new user with questions

[pm2017]

Just purchased a new blu-ray drive a BU40N and purchased a key. Started ripping my collection and have a couple questions. Figured out this morning the version of java I had installed wasn't working for Liongate fake title copyright protection. Uninstalled java and downloaded and new version and it shows feature film in comments now.

I have been selecting the title and keeping the first couple audio tracks (normally truehd and 5.1). I have been deselecting all of the subtitle tracks but did I make a mistake for certain movies? Is forced subtitles the same as forced narrative? Meaning in certain scenes the dialogue is shown on screen for a brief period so you can understand an alternative language?

[albert90]

Here's what it says on the MakeMKV FAQ about forced subtitles: https://www.makemkv.com/faq/item/10

It doesn't seem to be tied to the forced narrative that you're referring to.

[dcoke22]

The answer is it depends. Discs are authored in a variety of ways. The 'forced subtitles' you see in MakeMKV is a thing that MakeMKV creates. The FAQ item albert90 pointed to explains this. The subtitle track on a movie may flag some of the subtitle entries as forced, meaning they are displayed even if subtitles are turned off. If that's the case, only those forced subtitles will show up in the forced subtitles track you see in MakeMKV. Sometimes discs are authored where those 'forced' subtitles are in a separate regular subtitle track. Sometimes, the 'forced' subtitles aren't subtitles at all, but are 'burned' into the video of the movie. There's no hard and fast rule here; each disc you encounter will be like whatever its authors dreamed up.

The way I deal with all this is this: I use MakeMKV's backup functionality to make a decrypted backup of a blu-ray. Then, I load the decrypted backup into MakeMKV and rip the movie with all the audio tracks and subtitle tracks for the languages I want (English in my case). (In truth, I rip all the video tracks and sort through them because I like to keep the blu-ray extras as well.) Next, I play the resulting .mkv file (I use MPV, but VLC is also good) and see what's what in the file. After my investigation, in MakeMKV I unselect what I don't need and potentially rename the other stuff like commentary tracks and then rip the movie a second time. The second rip is usually 'the keeper' for me.

Ripping a movie from a decrypted backup goes as fast as your hard drive(s) will go and only takes a few minutes. Ripping the movie twice doesn't take much time at all.

[Chetwood]

I have been deselecting all of the subtitle tracks but did I make a mistake for certain movies? Is forced subtitles the same as forced narrative? Meaning in certain scenes the dialogue is shown on screen for a brief period so you can understand an alternative language?

The subtitles shown to have you understand an alternative language are in fact forced subtitles, I've never heard the term forced narrative in this context?! As dcoke22 mentioned, there's several ways forced subtitles can be authored; the fact that you still see some despite having all subtitles tracks disabled suggests they are burned into the movie.