The VideoLAN Forums

let me run through a few things first:

1. i have searched extensively on the forums, havent found a solution
2. i have tested with both idx/sub and srt files, neither will work
3. i have experimented with subtitle fuzziness, subtitle track -1/0/1, subtitle track ID -1/0/1
4. auto detect subtitles is enabled
5. i have changed the default encoding to ISO-8859-1
6. all subs i am trying to view are in english
7. i am running VLC 0.8.5 (installed)
8. i have directvobsub installed
9. subtitles have identical filenames as the video files (avi) and are in the same directory.

i managed to somehow get VLC to recognize the subs (srt) just one time in the video menu and successfully view them. unfortunately i have no idea what i did to get them working. however as soon as i loaded up another movie (also with srt subs) they stopped working again.

desperately need some guidance here as i'm sick of having to open up media player classic to view movies with subtitles.

hopefully i have just overlooked something, or there is something i dont know. enlighten me! thanks.

screens of my settings:

Subtitles for dummies

Internal Subtitles

Start the video file then right click on the on the video and select Subtitles then select your language.

External Subtitles

1. Open VLC

2. From the "File" tab select Open file

3. At the end of the "Open:" dialog bar press "Browse"

4. Select the drive and directory of your file and then select the file you want to play then press "Open"

5. Check the box that says "Use a subtitles file" If the subtitles have the same name as the video file and exist in the same directory, you can press "Open" If not go to 6.

6. At the end of the "File:" dialog bar select "Browse"

7. Select the drive and directory of the subtitle that belongs to the video file you want to play and then select the file. If there is both a .idx and a .sub file in the directory, select the .idx file then press "Open"

8. Now you should see information in both the "Open:" and "File:" dialog bars. If not, you didn't do one of the above steps correctly, so go back to the beginning. Assuming you do see the information, press "OK"

If for some reason the subtitles do not show up on screen, or do not show up in your language, right click on the player and select "Subtitles Track" and select your language.

If the subtitles do not have a FPS specification they will drift over time or the subtitles were not made for the version of the movie you are trying to watch or you may be trying to use external subtitles with MPEG files that really don't work well as this format was designed for internal subtitles. There is provision within VLC to try to re-sync the subs. The hot keys are "ctrl h" Subtitles delay up and "ctrl j" Subtitles delay down.

If you are still having problems with Subtitles I'm assuming your problem is with external subs. The most common problem is not getting them to sync with the video because they probably were not made for the video, sometimes this can disrupt the timing for a file type that is marginal in being able to play without subs or in the case of transposing subs and not including the FPS to match the video file. MPEG-TS was designed to allow for subs to be encoded within the file.

If the subs timing drifts with the video file there is a provision within VLC to allow you to adjust it. This works if the subs file was not made for the video file but are close. There are many other options that can make subs more friendly.

Starting with 0.8.5 the Subtitles text encoding may not be correct for your language. When choosing an external sub form the file menu go to the advanced menu and select the Subtitle text encoding. Most common for most western European countries is ISO-8859-1 but still you may need to refer to the following depending on your preferred language:

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

Once you find the character set in may be entered in Preferences, Input / Codecs, Other codecs, Subtitles under Subtitles text encoding.

For some languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese you may need to select a Unicode font for the freetype 2 font renderer. Preferences, Video, Subtitles/OSD, Text Renderer under Font. Be aware that this may be a cut and paste operation as Windows will not allow you to select the font directly from the Windows\Fonts directory.

Always don't forget to Save your preferences and restart VLC for the changes to take effect.

These may seem like some strange questions at this point, but:

1. Did you look to see is the sub you are trying to get to work is supported?

2. Did you check Messages without subs to see if there is a problem with the file?

3. If the subs were not designed for the Video file (obtained from a second source) did you try adjusting then to match the video file?

4. If you are transposing subtitle formats and making them fit to your video file did you tell the program the frame rate of the video file?


