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How does MB-C handle subtitles?


NJ RadioGuy

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NJ RadioGuy

Hi all,

Just wondering how to turn subtitles on and off in MB-C? Most of my movies are .ISO DVD rips or .MKV BR-D rips, so I'm guessing the English sub-titles are present within these files. I just have no idea how to tell MB-C to play them (or turn them off later).

 

How can I determine if subs are part of my rip or not? And if they are, be able to toggle them on/off; if they're not there, how would I configure MB-C to automatically find the English subs and associate them with the main movie file?

 

Thanks in advance.

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MBC just uses the internal WMC player (or an external one if you configure it) so it does not really have any control of subtitle or alternate audio streams or such.

 

Search out here and you should find good information on how to control them (to whatever extend  you can) in this environment.

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NJ RadioGuy

I've looked and found lots of info on LAV (which I have set up and the other external subtitle one, whose name I don't recall offhand, but I recall setting up). What I'm not finding is the step-by-step of how to invoke subtitles or turn them off. I'm pretty sure I have the codecs installed properly, but there's nothing I can find telling me how to use them selectively. Maybe one movie in 100 I want to have them on.

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MediaExplorer

As ebr has said WMC (and WMP) does not have that capability. You can enable or disable subtitle by right clicking on DirectVobSub icon on taskbar and selecting hide or show subtitles. This isn't the most elegant solution but it's effective.

 

There are good info on this forum about subtitles. You may also be interested in how WMC handles subtiles: http://www.thehtpc.net/htpc-tips-and-tweaks/bypassing-windows-media-foundation-in-windows-7-media-center/

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NJ RadioGuy

As ebr has said WMC (and WMP) does not have that capability. You can enable or disable subtitle by right clicking on DirectVobSub icon on taskbar and selecting hide or show subtitles. This isn't the most elegant solution but it's effective.

 

I do not have anything called DirectVobSub anywhere on my computer. I know that if I play certain titles in VLC Player subs come up by default and I have to turn them off--so the info is there, I just need a way to access it.

 

 

There are good info on this forum about subtitles. You may also be interested in how WMC handles subtiles: http://www.thehtpc.net/htpc-tips-and-tweaks/bypassing-windows-media-foundation-in-windows-7-media-center/

I'm less interested in how it works than I am on just flipping a switch and making it work. When my wife says to me "I can't understand that guy 'cuz his accent is too thick" I don't want to tell her how subtitiles work, I want to quickly invoke a command by my universal remote (I do not want to have a mouse/keyboard connected to my HTPC if at all possible) to bring up subs, then rewind/replay. That article you referenced is also far beyond my understanding or desire to understand. I find it difficult to believe that there's no way to easily invoke subtitles in this day and age, especially with a player that's so phenomenally advanced in every other respect. I think I'm missing something critical here.

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yardameus

Do you have xy-VSfilter?  (I'm assuming that's the one you couldn't remember the name of)  If so, tweak around with it and also open windows media center and make sure it is set to show subtitles when present.

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NJ RadioGuy

Yes, xy-VSfilter is the one I set up.

I don't know how to access it, what the settings are for or anything about it. Guys, I'm not a tech guru--please, can someone explain this in simple, plain English? Step by step maybe? All I can find in my xy-VSFilter folder is the .dll, a text document and the uninstaller. There is no .exe to open up or play with, and when I was in setup I didn't understand a single one of them. I'm completely lost.

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yardameus

There should be a configuration program in your Start Menu, open that up.  I don't think I have made many changes to it, but in the General tab I have load when needed selected, and I have embedded and external checked.  I've found it easiest when trying to get something like this working, to play a file on Windows Media Player, change settings, try it again on WMP, etc...  If it works with WMP, it should work in Windows Media Center/MBC.  I've also read that checking the show only forced subtitles is usually a good idea. (Main tab)

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NJ RadioGuy

There should be a configuration program in your Start Menu, open that up.  I don't think I have made many changes to it, but in the General tab I have load when needed selected, and I have embedded and external checked.  I've found it easiest when trying to get something like this working, to play a file on Windows Media Player, change settings, try it again on WMP, etc...  If it works with WMP, it should work in Windows Media Center/MBC.  I've also read that checking the show only forced subtitles is usually a good idea. (Main tab)

 

OK, some progress. I re-downloaded and re-installed it, accepted the default settings and now I can configure it, but I only see the system tray icon when an .MKV file is playing. It is not present with.ISO files, so I'm guessing when I ripped the DVDs to ISO, the subtitles weren't included. If that's the case, how do I grab them on a movie-by-movie basis?

 

I also need to find a way to invoke subtitles via remote control since this machine generally doesn't run with a keyboard and mouse. It boots to desktop and then to MB-C via remote.

