Roku subtitle weirdness

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

This may not be the perfect forum for this but I use my Roku for 90% of my playback and this is where the problem manifests.

I almost never need or want to use subtitles. I have subs turned off in the Roku itself and on the server but whenever I play a file with imbedded subs the Roku setting gets changed for "off" or "On replay," whichever is set on the Roku subs get turned on on he Roku and subs show. I do NOT want this behavior. Emby should NEVER change Roku's subtitle from off to anything else. It is simply annoying to have settings that I set, like subtitles off, to anything else by a program. Roku does NOT know what I want better than I and should never change settings like subtitle display without permission. 

It is only on my Roku i see this and I do NOT want it at all. Since the Roku settings for subs are available by simply pressing star (*) during playback and i can turn that setting on should i wish manually, but i almost never want subs on. 

Emby has not been given the permission to change Roku settings and it should NEVER override any Roku setting I have made.

Please fix this BUG!!! Emby is supposed to be "Your media your way." but this makes it "Your media Emby's way." 

I get very frustrated by starting a video and then, a little later, having to fumble for the remote to turn the crap off. 

I know I can remove the subs from the videos using several different tools but i do not want to do that. I simply want Emby to respect the settings I have chosen. 

There used to be third party client software that worked with Emby on the Roku so I could, in the past,  switch clients to get past bugs like this until they were fixed but it seems the third party client software has gone away. 

Right now, I just want this bug fixed and I want the settings I set in the Roku to remain AS I SET THEM unless I change them no matter what Emby wants to do. If subs are OFF on my Roku they should ALWAYS remain off unless i turn them on. 

Edit: After posting the above i discovered a bit of a workaround but it is less than optimal. 
In the subtitle settings in the server i changed to language from "English" to "Any" and the subs i do not want stopped stopped appearing. However Emby still changed the Roku setting from off to on always. 
While this works it is less than optimal and it makes getting subs for one movie out of 200-300 turned on much more complicated. 

Again Emby should NEVER change Roku setting unless i tell it to!

Edited January 5, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48

[speechles 2055]

What do you have set for the subtitle mode?

 

Emby must change the Roku caption setting when you choose to enable or disable captions/subtitles. If you choose "OFF" on subtitles from the Emby Roku OSD it turns them off and "off always" in the Roku global settings. It you choose a subtitle from the subtitles menu it will enable subtitles "on always" in the Roku global settings. Otherwise you cannot see them. The Roku will respect your Emby settings.

It sounds like you want to choose "No Subtitles" for your subtitle mode. Also clear the saved track selections if previously you played any with subtitles and wish them ALL to be disabled. When "No Subtitles" is used Emby will always turn off subtitles when an item starts to play on the Roku unless you have turned them on before for that item and used a subtitle before. It will remember what has occured before with your files and present them that way for next time.

Edited January 5, 2025 by speechles

[pwhodges 2012]

As far as I can tell, it is Roku doing this, not Emby. 

My problem is the opposite, though - I set the Roku subtitle setting to "On always", and a while later I notice that live TV (it's a Roku TV) no longer has subtitles and I have to go through the star menu again.  In fact, thinking about it, the Emby subtitle settings are as stable for me on the Roku as they are on other clients.

I don't use the star for subtitles in Emby, though - I use down-arrow and scroll over to Emby's CC button, if my server settings are not already giving me what I want.  Since I often have multiple subtitles I need to do it this way to be able to choose.

Paul

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

No matter what Emby should NEVER touch the chosen subtitle mode on my Roku or, if it really has to, it should change the setting back when exiting the playback. (I could live with that as it would really be no impact for me) But if I have subs off and i play an MKV file that has subs on and I turn them off in the playback using the down arrow and then go to another app that has subs as a possibility then I find that subs on the Roku are set to on. This is simply wrong. NO APP on the Roku should ever change Roku's settings and then leave them that way. If I generally do not want subs, but do from time to time, I should always find Roku's setting upon exiting any app exactly the same as they were when I entered the app. 

