How do I set .SRT subtitle files as default?

[Carlo 4560]

It's all custom scripting on my side but a lot of it came from sickbeard_mp4_automator & MCEBuddy which is used for the DVR recording and to strip commercials.

BTW, I lied about one thing above.  I do manually process my DVR recordings after MCEBuddy removes commercials.  I use padding (recording extra at the start and end) so I manually edit recordings to remove the padding no longer needed and quickly scroll through the file to make sure all commercials were removed correctly.  I then manually save this file to the "watch directory".  I just find this gives me cleaner files.

I now use HW to convert the video to H.265 which doesn't create quite as small files as software based conversions but instead of 1.5 hours per 60 minutes of video it converts in a few minutes instead. I'm using a commodity Nvidia 1650 turing GPU that's unlocked and cost me $170. Same GPU used for Emby when running (same machine).  I can have 2 conversions going on and Emby can still transcode 10+ media files at the same time so I'm happy with that now.  Previously I did my pre-processing on a seperate PC because the CPU was nailed 100% with just a single conversion running.

 

[pwhodges 2012]

Are your Sickbeard settings in a form that you could share to encourage people to try it, or even modify for their own usage?

(I'd understand if you prefer not to share in case people then demand support)

Paul

[rbjtech 5284]

While I prepare my media in much the same way as @cayars - you are probably using a sledgehammer to crack a nut here.

If all you want to do is remove the internal subtitles, then a simple remux is all you need to do as post processing.

If the files are 60Gb, then I assume they are 4K HEVC with HD Audio anyway - so just removing the PGS subs is a matter of leaving them out of the remux command.

ie

ffmpeg.exe -i "inputfile.mkv" -c:v copy -c:a copy "outputfile.mkv"

This will COPY (not transcode or degrade in any way) all the Video and Audio tracks in the input MKV into a second(copy) MKV without any subtitles.  Depending on the disk I/O - it will take maybe 1-2 minutes if on the same disk, if you split the input/output onto separate disks, it will be much faster than that.

If you need to do a batch, then just repeat the above command with a recursive directory scan of all MKV files.  Shout if you want the syntax/batch file for this. 

This is effectively using a fraction of what can be done using sickbeard (or other tools) but as I said - those tools can be overwhelming if you just want to so something simple.

I hope that helps.

Edited February 27, 2021 by rbjtech

[Carlo 4560]

4 hours ago, pwhodges said:

Are your Sickbeard settings in a form that you could share to encourage people to try it, or even modify for their own usage?

I don't use Sickbeard, Sonarr or other programs of that nature.  It's just the name of the script (bad name IMHO). https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator

However it can be integrated with Media Managers: Sonarr, Radarr, Sickbeard, SickRage & CouchPotato.  It can also use downloaders such as: NZBGet, SABNZBD, Deluge Daemon, uTorrent, qBittorrent.  I neither use nor endorse anything in this paragraph.

I only use the script for downloading subs, removing non-english tracks, creating the normalized 2 channel default AAC track and video conversion.

My setting would be of no use to anyone else as I stripped it of everything listed above years ago, so it does only what I need with a few mods of my own so it's a one up for my system. But much of my script is swiped from sickbeard_mp4_automator so I wanted to give credit to Higgins.  If I were to start over I'd probably use the script as is but what I have now works really well so I'm not messing with it.

It's quite powerful and really worth the learning curve.

[Carlo 4560]

24 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

While I prepare my media in much the same way as @cayars - you are probably using a sledgehammer to crack a nut here.

That's probably an understatement.  What I described is sort of an all encompassing method of getting all your media to be very similar which will direct play anywhere short of bandwidth restrictions. It certainly would be something I'd use for just removing subs and only that!

[coldknight 1]

I just don't understand why this simple feature of enabling "External Only" in the Subtitle Mode cannot be considered? Then I wouldn't have to waste time remuxing to remove internal subtitles or renaming every subtitle. I feel it's a good feature to have and makes sense to consider adding it.

Edited February 28, 2021 by coldknight

[Carlo 4560]

Because it already works in the most optimal way possible if you follow our naming conventions. 

Many feature require proper naming to get full benefits of the software.  Emby can work without strict naming but then some thing won't work optimally.  This is a prime example of that.

Depending on what you setup already looks like FileBot or similar util could make quick work of renaming everything correctly.

[coldknight 1]

8 minutes ago, cayars said:

Because it already works in the most optimal way possible if you follow our naming conventions. 

Many feature require proper naming to get full benefits of the software.  Emby can work without strict naming but then some thing won't work optimally.  This is a prime example of that.

Depending on what you setup already looks like FileBot or similar util could make quick work of renaming everything correctly.

Most media players just require you to name the SRT the same as the video file and it will prioritize the SRT. With Emby, I now have to add .en.default to every subtitle... which is an unnecessary extra step, since other players don’t require this. Why not just prioritize the SRT regardless of whether there is the .en.default in the name?