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yardameus

I don't use iso files, but I'm guessing you can use the servers subtitle tool to get the subs you need.  (In the metadata editor)

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...I find it difficult to believe that there's no way to easily invoke subtitles in this day and age, especially with a player that's so phenomenally advanced in every other respect. I think I'm missing something critical here.

 

You see, that is the thing.  When you use WMC you are using a player that was designed in about 2005 and it was really only designed to play DVDs which have menus for things such as subtitles built into them.

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NJ RadioGuy

You see, that is the thing.  When you use WMC you are using a player that was designed in about 2005 and it was really only designed to play DVDs which have menus for things such as subtitles built into them.

Is there a better underlying player I can use or does MB-C only work on top of WMC?

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MediaExplorer

Is there a better underlying player I can use or does MB-C only work on top of WMC?

Here is a link that may provide some answers: http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/6623-opening-video-file-in-vlc/

 

You may also take a look at MBT which probably will take precedence over MBC in the long run. 

Edited by MediaExplorer
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You can configure MBC to use an external player.  I'd say MPC-HC is the best supported.

 

You can also look into installing one of the WMC add-ons that allows you to control things like subtitles directly (MediaControl is one).

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NJ RadioGuy

OK, I've just added MPC-HC as an external player and will look for MediaControl.

 

Subtitle control is necessary for the wife acceptance factor and my own ease of use. It's only the two of us who watch foreign titles. The big key is being able to control everything with the remote. Mouse/Keyboard are dealbreakers.

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NJ RadioGuy

OK, you're still really over my head with info, ebr. I'm really not good at guessing, so could you maybe give me a clue about just what I need to be done?

 

I tried installing MediaControl (removing MPC-HC first), and it forced me to install Visual C++ from 2008, then something called FFDShow that seemed to take over playback of H.264, etc. I'm so far beyond confused at this point; I just don't know what to do next. I would be extremely grateful if you could help with some step-by-step directions for a known-good solution. I'm an older guy who's not comfortable with this level of tech. I can follow specific instructions and report what happens, but I'm not a good free-thinker when it comes to highly-technical video/HT related stuff. Please and thanks?

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I personally don't use subtitles so don't have specific steps I can relate but I know there are some topics out here that talk about it. One of you subtitle guys please point him in the right direction.

 

MediaControl does require FFDShow so if you don't want that, then the best route would be to use MPC-HC as an external player.

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NJ RadioGuy

I don't mind installing software if it will solve the problem...but the help I need is in the configuration aspect. I can read a website as well as the next guy "I found the solution is to use XYZ123" is a good start and points me in the right direction. "I found the solution is to use XYZ123. Here's how to set it up so that it does <needed_functionality>:" is much more helpful. I think a lot of good folks on this forum might be forgetting that not everybody who comes here has engineering-level PC knowledge and for a complex problem like this, a bit of hand-holding might be necessary. Again, thanks to all in advance.

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NJ RadioGuy

So. Things have gone from bad to worse. MPC-HC is a disaster for me -- the mouse pointer remains on screen at all times, it doesn't exit back to MB-C after I press the stop button, and worst of all, it doesn't even find subtitles in .ISO movies that I know are there because I just played them fine with VLC player stand-alone.
 
Because this is kinda veering off-topic a little I'm starting a different thread. Subtitles are still critical but now there are other failures that I'd like to address. Thanks again.

Edited by NJ RadioGuy
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I'm afraid your chosen format is at the root of much of your troubles.  These modern players are targeted at file formats as opposed to disc ones (ISO or folder rips).

 

But, I imagine much of your trouble can be tackled with configuration.  For instance, closing MPC-HC on stop is a simple configuration option in the player.  Did you hit the "Configure My Player" link when you setup the external player in the configurator?

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NJ RadioGuy

I'm afraid your chosen format is at the root of much of your troubles.  These modern players are targeted at file formats as opposed to disc ones (ISO or folder rips).

 

But, I imagine much of your trouble can be tackled with configuration.  For instance, closing MPC-HC on stop is a simple configuration option in the player.  Did you hit the "Configure My Player" link when you setup the external player in the configurator?

Yes, I did hit that and accepted the defaults. I also told MPC-HC to always exit on stop but that never worked. As for files, that can't be helped. I'm not about to re-rip 379 movies, and I don't have or can't find the disks for many of them (I think my wife gave a whole bunch away 2 or 3 years ago since they were all on my old server). So long as I can play them normally I guess I'm good and only about 5% of them are subtitled. Any new rips will be to MKV, of course.

 

That video really helps, and tomorrow I will try it and remove MPC-HC and see if that's a better way of doing things.

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