I set the Roku up the way I want it but Emby thinks differently so changes my settings. This is a BUG and should be fixd. If it is the way subs on the Roku are designed to work then it is a major design flaw.

BTW: The apps for ESPN or paramount+ or Peacock or any other app I use do NOT make any permanent changes to my Roku even if I turn subs on  (Which I sometimes have to do even for Spanish or German broadcasts those are languages I understand, because the announcers get too fast for me to follow. When I exit the apps my Roku's setting are always the way they were when I entered. That is if subs are off when I enter Paramount+ with subs turned off on my Roku and watch an event that causes me to turn them on inside the app, if I then exit Paramount+ I find my Roku settings exactly as they were upon entering,

I am not asking for Emby's Roku app to do anything special for me I am simply asking that, if something must be changed inside the app while I am using it, that it get changed back upon exit. Other apps can do that, why can't the Emby Roku app. 

I get very tired of fixing what Emby messes up in my Roku settings even if I don't actually use subtitles in Emby. I do not want to turn subs off in the server's settings because, if I do the, then the very movies/TV shows that I need subs for cannot turn them on until I o into the server and set the back on. 

Please just put things back as you found them after exit.  I have had to tell my kids that several times but I should not have to tell professional developers such obvious behavior things. 

Edited January 5, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48

[speechles 2055]

3 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Please just put things back as you found them after exit.  I have had to tell my kids that several times but I should not have to tell professional developers such obvious behavior things. 

I understand what you mean. We can cache the state of the globalCaptionMode when the app launches.
After video playback of an item or queue it will return the state from the cache to the globalCaptionMode.

This should be how we did it to begin with. We can accomodate this and apologies it wasn't built that way to begin with.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

15 minutes ago, speechles said:

I understand what you mean. We can cache the state of the globalCaptionMode when the app launches.
After video playback of an item or queue it will return the state from the cache to the globalCaptionMode.

This should be how we did it to begin with. We can accomodate this and apologies it wasn't built that way to begin with.

That should do what i want. Although it is an imperfect solution it will solve 90% of what I was complaining about and the other 10% I can live with. 
The next obvious question is how soon will we have this upgrade rolled out to us lowly users? I know I am being a bit, OK maybe a lot, impatient but, at my age, i just want to be sure I get the upgrade before my life sufferers the ultimate downgrade.  

Thanks!  

Oh, one more thing. If you find that the globalcaptionmode is set to "on on replay" can you just leave it that way even inside the app during playback of a show with captions? I think I would prefer full captioning not be turned automagically on if I have the "on replay" chosen on the Roku. While not as important as my initial request it just seems that "Captions on during replay better fits my usage. That is why I usually set my Roku that way. In other words if it is set to off then overriding the set mode makes some sense but if it is set "on replay" then that is when it should be simply left alone. But, if that is impossible I will understand. 

Edited January 6, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48
Addition

[speechles 2055]

8 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

The next obvious question is how soon will we have this upgrade rolled out to us lowly users? I know I am being a bit, OK maybe a lot, impatient but, at my age, i just want to be sure I get the upgrade before my life sufferers the ultimate downgrade.  

Thanks!  

We can fast track this one and get it in on the next cycle. It isn't that much to add and doesn't impact any other functionality.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

9 minutes ago, speechles said:

We can fast track this one and get it in on the next cycle. It isn't that much to add and doesn't impact any other functionality.

But when is that "next cycle?" 
I know; It will happen when it happens but as long as you are granting wishes I just want to know what to expect. 

BTW: I edited the earlier post to add one little additional request and, since you seem to be feeling benevolent, I added it as a request. 
OK, I want everything and I am, probably, pushing my luck.  

Something just occurred to me. I exit the Roku app almost all the time by stopping playback and then using either "Back" or "Home" to exit and the "fix" you propose should work just fine in either case. However, sometimes i just press "home" to exit. I know I will possibly lose playback progress when I do that and I understand why. But will the solution work in that case? It does not matter too much and I can live with it either way. I just wan to know what to expect.  

Edited January 6, 2025 by Gilgamesh_48

[speechles 2055]

10 minutes ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

But when is that "next cycle?" 
I know; It will happen when it happens but as long as you are granting wishes I just want to know what to expect. 

