Enabling MKV subtitles in LG webos video player

[ibtrue]

Hi all,
I’m able to see subtitles while playing the MKV file in VLC on my computer but when I played the MKV file on the LG video player the subtitle option is grayed out and not functioning. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you ib

[d00zah]

It's an issue with the player... PGS (BR) & VOBSUB (DVD) subtitles give some players heartburn... unsupported formats. Check your device manual.

https://www.lg.com/uk/support/product-h ... 324-others

& other Google 'hits' seem to recommend .srt subs (w/ same name as video) as the solution.

This may help with a little more detail on subtitle formats:

https://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archiv ... lained.cfm

[ibtrue]

Thank you d00zah for the info. I went to the lg link you gave me and I read this about their subtitle guidelines.

External subtitle format:
*.smi, *.srt, *.sub (MicroDVD, SubViewer 1.0/2.0), *.ass, *.ssa, *.txt (TMPlayer),
*.psb (PowerDivX), *.dcs (DLP Cinema)
“The video and subtitle files should be placed in the same folder.
For subtitles to display correctly, the video and subtitle files must have the same name.

So, I’ve read about some using .srt subtitles.
Question: The sentence above pertaining to “For subtitles to display correctly, the video and subtitle files must have the same name“. Would I copy the MKV file name exactly as it is and change the subtitle file name to that exact MKV file name?

[ibtrue]

Can’t seem to find any sites for .srt subtitles.

[d00zah]

Example (both in same folder):

Galaxina (1980).mkv
Galaxina (1980).srt

Check out the list "Top 10 Subtitle Download Sites" in the link here:

https://makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.ph ... 365#p63652

I mostly use OpenSubtitles. (cancel password request whenever it pops up).

Below that, they describe a tool that can produce subs from DVD/BR... but such tools typically require a certain amount of 'massaging' of the result.

[ibtrue]

d00zah-I have a question.
All I have to do is download subtitle from say “Opensubtitles” then change subtitle file name to exactly what the video file name is and place both files in the same folder.
What about the PGS subtitles that are with the video? Do I just leave them where they’re at? I thought maybe there would be a conflict with the .srt file. Please advise.

[d00zah]

Pretty much. I should note that you should pay attention to the source for the .srt you download. DVD/BR runtimes MAY be different. Same for 'WEBRIPS'. This will cause .srt text to be out of sync with your video. There will be times when you have to try several before finding a correct match.

Theoretically, the player will 'see' the options it supports, so if it didn't 'see' the embedded subs, but supports .srt, that's all it'll 'see'. If a player supports both, subtitle controls will likely offer both as options.

Simply put... it all depends on the player.

[ibtrue]

Hi d00zah,
I was successful with adding the srt subtitles to the MKV files. Played fine in VLC but when I tried to play in my lg projector, the SUB button is still grayed out and there’s no way to add the subtitle like you have to do in VLC. It not being recognized. The lg website says this: For subtitles to display correctly, the video and subtitle files must have the same name. Do you think it has to be EXACTLY the same as in the following example:

This is how it’s named now: Thor (2011).mkv
Thor (2011).srt
To:

Thor (2011).mkv
Thor (2011).mkv

Thanks ib

[d00zah]

Hi d00zah,
I was successful with adding the srt subtitles to the MKV files. Played fine in VLC but when I tried to play in my lg projector, the SUB button is still grayed out and there’s no way to add the subtitle like you have to do in VLC. It not being recognized. The lg website says this: For subtitles to display correctly, the video and subtitle files must have the same name. Do you think it has to be EXACTLY the same as in the following example:

This is how it’s named now: Thor (2011).mkv
Thor (2011).srt
To:

Thor (2011).mkv
Thor (2011).mkv

Thanks ib

When they suggest that 'files should be named the same', 'Thor (2011)' is considered to be the filename. .mkv & .srt are file extensions, so...

Thor (2011).mkv
Thor (2011).srt

OUGHT to be correct for any player that supports external .srt subs.

I'm wondering if it's now an issue of character encoding of the .srt file, which is just text, but don't want to complicate things unnecessarily.

Could you pls upload a copy of 'Thor (2011).srt' so I can take a look?

@Woodstock, any thoughts?

[d00zah]

@ibtrue, after reading endless (OK, not quite) discussions on WebOS-related fora, character encoding is often discussed as the possible culprit, but no one ever seems to report back on success/failure... the threads just die.

Rather than uploading a copy of the .srt file, please try this (I'm assuming your PC is running Windows?) :

- Make a copy of 'Thor (2011).srt'
- Open original 'Thor (2011).srt' with Notepad.exe
- From the 'File' menu, select 'Save as...'
-- Leave the file title field unchanged
-- Make sure 'Save as type' field is set to 'Text Documents (*,txt)'
-- Make sure the 'Encoding' field (to the left of the 'Save' radio button) is set to 'UTF-8'
- Hit 'Save' (overwrite original file)

Try to play the video w/ updated .srt with the LG player.

Any improvement?

[ibtrue]

@ibtrue, after reading endless (OK, not quite) discussions on WebOS-related fora, character encoding is often discussed as the possible culprit, but no one ever seems to report back on success/failure... the threads just die.

Rather than uploading a copy of the .srt file, please try this (I'm assuming your PC is running Windows?) :

- Make a copy of 'Thor (2011).srt'
- Open original 'Thor (2011).srt' with Notepad.exe
- From the 'File' menu, select 'Save as...'
-- Leave the file title field unchanged
-- Make sure 'Save as type' field is set to 'Text Documents (*,txt)'
-- Make sure the 'Encoding' field (to the left of the 'Save' radio button) is set to 'UTF-8'
- Hit 'Save' (overwrite original file)

Ok,I’ll do that and let you know what happened. Thanks

Try to play the video w/ updated .srt with the LG player.

Any improvement?

Ok,I’ll do that and let you know what happened. Thanks

[Chetwood]

Alternatively use Notepad++ to convert between encoding types.

[d00zah]

Alternatively use Notepad++ to convert between encoding types.

While I think it's a bit of overkill in the context of this experiment, I've seen it recommended numerous times over the years but never got around to trying it. Now that I have, I'm kicking myself for dragging my feet. All the nifty features of xemacs for perl & bash scripting, but also MS batch stuff, too. Automatically handles appropriate line breaks & other such variations. I LIKE IT!

Thanks for the nudge!

[Woodstock]

While I think it's a bit of overkill in the context of this experiment, ...

REAL overkill is UltraEdit....

[d00zah]

While I think it's a bit of overkill in the context of this experiment, ...

REAL overkill is UltraEdit....

Yikes!