Anime subtitles question

[dragged8202 4]

So recently I've been running into more and more series where the default subtitles are set to signs / songs instead of the dialogue. How is everyone else handling this? Is there a way to postprocess these to default the dialogue subtitles automatically? Is there a way to make emby prefer dialogues version? All I know is they show up as PGSSUB and PGSSUB Default in emby & I can see dialogues and signs/ songs displayed when I inspect the file. Surely there's a way to make this not so headache inducing? Manually changing subtitles for every episode in a season is such a pain.

 

Sorry if this was discussed previously, I did some searching and I wasn't able to find my h of anything. I just might not have looked for the correct terms. Thanks in advance

[pwhodges 1539]

You can reorder streams and change the default flags while re-encoding using HandBrake.

You can reorder streams and change the default flags without re-encoding using MKVToolNix.

You can change the default flags without reordering or re-encoding using JMkvPropEdit.

These are all to modify the original files, of course; I use all three in different circumstances.  Of course, you then need to set the Emby subtitle choosing options to work best for you.  When checking them out, note that Emby will remember and use your manual settings over the automated defaults, so you may need to reset those for testing.

Paul

(NB, the first two programs make a new file, but the third alters the file in place)

Edited April 16, 2023 by pwhodges

[dragged8202 4]

12 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

You can reorder streams and change the default flags while re-encoding using HandBrake.

You can reorder streams and change the default flags without re-encoding using MKVToolNix.

You can change the default flags without reordering or re-encoding using JMkvPropEdit.

These are all to modify the original files, of course; I use all three in different circumstances.  Of course, you then need to set the Emby subtitle choosing options to work best for you.  When checking them out, note that Emby will remember and use your manual settings over the automated defaults, so you may need to reset those for testing.

Paul

(NB, the first two programs make a new file, but the third alters the file in place)

You're my savior. I tried MKVToolNix but it really confused me, anything I tried to do took forever and I felt like it really shouldn't take more than a few seconds to process simple changes like this, I was definitely just using it wrong. JMkvPropEdit worked great for me in this instance. I wish there was a way to do this all through emby, but this will work for now, and I think I can mitigate this as I'm realizing most of this is from one or two release groups, just gotta spend some time on it. Thanks!

[pwhodges 1539]

Sadly, there is no consistency in the naming of the different subtitle streams, so it would be very hard to program Emby to distinguish them reliably.  Indeed, it's not that uncommon for the subtitle streams to be untitled, so you have to experiment to work out which is which (JMkvPropEdit is good there as well, to enable renaming).  Also, the Full Subtitle streams are sometimes marked as Japanese because they are used with the Japanese soundtrack (which understandably throws Emby's smart subtitle selection) - again, this is readily changed using JMkvPropEdit.

Paul