How to include subtitles in rip but NOT have default to on?

[madfloyd]

For years now I've been ripping discs with the FORCED option selected. I get the forced subs just fine.

However, I don't have the full subtitles for those instances where I can't understand what an actor is saying.

I have two points of confusion on this:

1) if I don't turn on the FORCED only, I will get the full subs, but will I get the forced as well?

2) When getting the full subtitles, is there any way to not have them default to ON? (e.g. without having to process the MKV in something like MkvMerge afterwards)?

Thanks in advance!

[d00zah]

Set a default selection rule for all subs in your language & ensure you always get what you want without manual intervention.

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4386

What a player displays is up to the player. One track in the file will be the 'default' track, but whether it's on,or off by default is up to the player settings.

[Woodstock]

Subtitles are hard to make generalizations about. But here are some:

1. Most players pay no attention to the "default" flag, in an MKV file. Some that respect it when playing from a DVD, ignore it everywhere else.
2. Many players respect preferred language settings. But not always.
3. Many players always play the first subtitle track found, regardless of your attempts to convince them otherwise.
4. "Forced subtitles", in the sense that MakeMKV looks at them, are subtitles that have the "Forced" flag set. Very, very few DVD and BD authors use the forced flag, preferring to have a separate track for forced subtitles. If you select "forced only" and uncheck the parent track, you will almost certainly have zero subtitle tracks.

Start with d00zah's suggestion - get ALL the tracks. Then, view the video in something like VLC which will let you select individual tracks to see what you get. Then, use either mkvtoolnix's mkvmerge (if you do not want to make the file smaller) or handbrake (if you want more efficient storage) to put the tracks in the order you want, so your player(s) do not do things to irritate you.