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I was just about to watch a movie when I realized the subtitles were all fuzzy and almost unreadable. They look rather bold and distorted and like text does if you write it in a picture and then make the whole picture bigger - the text doesnt grow correctly with it (though in this case it's too small still :p). So I tried with various other software (WMP, Ace etc) and with those it was fine but they selected the default sub which was Danish and I wanted to have Swedish but it was impossible to change with any of those applications.

I tried a lot of the sub settings in VLC but nothing even affected the text at all, still fuzzy and almost unreadable. It is like it overrides all settings in VLC. It there anything I can do to make the text bigger or thinner?

The subs are in .sub format with an .idx along with it.

Try selecting the idx file.

Try selecting the idx file.

Tried that, same result :s

Hmm! actually choosing the .sub file shouldn't work at all. If you open the sub fie with an editor is it text?

VLC 0.8.4 subs were kinda hard to read and the way you are describing but this in not true of 0.8.5

So it would appear we will converse on this for awhile.

Hmm! actually choosing the .sub file shouldn't work at all. If you open the sub fie with an editor is it text?

VLC 0.8.4 subs were kinda hard to read and the way you are describing but this in not true of 0.8.5

So it would appear we will converse on this for awhile.

If I open with a text editor it's just jibberish :p It's a surprisingly huge file, we're talking 4mb. Ive tried finding other subs but they arent synced with this version of the movie.

And yeah, I have 0.8.5 in case you were wondering :p

OK! Are you English watching English subs and is your system set to English? I guess I could have asked all these questions separately and or in a different way, but I still need the answer even if your language varies and if it does what is that language? (For all three questions)

OK! Are you English watching English subs and is your system set to English? I guess I could have asked all these questions separately and or in a different way, but I still need the answer even if your language varies and if it does what is that language? (For all three questions)

I posted that I wanted Swedish subs in my original post. System is Swedish, I'm Swedish and the subs are swedish :p

Sorry missed that for some reason. What I was trying to determine was that if you used the Latin 1 character set before writing the following, and you do.

1. VLC supports some 9 different subtitle formats many of which can be external to the container. In 0.8.5 the languages were expanded and in Windows only the default was changed from the Latin 1 character set (ISO 8859-1). This standard covers most Western European languages including: Albanian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Faroese, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Irish, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.

http://alis.isoc.org/codage/iso8859/jeuxiso.en.htm
ISO Standard for various characters sets

To enter this as the default character set go to Preferences -> Input / Codecs -> Other codecs -> Subtitles under "Subtitles text encoding" from the pull down select ISO-8859-1 then press Save and close the player.

2. For some languages to be correct requires a new font. VLC uses the FreeType2 font engine, so Wiindows TrueType fonts may be used. Open Preferences -> Video -> Subtitles/OSD -> Text renderer and under font go to C:\Windows\Fonts

You can't select a font directly form this directory as no program can do this under Windows but you can enter the path and file name and the font will be used. I good one is "ARIALUNI.TTF" this is an Arial True Type Unicode font and is even good for difficult languages like Hebrew and Arabic. Once the font has been selected and the path verified, press Save and close the player.

Note: All most all filters and or engines have switches to turn them on (insert them in the chain) The FreeType 2 engine is no different. So in Preferences -> Video -> Subtitles/OSD there is a switch near the bottom of the page marked "Freetype2 font renderer" under Overlays, Subfillters picture module. Be sure this switch is on.

I'm sure you noticed Text default color, Relative font size and font effect when you were searching for a font. Any and all of these should be active and you can set them to taste. Color does not effect a DVD's subtitles but is does effect the OSD display.

Thanks for your reply but unfortunately it didnt manage to help me :s I had the correct char set selected already and selected another font didnt affect the subtitles at all. :s

If there's no special formatting in the subtitles, I find that unchecking Formatted Subtitles can sometimes help produce clearer subtitle display ... Hope that helps ...

If there's no special formatting in the subtitles, I find that unchecking Formatted Subtitles can sometimes help produce clearer subtitle display ... Hope that helps ...

Tried that too without luck already =/ thanks though

Considering all the things suggested here do work and none of it works for you:

1. Either you have a very strange operating system, an old version of VLC, are not following the instructions or are not Saving the changes and closing the player before trying the changes.

2. Your preferences flies are screwed up. Erase the preferences directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner (this is you)\Application Data\VLC Erase VLC.

Application Data is a hidden directory so you will need to make it visible.

Now you will need to start again from the defaults. Hope it goes better this time.

Considering all the things suggested here do work and none of it works for you:

1. Either you have a very strange operating system, an old version of VLC, are not following the instructions or are not Saving the changes and closing the player before trying the changes.

2. Your preferences flies are screwed up. Erase the preferences directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner (this is you)\Application Data\VLC Erase VLC.

Application Data is a hidden directory so you will need to make it visible.

Now you will need to start again from the defaults. Hope it goes better this time.

Already posted that I have newest version of VLC. I use Windows XP, SP2.
I also savec changes and closed player after each thing I've tried.

Will try the pref files changed, didnt change anything but the char set there I think.

Tried everything again without any result. I tried selecting both sub-files manually and it only worked for the .idx file. With the .sub file I got "unrecognized format". Dont know if that is relevant at all though.

This is not a bug in VLC. Everything suggested here has been a compilation from other users and tried in 0.8.4 and 0.8.5 by me and confirmed by other users. The suggestions work and they work even for Hebrew and Arabic which are two of the most difficult languages in the world.

This is not a bug in VLC. Everything suggested here has been a compilation from other users and tried in 0.8.4 and 0.8.5 by me and confirmed by other users. The suggestions work and they work even for Hebrew and Arabic which are two of the most difficult languages in the world.

I never claimed it was a bug in VLC. I'm just saying that these specific subtitles do not show properly in VLC but does in various other players though in those I cant select language.

Guess I should find another version of the movie then because it's just a pain trying to read these.

About the only thing I have discovered is downloading a DVD or playing a DVD, these settings have no effect because they are covered in the DVD format. You have never mentioned the file types or formats for anything.

About the only thing I have discovered is downloading a DVD or playing a DVD, these settings have no effect because they are covered in the DVD format. You have never mentioned the file types or formats for anything.

I did specify that the subtitles were in .sub & .idx format. I dont see why external subs like that would not be affected. The movie itself is
Details about movie file:

³ Title..... ..............CTHD DivX rls.... ...........08/15/02 ÃÄ¿
³ Ripper.... .The Northern Star DVD rls..... ...........08/15/01 ³ ³
Ú´ Audio..... ..448kbit 5.1c AC3 Theater rls. ...........12/22/00 ³ ³
À´ Video..... ..........1239kbit IMDB Rating. 8.5/10(31413 votes) ³ ³
³ Video Res. .........640 x 272 Runtime..... ........115 minutes ³ ³
Ú´ Codec..... ..............xvid Discs....... 2CDs 49+49*15Mb RAR ³ ³
À´ Method.... .......Vdub 2-pass Filename.... .tns-divx-cthd*.r** ³ ³
³ Subtitles. ...................Danish, Finish, Swedish, Norwegian ³ ³

VOBSub is supported and choosing the .idx file for external subs or just Right clicking on the video (while playing the video) and selecting subtitles and your language for internal or external subs, I have never had a problem. All of the suggested tweaks should work!

VOBSub is supported and choosing the .idx file for external subs or just Right clicking on the video (while playing the video) and selecting subtitles and your language for internal or external subs, I have never had a problem. All of the suggested tweaks should work!

But again, they dont :p

I found other subs though finally so I'm cool, thanks for all help ppl.