Transparent subtitles / change opacity for HDR TVs?

[Devdroid 23]

Please add a setting for subtitle opacity, as it looks so much better on HDR TVs. Otherwise it's much too bright and hurt your eyes.

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, what emby app are you playing from?

[sandrojpsantos 0]

Yes this is a way to important feature that tend to be overlooked everywhere. I am using emby on my LG pled tv, since the days we have no subtitles options. Now we can change colours which helps but if the movie is way to dark the subtitles pop up like a sun in the living room. Opacity in subtitles is really important for HDR content.

[sandrojpsantos 0]

P.S: Also I don't really like to have my subs with color. I am rocking the pinkish color which is the most white enough of the bunch while still getting some of the brightness down.

[sandrojpsantos 0]

P.P.S: Also a great option would be to add grey to the colours. I tested the grey on the competition after posting and works great. Hope it helps.

[Luke 42077]

Yes we plan to add more color options in future updates. thanks for the feedback.

[Devdroid 23]

Hi there, what emby app are you playing from?

 

I'm playing on both a Shield TV 2019 using the Android TV client and on a Samsung Q90R using the Tizen client. There's no option to set the opacity for subtitles in Emby in any of the clients, so they're way too bright. My TV really cranks up the brightness around the subtitles, so it's like starring into the sun as @@sandrojpsantos pointed out. 

 

Both Amazon Prime and Netflix for example supports opacity for subtitles, and that solves the problem with HDR + subtitles entirely. I think Netflix even enables it by default if you play HDR content? 

 

I'm using yellow color with Emby as white is even worse, but being unable to set 50% opacity makes it very hard to watch anything with subtitles enabled in the dark  . Daytime is bearable. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Devdroid

[ebr 16169]

My question would be should this only be for HDR content?  Is that opacity going to make the subs unreadable on non-HDR items?

[Devdroid 23]

My question would be should this only be for HDR content? Is that opacity going to make the subs unreadable on non-HDR items?

Good question. It's mostly a problem with HDR, but with local dimming enabled they still get quite bright while playing SDR content, so I guess it depends on the TV?

 

Not sure what would be the best option, but it would probably be optimal with a separate SDR and HDR setting. Or a setting that only applied to HDR if it's easier to add it that way, since it's easier to live with no opacity+SDR vs no opacity+HDR.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Devdroid

[ebr 16169]

Separate settings will be very difficult to maintain, explain, etc.  Isn't there one setting that would work for both situations (like a grey color)?  If not, we may just have to apply an automatic dimming with HDR content.

[psysfaction 0]

I agree, I just got a a Samsung Q90R and it would be great to at least have gray as color and or a semi transparent option like in Netflix.
 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes, more options are possible with future updates. thanks for the feedback.

[tchirou 23]

Sorry to barge in, I don't have access to my shield right now but in the android tv emby app, there is grey and dim options already for subtitles. This is what I use to prevent loosing my eyes with HDR content since I bought an HDR tv in july 2019

[ebr 16169]

11 minutes ago, tchirou said:

Sorry to barge in, I don't have access to my shield right now but in the android tv emby app, there is grey and dim options already for subtitles. This is what I use to prevent loosing my eyes with HDR content since I bought an HDR tv in july 2019

Hi.  Yes, that is correct.

[psysfaction 0]

Thank you guys, I found the settings in the Shield Emby app fixing the Bright subtitle issue

[22tomasz 1]

Is there any chance for update with grey subtitles for LG TV app? This the simplest option to solve the issue with too bright subtitles, no matter it is hdr or non hdr content. Honestly, it is game changer.

This is one option with i am missing, the rest seems very good.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes we are looking into improving this. Thanks for the feedback.

[amb13 18]

I watch quite a bit of both SD and HDR content with subtitles and watching HDR with white subtitles is not a very pleasant experience. So It would be a very big improvement if one (or both) of these options was implemented.

