Subtitle tools

[ravenj 2]

Hello,

 

The development of features related to subtitles is always very shy. I can undestand that because the number of people who use subtitles is also limited. Although this may be true, it's also true that most people who need subtitles are also reluctant to migrate from kodi to emby's apps because the features within kodi are not comparable to emby.

 

That's Why I wuold like to share with you, mainly developers, the subtitle's features I think are missing from emby and that are preventing me to definitly migrate from kodi.

 

As you know, there are countless versions of files for the same, pex movie, and, very often, the emby server app that downloads subtitles from opensubtitles, which is great, fails to download the correct ones. Mainly because the sync is off. It would be great Android TV app, like others, could allow the selection and download "on-the-fly" of other files, even during playback if direct playing.

 

Also, it should be possible to change subtitle size.

 

Thank you

Best regards

[ebr 14960]

Thanks for the feedback.  We will look to improve these things in the future.

[Luke 37274]

Ho @@ravenj, we do not download incorrect subtitles, we download the subtitles that OpenSubtitles tells us is the best match for your video.

 

By default, we only download subtitles that are a perfect match using OpenSubtitles hashing algorithm.

[ravenj 2]

Hello @@Luke

 

I really don't know what's happening and also I don’t have the technical knowledge to understand what’s behind your tool to download subtitles. All I know, and wrote previously, is that, very often and specially on tv shows, the downloaded subtitles are out of sync with video. It may not be emby’s fault but it fails.

 

If I really must say, that even doesn’t bother me much. I lived many years searching and/or correcting subtitles and having a tool that automatically downloads subtitles correctly for about 40% of my movies/tv shows is great. I just have to do it manually for the other 60%.

 

What I really don’t like is to start watching a movie with a downloaded subtitle, realizing it’s out of sync (yes I can only know if it out of sync playing the file) and not having any way to download another subtitle without going to the server and do it manually. I would prefer doing it, like kodi, within the app, on my tv and preferably while pausing the file.

 

Emby’s Android app has support to change subtitle within the movie/tv show info screen, like the web interface. Although this works better, it is still a very minimal tool because, when needed, I have to change subtitles, play the file to see if the sync is correct and, if not, stop the file and change the sub again. Have to repeat this process the number of times necessary to find the correct subtitle. For you information, some movies/tv shows have 5 or 6, some even more, different subtitle versions.

 

Just my contribution.

[Luke 37274]

Yes I think having in-video subtitle downloading would be nice as well. Thanks.

[memeka 0]

I've been lurking for a while here, looking for the moment this exact feature will get added. So I finally created an account to add my voice.

I use subs most of the times for different reasons: watching a movie with someone that doesn't understand english well, when there is a lot of ambient noise, or just by myself when also putting my baby to sleep -- much easier to keep track when subs are on. Or when doing other stuff, keeping track of text is easier than concentrating on the sound.

 

Like the OP, I am currently stuck on Kodi for this exact thing: I can download subs on-demand. There are so many reasons I would love to go emby on my Android TV, but this thing keeps me back

 

As a regular sub user, I can tell you Opensubtitles suggested subtitle is half the time wrong. There were also times when I was waiting for the subtitle to be uploaded before starting a movie -- so having on-demand download in the client, not some periodic scheduling on the server, provides a much better experience.

 

The day this feature makes it into the Android TV client, I will switch immediately.

Edited March 8, 2017 by memeka

[Luke 37274]

We have on demand subtitle downloading, just not in the video player.

[RanmaCanada 360]

It's quite possible that it might be a frame rate issue.  I have run into this before, being a former scene encoder.  What I mean is, you have a file that is 23.97 fps, but the subs are timed for 29.97 fps, and thus when the file is played, the dvd pads the frames to make it run at 29.97 so that the subs are timed properly.  Looking at you Battle Athletes.  The other issue would be if the subs are for NTSC or PAL releases.  NTSC is 23.97 or 29.97 and PAL is 25 fps.  Then there is also 24 fps, and the bluray ones of 50 and 60 fps.  I am over simplifying here, because it does get pretty technical, but this is the basics of it.

 

If you want on demand subs, you can use kodi/spmc (spmc is the android fork of kodi) by enabling the external players option, and you can setup open subtitles to download the subs on demand.  https://www.howtogeek.com/186660/how-to-enable-automatic-subtitle-downloading-in-xbmc/  Please understand if you are already grabbing subs for your shows, opensubtitle limits you to 500 downloads a day.  

 

I hope this helps you.

[memeka 0]

If you want on demand subs, you can use kodi/spmc (spmc is the android fork of kodi) by enabling the external players option, and you can setup open subtitles to download the subs on demand.  https://www.howtogeek.com/186660/how-to-enable-automatic-subtitle-downloading-in-xbmc/  Please understand if you are already grabbing subs for your shows, opensubtitle limits you to 500 downloads a day.  

 

This is what I (and probably the OP) do a lot, and it's the feature we would love to see in the Android TV client.