How does download subtitles work?

[jwill 28]

MBS 5264

 

How is the new download subtitles feature supposed to work?

 

I was expecting it to download SRT subtitle files from opensubtitles.org and save them in the folder along with the video file, or perhaps in a subtitles subfolder.

 

But I cannot seem to get subtitles to download. I checked Download Subtitles for Episodes, checked for English language, unchecked "Skip if the default audio track matches the download language", and tried both checked and unchecked for "Skip if the video already contains graphical subtitles". I entered my opensubtitles username and password and clicked "save" (now the password does not show, but I assume it got saved -- ideally MBS should show circles in that field to indicate a saved but blanked out password).

 

Then I ran the "Scan Media Library" task. But it completed in about 20 seconds and did not do anything, despite there being hundreds or thousands of TV Episodes that need subtitles downloaded.

 

Is it supposed to only download the subtitles file when I go to play a video? I used MBC to play a video (via MPC-HC) that I know opensubtitles has a file for, but nothing was downloaded and there were no subtitles visible.

 

Do subtitles only work through the web interface? I tried playing an episode through the web interface and I did not see any subtitles.

Edited May 31, 2014 by jwill

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

Currently it downloads when the item is added to your library or if you do a metadata refresh on an individual item. There is no bulk subtitle download at this time.

[jwill 28]

Okay, I got it to download some subtitles. Then it stopped working.

 

Looking around, I found out that opensubtitles.org is limited to 200 subtitles downloaded per 24 hours. That rule is kind of buried in the FAQ.

 

It says that if you keep trying to download subtitles after reaching the limit, it will block your IP on their firewall. I hope MBS was smart enough to stop trying to download more once I reached the limit, because I tried for a while (MBS did not give me an error message) after it stopped working, before I found out there was a limit.

Edited June 1, 2014 by jwill

[jwill 28]

So, if MBS only (automatically) downloads subtitles when the media is first added, then it is a problem for TV episodes. When TV episodes are first downloaded, the subtitles are usually not yet available. In my case, the subtitles often are not available for several hours after the TV episode has already been added to MBS.

 

I think it would be a great feature to add to MBS, as an option, to try to download the subtitles when a play request comes in for an episode, and then hold off playing to the client until the subtitles are downloaded (or found to be unavailable).

 

This would work well for me, since I often do not watch the TV episodes until several hours (or more) after they are downloaded. So the subtitles likely became available in that time.

 

I suppose another alternative could be to have a scheduled task that will download subtitles for any media that was added to MBS during the last 24 hours. Such a task could be scheduled to run, say, every hour. Then it would basically keep checking for subtitles every hour for 24 hours after each media item was added to MBS.

[Spaceboy 2565]

yeah, i seem to have been banned from opensubtitles because MBS tried to do my whole library in one go. three days in a row.

 

i think implementing a download limit of 200 per day in line with their t&c's would be helpful

[Luke 39685]

there is actually an internal limit of i think 150 per day. but it is reset if you restart the server. you can also consider upgrading your open subtitle account to vip status.

[Spaceboy 2565]

They only seem to take bitcoin! I did look, where does one get bit coin from?

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

https://localbitcoins.com/

 

Or you can google how to mine them digitally.

[Spaceboy 2565]

there is actually an internal limit of i think 150 per day. but it is reset if you restart the server. you can also consider upgrading your open subtitle account to vip status.

If I subscribe can I remove the 150 a day limit?

[Spaceboy 2565]

ok, what a rigmarole that was to get some bitcoins, still the remainder are sitting in my digital wallet so hopefully they start to appreciate!

 

still waiting for confirmation from opensubtitles but would it be possible to add switch to change between the 150 limit and something like 900 for those that subscribe? and @@Luke is there a manual change i can make in the meantime? its going to take several months to get onto the movies at 150 a day!

[kandolhu 3]

This post of 2014. After 4 years later do we now have bulk subtitle download? Sometimes I have seen Emby automatically downloading subtitles. How do I bulk download manually? I've a VIP OpenSubtitle account.

[Luke 39685]

Subtitles are downloaded one at a time.

[kandolhu 3]

Thanks, you're right. It works now, after a few hrs.

[ebr 15584]

ok, what a rigmarole that was to get some bitcoins, still the remainder are sitting in my digital wallet so hopefully they start to appreciate!

 

Still got 'em...?

[Luke 39685]

Thanks, you're right. It works now, after a few hrs.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Luke 39685]

Downloading subtitles during video playback is coming to the next version of many of our apps - android, iOS, etc. iOS will actually be two updates from now as we've already submitted one to apple. Enjoy.

[kandolhu 3]

Since users can download movies from Emby to their devices. Could you add a button or something allowing them to download subtitles too to their devices FROM Emby?

[Luke 39685]

2 hours ago, kandolhu said:

Since users can download movies from Emby to their devices. Could you add a button or something allowing them to download subtitles too to their devices FROM Emby?

Yes it's possible for the future. thanks.