1. Be able to change the color of the subtitle from the OSD while a video is playing. On AndroidTV I now have to stop the video, go all the way back to the home screen, go to settings, change the subtitle colour, go back to the home screen, choose the video and start playing again. So being able to change the color from the OSD would save A LOT of clicks.

2. Set separate colour for subtitles for SDR and HDR content and automatically choose the relevant one based on the file that's playing.

As for colors, in kodi they have added Dark grey #808080. This one is very good at least on LG OLED tvs. Would it be possible to add this. I find that the grey option in the android apps are still to bright. Would it be possible to add this to all apps?

[rbjtech 5284]

I set mine to use 'Grey' and 'Dim' on the AndroidTV App - subs look ok for me in SDR, HDR10 or DV.

Do you have yours set to white ?

I think it's a good FR regardless,  and actually needs to be extended to all aspects of the GUI on the new Android (non AndroidTV) client as that is currently horrendous in SDR, yet alone HDR/DV where I can see the OLED's on my TV scream for mercy every time I test that client ...  

[amb13 18]

Yeah, I use grey and dim on android TV with HDR content aswell. But i find it a bit dark for SDR content so I prefer plain white for that. It's just so many clicks to change it. And I do it basicly every day.

I agree, the android (non tv) client is basicly useless for use on a TV if you plan on using subtitles.

[Kyras 2]

On 1/23/2023 at 8:05 PM, amb13 said:

I watch quite a bit of both SD and HDR content with subtitles and watching HDR with white subtitles is not a very pleasant experience. So It would be a very big improvement if one (or both) of these options was implemented.

1. Be able to change the color of the subtitle from the OSD while a video is playing. On AndroidTV I now have to stop the video, go all the way back to the home screen, go to settings, change the subtitle colour, go back to the home screen, choose the video and start playing again. So being able to change the color from the OSD would save A LOT of clicks.

2. Set separate colour for subtitles for SDR and HDR content and automatically choose the relevant one based on the file that's playing.

As for colors, in kodi they have added Dark grey #808080. This one is very good at least on LG OLED tvs. Would it be possible to add this. I find that the grey option in the android apps are still to bright. Would it be possible to add this to all apps?

Yes, I have the same needs as you. At the same time, I hope that the subtitle color can be adjusted freely, not just providing a few options. Because in many cases, the screen brightness of different devices is not the same, free adjustment will make the experience best. In addition, it would be better if the position of SRT subtitles can be adjusted by dragging and dropping.

[crusher11 1101]

On 6/5/2020 at 1:32 AM, ebr said:

Separate settings will be very difficult to maintain, explain, etc.  Isn't there one setting that would work for both situations (like a grey color)?  If not, we may just have to apply an automatic dimming with HDR content.

Kodi has an option to cap the GUI at a certain nit level (which the user can set). That seems the best approach. Only altering the subtitles would still leave the OSD way too bright.

[wollanup 1]

Many possibilities have been discussed, from multiple subtitle styles to a limitation of the whole UI and subtitle brightness, but please, do something  to save our eyes

In the meantime, I'll try the different greys mentioned above, but I always loved yellow subtitles

[Marcus1305 19]

Many Tizen apps already provide subtitle opacity and brightness controls, as well as quick subtitle settings accessible from the player.

@Luke Is there any chance we could see progress on this? Dark Grey helps a bit, but it is more of a workaround than a real solution. A quick subtitle settings menu in the player would significantly improve the experience, especially since you currently have to go into the main settings every time you switch between SDR and HDR content.

Edited January 29 by Marcus1305

[Reaper47 11]

On 3/28/2025 at 6:45 PM, crusher11 said:

Kodi has an option to cap the GUI at a certain nit level (which the user can set). That seems the best approach. Only altering the subtitles would still leave the OSD way too bright.

This would be the best solution. Preferably also configurable, as either disabled (no dimmind), dim only UI, dim only subtitles or dim everything (like in Kodi).