Subtitles on Fire TV in the Wrong Position

[jra11500 2]

Up to this point, I have ripped all my movies and series in the MP4 format.  Now I have a need to use subtitles in several languages and am testing the MKV Lossless format.  In viewing on my Samsung Smart TV with an Amazon FireTV stick, the subtitles appear in the vertical center of the video and I can not get the subtitles to appear at the bottom of the screen.  If I view the same video with the native Samsung app, the subtitles appear at the bottom as expected.  Am I missing something here?

[Neminem 762]

Have you played with the subtitle display settings.

On the FireTV stick what app have you installed there are 2.

If you search for emb only you should see to

[jra11500 2]

I have installed both apps and both have the same results.  The subtitles continue to display in the middle of the screen.  Also, the video does not automatically display in a full screen even though auto aspect ratio is selected.

I also have an issue with forced subtitles which do not work.  I have to select a subtitle language and the subtitles are always displayed.  From what I understand, forced subtitles should only appear when there is a different language spoken.  I don't know if Emby has a problem or if there is a problem when I rip the video.  I use VideoByte.

 

[ebr 15541]

5 hours ago, jra11500 said:

From what I understand, forced subtitles should only appear when there is a different language spoken.

Hi.  Its not that they "only appear" then it is that the subtitle file should only contain those parts.  However, any subtitle track could be marked as "forced" even if it contained full subs.

Have you confirmed the contents of the subtitle track you are selecting?

[jra11500 2]

@ebr,

Thanks for responding.  Your comment about the subtitle file contents made me realize that perhaps the file does have the full subtitles.  After all, when you purchase a DVD and subtitles are available on that DVD, then the subtitles will always be displayed when selected.

I am continuing to test this.  The DVD I have chosen is from the Outlander series, Season 2, third episode where French is spoken in some scenes.  If I turn off subtitles, nothing is shown even when French is spoken.  If I turn on subtitles, then they are always on.  As stated before, this is probably normal behavior.  I can accept this but it does bring me back to the original problem of where the subtitles are displayed.

Here is my setup:

Synology NAS with Emby server 4.8.10.0

FireTV stick with Emby app 2.1.26a

In starting the video, the aspect ratio is wrong and the subtitles are in the very middle of the screen.  The appears to be a problem with the FireTV app as the subtitles are at the bottom when using the native Samsung TV app.  Attached are the snapshots:

[ebr 15541]

Those two look like different types of subs - at the very least one may be being burned in while the others are being displayed by the client.

Can you please provide ffmpeg logs for each of those examples?

[jra11500 2]

@ebr

In the server configuration, there are ffmpeg log files for the Samsung TV app but there are no log files for the FireTV app.  How do I generate the files for the FireTV app?

 

[ebr 15541]

If they aren't there then they weren't produced.  That's okay.  Just provide the one from the Samsung playback.  Thanks.

[jra11500 2]

Attached are the two files.

ffmpeg-directstream-cc684595-54e0-42dd-aa4b-1f96c8e7f3a4_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-e419ae99-e4c0-420c-968c-5ac0c4e6325f_1 (1).txt

[ebr 15541]

The direct stream log is from the Fire but it appears no subtitle was chosen for that playback.

The transcode log is from the Samsung and the first sub track is chosen which is an English DVDSUB and is being burned in by the server.

I suspect the direct stream log doesn't match with the playback you showed.

Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks.

 

[jra11500 2]

It's odd but things seem to be working now.  Earlier, I tried the standard Android app but it was doing the same thing (that is, subtitles in the middle of the screen).  On the server I installed the diagnostics plug-in but made no changes in any of the settings.

Now, when starting an episode with subtitles off, the app is indicating "Direct Play" (as seen under User Sessions in the server window) but it is necessary to select Playback Correction on the TV to get the screen to fill.  If I then turn on subtitles, transcoding begins and the subtitles are burned in and appear correctly at the bottom of the screen.  The only inconvenience now is that I have to select Playback Correction every time I start an episode.

 

Edited March 9 by jra11500
Text correction

[jra11500 2]

This issue is back when I try to use the Android app (3.4.36).  In the Android app, there is no option for "Playback Correction" and I'm stuck with subtitles in the middle of the screen again.  Are there some settings I can try to correct this?

[Luke 39294]

1 hour ago, jra11500 said:

This issue is back when I try to use the Android app (3.4.36).  In the Android app, there is no option for "Playback Correction" and I'm stuck with subtitles in the middle of the screen again.  Are there some settings I can try to correct this?

Hi, the net update to the app will have playback correction. That's just a workaround though and we are investigating the subtitle position. Thanks.

[fahad92 6]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, the net update to the app will have playback correction. That's just a workaround though and we are investigating the subtitle position. Thanks.

I was coming here to report this.

Nothing has changed in my setups for months but my emby app for Android TV updated on 13 February 2025 and just recently all srt subtitles with wrong position (at top) it's like emby has fliped the logic. (Direct play)

I have no idea why it's happening nothing changed at my end

Emby release 4.8.11.0

Android TV app 2.1.26g

I tested the native app for Android TV and it doesn't show any issues but I find it hard to use it's heavier and doesn't handle audio transcoding very well compared to the other one. And navigating in the app really need some sound affects, it feels weird to use after having the first one for years

Can I get a link for a stable release before 2.1.26g? I couldn't find previous versions.

Thank you for your great work and support as always 

 

[fahad92 6]

Update:

I left the beta and went back to 2.1.23. works perfectly no subtitles position issues.

[Luke 39294]

Hi, we are looking into it. Thanks.

[jra11500 2]

13 hours ago, fahad92 said:

Update:

I left the beta and went back to 2.1.23. works perfectly no subtitles position issues.

Where did you get the 2.1.23 app?

 

[ebr 15541]

17 hours ago, fahad92 said:

Update:

I left the beta and went back to 2.1.23. works perfectly no subtitles position issues.

That is very odd as there are no differences in the app that would affect the subtitles.

Are you sure you are comparing the exact same thing?

[fahad92 6]

6 minutes ago, ebr said:

That is very odd as there are no differences in the app that would affect the subtitles.

Are you sure you are comparing the exact same thing?

Yeah sure in 2.1.26g every single srt subtitle is positioned at top, going back to 2.1.23 solved it for me.

All my streams are direct plays.

If it's not a common issue maybe the solution was a simple reinstall even if to 2.1.26 to clear whatever caches I have in TV for the app? I don't know