BUG: Chinese Subtitles Displayed as Boxes on Apple TV After Update to

[jiasen 0]

After updating to Apple TV's latest tvOS 18, I'm experiencing an issue where Chinese subtitles are displayed as boxes (□) in Emby. This problem did not occur in previous versions of tvOS and is specific to Emby on Apple TV. Other media players such as Infuse and Vidhub display the subtitles correctly.

[Luke 42077]

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[jiasen 0]

Hi, 

Thanks for pointing this out. 

Details:

• Device: Apple TV 4K
• tvOS Version: 18.0
• Emby App Version: 1.8.9
• Emby Server Version: 4.9.0.30 beta Synology NAS 64 bit
• Media File Details: Media file mkv and Subtitle bif format. (see the attached)
• Issue: Chinese subtitles appear as □ instead of the correct characters. Also playback will be a little laggy.
• Comparison: Other players like Infuse and Vidhub on the same Apple TV play the same media files with subtitles correctly. 

Steps to Reproduce:

• Update Apple TV to tvOS 18.
• Open Emby and play a video file with Chinese subtitles.
• Observe the subtitles appearing as □ instead of Chinese characters.

Expected Behavior: Chinese subtitles should be displayed correctly in Emby, as they were in previous tvOS versions and as they are in other players.

Additional Information: I've tried reinstalling the Emby app and restarting the Apple TV, but the issue persists. It seems to be specific to the recent tvOS update and Emby integration.

Love Next Door - S01E01 - Comeback WEBDL-1080p-320-10.bif

[jiasen 0]

Perhaps I made a mistake; the issue might not be with the BIF file but rather with the subtitles being embedded within the MKV file?

[Luke 42077]

19 hours ago, jiasen said:

Perhaps I made a mistake; the issue might not be with the BIF file but rather with the subtitles being embedded within the MKV file?

Hi, we don’t know yet, that’s why I requested more information.

 Bif files are related to thumbnails, so definitely nothing to do with that.

[basvk 1]

I'm suffering from this bug as well on an Apple TV 4, combined with serious stuttering when squares are displayed. Looks like flex player had the same issue, see this thread: https://forums.plex.tv/t/chinese-subtitle-display-problems-in-the-new-version-of-ipados-18-ios-18/887926/13
They do seem to have fixed it in the current beta release of their client though.

The workaround of changing the subtitle font in the Apple TV settings as described in that thread did not fix the issue with Emby for me unfortunately.

Edited September 28, 2024 by basvk

[FredYF 0]

Same problem encountered with simplified/traditional Chinese subtitles. Completely unplayable 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, this is resolved in the next update to Emby for Apple TV. Thanks.