BTW: I edited the earlier post to add one little additional request and, since you seem to be feeling benevolent, I added it as a request. 
OK, I want everything and I am, probably, pushing my luck.  

IIRC it is Tuesday. That is the day for Roku to publish a new version of the Emby app.  I can have the changes up tonight to fix this problem. We can definitely have the package ready on the store before Tuesday. Then Roku will push it to all devices on Tuesday.

Edited January 6, 2025 by speechles

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

1 minute ago, speechles said:

IIRC it is Tuesday. That is the day for Roku to publish a new version of the Emby app.  I can have the changes up tonight to fix this problem. We can definitely have the package ready on the store before Tuesday. Then Roku will push it to all devices on Tuesday.

Thanks. Yu seem to have the habit of posting while i am editing a previous post. See the post you quote for what i added while you were posting. 
I MUST work on posting more complete posts the first time. My old brain just does not seem to finish thoughts when I am posting. Don't get old it is disconcerting at times.  

[speechles 2055]

1 hour ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Something just occurred to me. I exit the Roku app almost all the time by stopping playback and then using either "Back" or "Home" to exit and the "fix" you propose should work just fine in either case. However, sometimes i just press "home" to exit. I know I will possibly lose playback progress when I do that and I understand why. But will the solution work in that case? It does not matter too much and I can live with it either way. I just wan to know what to expect.  

The "Home" button during video playback?

When video playback is stopped the globalCaptionMode is returned to the state it was when the application launched. This cannot happen if you just press home during playback. Video playback is not stopped when you press Home. The application is rudely terminated and given no chance to do anything.

We cannot trigger any functions before the app closes when you press the Home button. Roku does not have an implementation of onDestroy available. That means when the home button is used the app is forcefully terminated at that point. All environment variables are left as they were during playback. The same should happen on all Roku apps. They will not be able to return the global Roku environment back to normal. The globalCaptionMode would not be reset it would remain how the app left it. You will "strand" the playback and the server will have to then realize the client is no longer giving heartbeats and kill any transcoding/etc. This is why you should never use home during video playback in any Roku app.

https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Developer-Program/Please-give-us-onDestroy-as-an-event/td-p/515902

 

Edited January 6, 2025 by speechles

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

5 minutes ago, speechles said:

The "Home" button during video playback?

When video playback is stopped the globalCaptionMode is returned to the state it was when the application launched. This cannot happen if you just press home during playback.

We cannot trigger any functions before the app closes. Roku does not have an implementation of onDestroy. That means when the home button is used the app is forcefully terminated at that point. All environment variables are left as they were during playback. The same should happen on all Roku apps. They will not be able to return the global Roku environment back to normal. The globalCaptionMode would not be reset it would remain how the app left it. You will "strand" the playback and the server will have to then realize the client is no longer giving heartbeats and kill any transcoding/etc. This is why you should never use home during video playback in any Roku app.

https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Developer-Program/Please-give-us-onDestroy-as-an-event/td-p/515902

 

That is what I thought but I was hoping for a different outcome. I guess I am more than a bit insane.  I will just have to avoid using "home" during playback. It will be hard to alter my behavior. I do not do it normally but I do, sometimes, but it should be a doable procedure to unlearn. I guess changing my behavior will be a bit easier than convincing Roku to allow apps to do something reasonable. Roku+reason often results in "No non-imaginary solutions."

[speechles 2055]

@Gilgamesh_48Waiting for merge.

Reference: Fix #1649: [MainScene, BasePlayer] *fix* Cache captions mode on start and then apply after every stop

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

3 minutes ago, speechles said:

@Gilgamesh_48Waiting for merge.

...

Well that is good news but the last time I was told that I needed to be more patient and wait before the "merge"  I ended up with my ex wife. I believe and hope this "merge" goes better.  It could hardly go worse. 

Thanks!!!!

[ebr 16169]

This will change the logic during video playback and will need to be designed properly and tested so I cannot promise an immediate release.  If all goes well, it shouldn't be too long.