Furthermore, there is already an option for Default Only and Forced Only, why not add External Only?

But anyway, it seems like you believe that Emby is already perfect. But I feel this upgrade makes sense.

[Carlo 4560]

But you're not using a media PLAYER but a Complete Media System which is quite different.  A player normally has to have file access where Emby streams data.  Even advanced media players such as VLC will not do what your asking with streamed media.

There is already a solution built in (the default) to do exactly what is needed but you need to prepare your media properly per the Emby file naming standards (at least for the subs).

[coldknight 1]

9 minutes ago, cayars said:

But you're not using a media PLAYER but a Complete Media System which is quite different.  A player normally has to have file access where Emby streams data.  Even advanced media players such as VLC will not do what your asking with streamed media.

There is already a solution built in (the default) to do exactly what is needed but you need to prepare your media properly per the Emby file naming standards (at least for the subs).

Well, I use it as a media player, as in I play my media with it. Either way, I think it is a good option to have.... it’s just a suggestion. Kodi prioritizes the SRT without adding anything extra to the name, so I know it’s possible. But if you guys don’t want to consider it at all and think Emby is perfect, then it’s fine.

[Luke 42077]

22 hours ago, coldknight said:

It's definitely not prioritizing the external subtitle. All my movies in my library are selecting the PGSSUB by default. I would be happy to provide an example. How would you like me to do so? Do you need me to give you the name of the file or what? But basically, as I already mentioned, if there are two English subtitles, one external and one contained in the MKV, it will select the one in the MKV, which is the PGSSUB. And I already tried all the Subtitle Modes as well. So not sure, what else I can try. But anyway, let me know what specific details you need for the example.

Yes please, thanks. But remember as ebr said, subtitle selections are remembered, so please try it on a brand new video.

[Carlo 4560]

6 hours ago, coldknight said:

Well, I use it as a media player, as in I play my media with it. Either way, I think it is a good option to have.... it’s just a suggestion. Kodi prioritizes the SRT without adding anything extra to the name, so I know it’s possible. But if you guys don’t want to consider it at all and think Emby is perfect, then it’s fine.

I was thinking about something and wondering if you could look at your settings.  ebr/luke have already stated Emby will try and use the external first if it meets the criterial for playback otherwise it can fall back to using internal subs.

We know from earlier testing if you renamed your subs "en." this worked and the srt was used.  So my question to you is do you have "English" selected as the default subtitle to use?  If so can you change that and try again?

What is likely happening is the the subs without the language code don't meet the "English" requirement of the client (can't know unless named correctly) so Emby searches for the first English track which it find with the internal sub.

Follow me on this?  So maybe by changing the subtitle language used as the default in the client it will allow the use of the srt again.

Remember to test with a never before played file!

Let us know how you make out and what you settings are if this doesn't work.

[coldknight 1]

25 minutes ago, cayars said:

I was thinking about something and wondering if you could look at your settings.  ebr/luke have already stated Emby will try and use the external first if it meets the criterial for playback otherwise it can fall back to using internal subs.

We know from earlier testing if you renamed your subs "en." this worked and the srt was used.  So my question to you is do you have "English" selected as the default subtitle to use?  If so can you change that and try again?

What is likely happening is the the subs without the language code don't meet the "English" requirement of the client (can't know unless named correctly) so Emby searches for the first English track which it find with the internal sub.

Follow me on this?  So maybe by changing the subtitle language used as the default in the client it will allow the use of the srt again.

Remember to test with a never before played file!

Let us know how you make out and what you settings are if this doesn't work.

I was able to figure it out, as I mentioned in the previous posts. The issue was that you need to add ".en.default" in every external subtitle that you want to use. So that's another issue in and of itself because now I have to rename all the subtitles and also name my future subtitles a certain way.

As I mentioned, I feel this is an unnecessary step since all the other players I have used simply require you to name the subtitle the same as the video file and it will automatically prioritize the external subtitle. Again, I am suggesting that the developers include an option in the Subtitle Mode for "External Only". Since it already has "Forced Only" and "Default Only", I would imagine that "External Only" is possible, especially since it is possible for other players.

[Carlo 4560]

Did you look up your settings in the client to see if you're forcing it to use "English" subs?  If so then it can't use the external subs unless they're language coded.

See what I'm getting at?

[coldknight 1]

Yes, it is already set to English. And that's what I am saying, there should be a way to just default to the external SRT regardless of the language. Now I have to rename everything to include ".en".

[Carlo 4560]

Right so try changing it so it's NOT using the English setting.

[coldknight 1]

20 minutes ago, cayars said:

Right so try changing it so it's NOT using the English setting.

You mean set the language to "Any language" and then I won't have to rename the file to include ".en"?

