Subtitles...Please help

[ymisyd]

Hello,

I've searched the forums and tried a few things but I'm having trouble with subtitles. I'm using a WD My Book Live NAS drive hard wired through my network to a Panasonic Viera GT50. Most files ripped within MakeMKV play fine (on some (maybe one in twenty) the picture breaks up but I've put that down to a probable codec issue (although any help on that topic also much appreciated) but, try as I might, I can't get subtitles to display.

For example, I ripped my Blu Ray of Only God Forgives and, during the foreign language scenes, no subs are displayed. When I select options on the TV, under subtitle selection I am told there are no subtitles. I've tried converting Oldboy using the WDTV profile as suggested in another post but still no subtitles. The subtitle options are also greyed out when I play the files on my computer through Cyberlink PowerDVD, although I have been leaving the default subtitle boxes checked when ripping the file in MakeMKV.

Has anybody else seen a similar problem or am I doing something wrong?

Any help much appreciated and thanks in advance....

[Woodstock]

First thing to check is whether the subtitles were included in the file; VLC from videolan.org will play BD rips with PGS subtitles in MKV files, so that would be the fastest way to check.

[Chetwood]

So far I haven't read about ANY TV's media player that handles (embedded) PGS subs.

[ymisyd]

Woodstock, thanks for the tip. VLC plays with subtitles - there are two tracks - one for the whole movie and one for the foreign language parts only.

Any ideas how to get subs displayed on the TV now?

p.s. I tried MKVmerge as suggested in another post and no difference (unless I'm doing something wrong)

[Woodstock]

As Chetwood says, you're now stuck with the limitations of the TV's embedded renderer.

Selectable subtitles in PGS format are problematic. Tools like Handbrake can burn a PGS subtitle track into the video track, but that's "always on", and limits utility of multiple audio tracks.

What I have done is to merge the VOB subtitle tracks from DVD versions of tracks into the MKV of the BD, using the merge found in MKVtoolnix. This is not a particularly convenient option, unless you get a "BD/DVD combo pack". The subtitles aren't as nicely rendered this way, but they ARE selectable.

I also plan on trying one of the PGS subtitle converter programs that can turn PBS into VOB, but I haven't had time to play with that yet.

[Chetwood]

So your standalone plays MKV with embedded Vobsubs? Haven't seen those either so usually I suggest to OCR the PGS subs with Subextractor (after extracting them with MKVCleaver) to SRT.

[ymisyd]

Thanks very much for the help. I don't mind the foreign language subs being permanently burned in to the video as that's the only way I'd watch the original anyway.

Is there a way to do this with handbrake? I've looked at the options and am a little bewildered!

What I want to do is maintain the exact same video quality, size and format but burn in the foreign language section subtitles. Is there a default setting in Handbrake for keeping the video at the exact same quality as the original file?

[Woodstock]

A lot depends upon what version of Handbrake you're running. Normally, in the Subtitles tab, you'll see an option to "burn in" a subtitle track. Check it, and that track will be rendered on the video.

Be advised that Handbrake is not all that accurate with the timing of subtitles when it renders them. They can start late, end early, or both. I avoid it when I can.

[ymisyd]

Woodstock (or anybody else that has encountered a similar situation),

Bearing in mind the issue you mention with Handbrake, and the fact that all I want to do is burn in the foreign language parts on rips made with Makemkv and am not bothered about having selectable subtitles, does anybody have a simple solution to the problem?

I have tried some of the software suggested but am a bit bewildered by all the options.

Thanks in advance....

[Woodstock]

Using Handbrake to do this is not that difficult, really. I'd describe it more as "tedious" at times, but nothing about it is "hard".

Of course, I spend so much time with it, it seems second nature, since I rip a BUNCH of anime each month. I use an older version of the Windows GUI, because it will generate Windows batch files to use with the command line version, which I can then edit. I only need to load one file into Handbrake, set the options I want, add that file to the queue, then write the queue to a batch file. I then use a text editor to duplicate that command line for however many episodes I've ripped with MakeMKV. Save the modified batch file, and have it run in a CMD window while I do other things.

Are there other tools that will work better? Possibly. I've tried a few commercial ones. Handbrake is better than the ones I've tried.

[ndjamena]

Have you considered a 'for' loop aimed at a directory, or possibly drag and drop the files onto the batch with a '%1 Shift goto' loop?

That's what I tend to do.

[ndjamena]

Here you go, I took this from my Lossless Audio Extraction Batch:

Code: Select all

@if "%EMode%"=="" Set EMode=OFF
@ECHO %EMode%
if "!"=="" ENDLOCAL

if [%1]==[] (

	Set Pattern="*.mkv"
	CALL :START %1
	goto :eof
)

:ARGS

	if [%1]==[] goto :eof
	if "%~f1"=="%CD%" (
		Set Pattern="*.mkv"
		CALL :START %1
		SHIFT
		goto :ARGS
	)
	Type NUL
	pushd "%~f1" 2> nul
	if NOT "%errorlevel%"=="0" (
		if NOT "%CD%\"=="%~dp1" (
			pushd "%~dp1"
			Set "DoPop=1"
		)
		Set Pattern="%~nx1"
	) else (
		Set Pattern="*.mkv"
	)
	CALL :START %1
	if "%DoPop%"=="1" (
		popd
		Set "DoPop="
	)
	SHIFT
	goto :ARGS

goto :eof

:START

	for %%y in (%Pattern%) do (
		CALL :Process_File "%%~fy"
	)

goto :eof

:Process_File

REM     *** ENTER COMMAND LINE HERE ***
REM     *** THE FULL FILE NAME WITH DRIVE AND PATH IS "%~f1" ***
REM     *** THE FILE NAME MINUS EXTENSION IS %~n1 ***
REM     *** THE FULL FILE NAME MINUS EXTENSION IS %~dpn1 ***
REM     *** d=drive, p=path, n=name, x=extension, f=full ***

goto :eof