdf

The manual for it is online. On page 42 in the specifications is says:

specs.jpg

That sure seems like you could put a .srt in the same folder as your .mkv.

Yes, of course, I've read the manual.
And tried with a 2160p MKV with a very long file name (didn't work) - I tried with something with less characters in the filename and it has worked. Weirdly enough. I will surely investigate this more.
Thanks for the reply!
Just E-AC3 left to solve (have another going for that issue)