That doesn't work... Just tried it.

It will just select the default language PGSSUB. For example, this video file had Romanian subtitles, so it defaulted to that one, since it's set to "Any language". Completely ignored the SRT. And yes, this is a new video, never watched. Also checked other new videos as well.

[Carlo 4560]

OK thanks for trying.

Can you pick a different file (never played), take a screenshot of the detail screen bottom that shows all the track content and post that.

Also go to schedule tasks rotate your log, then play it back.  Let it play 30 seconds or so to make sure subs are working.

Post the server log file.

Thank you.  This will allow the devs to take a look and see why external SRT aren't being used.

[Yrosma 4]

On 2/27/2021 at 9:24 AM, cayars said:

I now use HW to convert the video to H.265 which doesn't create quite as small files as software based conversions but instead of 1.5 hours per 60 minutes of video it converts in a few minutes instead. I'm using a commodity Nvidia 1650 turing GPU that's unlocked and cost me $170. Same GPU used for Emby when running (same machine).  I can have 2 conversions going on and Emby can still transcode 10+ media files at the same time so I'm happy with that now.  Previously I did my pre-processing on a seperate PC because the CPU was nailed 100% with just a single conversion running.

 

Just wondering about the why in this part

I have looked at hardware transcoding myself quite a bit but in my experience and with my personal quality/filesize requirements I really found hardware transcoding lacking. It's great for streaming and stuff but not really if you want a certain level of quality/filesize combination. I could even get better quality/filesize results with just doing h264 c[u encodes then h265 hardware transoces. Of course a lot also depends on the source material and also personal taste. And h264 cpu encodes still take a lot longer then hardware transcodes so if compute time or power usage is an issue and you still want to reduce the filesize from remux material then I can understand.

No judgement or anything. Just curious about other peoples reasoning to do things a certain way, you never know what one will learn form it

[Carlo 4560]

I too used to find the same.  The difference for me was the Nvidia Turing boards. This latest generation boards really narrow the difference.

I find the quality of the conversions just as good but the HW about 5 to 10% larger file size than software for HEVC/H.265.  However the speed difference in incredible.  Not only that but with the unlocked GPU I can do multiple conversions at the same time.  Now instead on doing one conversion at a time and having my Emby Server pegged at 100% CPU I can have 2 conversions going 24/7 running around 10% CPU use with the ability to still have Emby transcode or tone map half a dozen using the same GPU.

Since around November when I purchased this GPU I've been converting my library from mp4/H.264 to mkv/H.265 2 files at a time. The MKV/H.265 version tends to be about 1/3 to 1/2 the size on average.  With only 17Mb upload (crappy xfinity Internet) this allows me to direct stream a lot more files without hitting the bandwidth limits set on my server. It's also like getting double the storage for free compared to what I had.  Here's a typical look at file size comparison of converted media.  This is one of the better conversions:

[ebr 16169]

13 hours ago, coldknight said:

I just don't understand why this simple feature of enabling "External Only" in the Subtitle Mode cannot be considered?

We already select the external by default.  The issue here is that your external subtitles are not identified properly with a language.  Even if we had the setting you are asking for, it still wouldn't work because the language is not set.

 

 

[coldknight 1]

8 minutes ago, ebr said:

We already select the external by default.  The issue here is that your external subtitles are not identified properly with a language.  Even if we had the setting you are asking for, it still wouldn't work because the language is not set.

 

 

It works on Kodi.

[Luke 42077]

6 hours ago, coldknight said:

It works on Kodi.

We have a language preference setting, so how can we respect the language setting if we're going to prioritize an external subtitle file with no language defined? The answer is, we can't. If we did that, it might make you happy, but everyone else would report that the language preference is "not working". If you rename the subtitle files to include the language, then this will give you what you're looking for.

[coldknight 1]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

We have a language preference setting, so how can we respect the language setting if we're going to prioritize an external subtitle file with no language defined? The answer is, we can't. If we did that, it might make you happy, but everyone else would report that the language preference is "not working". If you rename the subtitle files to include the language, then this will give you what you're looking for.

There is an option under language to select “Any language”... If that is selected then language doesn’t matter and should prioritize the external SRT, but it does not.

Put an option for “External Only” when “Any language” is selected... makes sense.

[Luke 42077]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:13 PM, coldknight said:

There is an option under language to select “Any language”... If that is selected then language doesn’t matter and should prioritize the external SRT, but it does not.

Put an option for “External Only” when “Any language” is selected... makes sense.

If you have your user subtitle mode set to default, then that gives preference to the metadata of the subtitle tracks, and you probably have embedded tracks marked as default.

Your probably best off setting the subtitle mode to Smart. This will give more priority to the languages, and since your files are named without languages, most of the time on new videos this should result in no subtitles being played, but then you can enable them and your selections will be remembered.