Subtitles not getting transcoded

[zoomcns 0]

Hi,

 

I just recently switched to Emby (from Plex/UMS, but both have issues) and everything is great, except my subtitles are not getting transcoded.

 

I'm using Emby 3.2.13.0 on windows, and streaming to a Sony KDL-EX700 (a 2010 model I believe) through DLNA.

As far as I know this tv doesn't support displaying subtitles natively, so they have to be burned in while transcoding. I tried to search the forums but I'm not really sure whether this is something Emby can do at all, or it's just a bug.

 

Subtitles are detected when viewing the media library, with the right filename and language and all that, and they do work when watching in the web-based player, but as far as I can see those are not burned in.

 

I have attached the server log and ffmpeg logs for both the transcoded stream and the web player.

 

Any help is appreciated!

logs.zip

[Luke 37113]

Hi, are these internal or external subtitles?

[zoomcns 0]

Hi, are these internal or external subtitles?

 

External.

[Luke 37113]

Then they should already be burning in, and according to that transcode log you attached it looks like they already are.

[zoomcns 0]

Thanks for checking the logs. That's quite weird then, I tried numerous movies and series with external subs, but I never see them on the tv. Is it possible that they get burned somehow outside of the picture or something?

[zoomcns 0]

Hmm... I tried some movies with internal subtitles, and they actually work. So it's only external subtitles that don't show.

[zoomcns 0]

Hmm... I tried some movies with internal subtitles, and they actually work. So it's only external subtitles that don't show.

 

Okay, that's not completely true either. I did some more testing and so far the only subtitles that work are internal vobsub subtitles within an mkv. When I found this out I tried to test a movie with external vobsub subtitles (avi with idx+sub), but that doesn't even play. (It looks like it starts, but then immediately quits without any error.) So at this point I don't really know what's up 

[Luke 37113]

@@zoomcns, can you please provide the emby server and ffmpeg log from the playback attempt with the idx/sub subtitle? Thanks !

[zoomcns 0]

Yep, here they are.

logs.zip

[Luke 37113]

Can you provide that video file for testing along with the sub/idx files? I did some idx/sub testing and I don't see any problems. Thanks !

[zoomcns 0]

I have sent you a private message with the link.

[Luke 37113]

I can confirm the same behavior that ffmpeg seems to be stalling with those subtitles but at the moment I am not sure why. I'll spend more time on it when I have a chance but I have a test setup with other idx/sub files that are not exhibiting this problem.

 

As always I would suggest to consider obtaining plain text .srt subtitles as those are always much simpler to work with.

 

Thanks.

[zoomcns 0]

I can confirm the same behavior that ffmpeg seems to be stalling with those subtitles but at the moment I am not sure why. I'll spend more time on it when I have a chance but I have a test setup with other idx/sub files that are not exhibiting this problem.

 

As always I would suggest to consider obtaining plain text .srt subtitles as those are always much simpler to work with.

 

Thanks.

 

I would, but the topic started with the problem that .srt subtitles are not being transcoded The idx/sub tangent came only with the implication that they do transcode, but that proved to be false.

But if the logs don't provide any info on why are they not shown as you say then it seems we're stuck with the issue.

[Luke 37113]

Yes that's a different matter, and yes your original question about is it possible that they're being rendered outside the picture, I suppose that is possible, yes.

[zoomcns 0]

I'm not an expert in ffmpeg, but would there be a way to recreate the transcoded file outside of emby so that I could check it on my pc and maybe test what encoder setting could be the culprit?

[Luke 37113]

Yes, you could try running this command from the command line

C:\Users\Zoltán\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\ffmpeg\20170308\ffmpeg.exe -f matroska -codec:0 h264 -codec:1 ac3 -i file:"D:\Media\TV Shows\The 100\The.100.S04E08.720p.HDTV.x264-KILLERS.mkv" -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -codec:v:0 libx264 -mpegts_m2ts_mode 1 -force_key_frames "expr:gte(t,n_forced*5)" -copyts -vf "scale=trunc(min(max(iw\,ih*dar)\,min(1920\,1080*dar))/2)*2:trunc(min(max(iw/dar\,ih)\,min(1920/dar\,1080))/2)*2,subtitles=filename='D\:/Media/TV Shows/The 100/The.100.S04E08.720p.HDTV.x264-KILLERS.hu.srt':charenc=utf-8,setpts=PTS -0/TB" -pix_fmt yuv420p -preset superfast -crf 23 -maxrate 5140720 -bufsize 10281440 -level 4.1 -x264opts:0 subme=0:rc_lookahead=10:me_range=4:me=dia:no_chroma_me:8x8dct=0:partitions=none -vsync -1 -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -threads 0 -codec:a:0 copy -y "C:\Users\Zoltán\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\transcoding-temp\7d31d107c1215ad2fed43145540f23e2.ts"

that will create a .ts file in the server's transcode temp folder.

[zoomcns 0]

Ok, so apparently this is an ffmpeg problem, more precisely a problem with ffmpeg that comes with emby.

 

I tried the command in your post, didn't work. I also tried to minimize the command to rule out everything that doesn't have to do with subtitle burning, but a simple "ffmpeg -i video.avi -vf subtitles=subtitle.srt out.avi" command didn't work either.

 

Then I tried the ffmpeg that comes with Universal Media Server 6.6.0 (ffmpeg version N-80363-g403a53c), and that worked on first try.

 

So I copied that ffmpeg.exe to emby's ffmpeg folder and voila, burned subtitles now appear properly when streaming to my tv.

[Luke 37113]

That's interesting, thanks. We'll look into that.