This is the generic answer. I realize you said the subs are in English and this should make the issue eaiser than for some. Perhaps the biggest mistake is that the external sub should be in the same directory as the video and it should have the same name as the video. I keep video and sub in a directory named for the video. Then the sub in most cases will auto load. But I have seen subs that were not made for the video and subs that were really not subs at all. Most of the formats are readable with a text editor and you can check this out yourself. I personally don't believe the subtitle issues will go away untill:

1. All players and specifications agree that the FPS must be the video's frame rate. Seems very unlikely at this juncture.

2. External subs are not supprted by any player. It is easier to remux the video than rebuild the sub file. Or transpose the sub into something else and then remux the file. Also seems unlikely that prople will learn even though these utilities exist and there is really no need for external sub support thus doing away with a lot of headaches for both the end user and the developer. But of coarse this is my opinion.

This is the generic answer. I realize you said the subs are in English and this should make the issue eaiser than for some. Perhaps the biggest mistake is that the external sub should be in the same directory as the video and it should have the same name as the video. I keep video and sub in a directory named for the video. Then the sub in most cases will auto load. But I have seen subs that were not made for the video and subs that were really not subs at all. Most of the formats are readable with a text editor and you can check this out yourself. I personally don't believe the subtitle issues will go away untill:

1. All players and specifications agree that the FPS must be the video's frame rate. Seems very unlikely at this juncture. :)

2. External subs are not supprted by any player. It is easier to remux the video than rebuild the sub file. Or transpose the sub into something else and then remux the file. Also seems unlikely that prople will learn even though these utilities exist and there is really no need for external sub support thus doing away with a lot of headaches for both the end user and the developer. But of coarse this is my opinion. :wink:

man that helped me so very little. i took the time to make sure that i gave as much information in order to not waste your time or mine, but that plan is out the window already. i guess you didnt read my entire post, or maybe i edited it after you replied.

1. subs are in the same directory and are the exact same filename as the video file.
2. your opinion about external subs is irrelevant, srt/idx/sub files are standard issue and if media player classic and do it, so should vlc.
3. media player classic automatically detects and displays every single sub file i throw at it without fail or hiccup.

also it would be sweet if you could edit your post and get rid of that generic subtitle answer (it is cluttering the thread), as it doesnt help me one bit. for one thing most of it is dealing with opening up the sub manually which i know how to do and is not the focus of this inquiry.


>>>>>>>>>>>edit<<<<<<<<<<<<<

you know what is interesting? i decided to do even more searching of these forums with different strings and came across a post where a developer asks this question:

did you open the file by double-clicking or by the VLC open-file menu?

i said "hmm thats interesting"...

so i tred opening the file from within VLC by launching VLC first by itself and voila... all subs are detected and displayed perfectly. srt/idx/sub all work.

1. if i double click a file to open in VLC it will never show the subs, or the subtitle track option under Video
2. if i open VLC first, then use the file menu to open a file (without selecting subtitles) it will detect and display the subs perfectly.
3. if i open VLC and drag and drop a file onto the player it will also detect and display the subs perfectly.
4. if i double click a file, stop it (or let it play).. then drag a new file onto the player... it will detect and display perfectly.
5. the exception being embedded subs in .mkv files, they display just fine when double clicking, but that is expected

If you really have done all the things you say you have done then the sub would work. Of coarse the sub could be bad but you say that the same file plays in MPC. I have never had a file that VLC wouldn't play that MPC would play, also the other way around. Now I have done some encodes where that was true but we are discussing subtitles.

Also, I will NOT retract any of my statements even the personal ones!!!

Perhaps a good place to start would be to erase VLC's preferences folder because the default will recognize an English sub where the Operating system is also English. This is of coarse assuming that the video and the sub carry the same name and are in the same directory. Same rules for MPC. It is also assuming that we are discussing VLC 0.8.5

If you really have done all the things you say you have done then the sub would work. Of coarse the sub could be bad but you say that the same file plays in MPC. I have never had a file that VLC wouldn't play that MPC would play, also the other way around. Now I have done some encodes where that was true but we are discussing subtitles.

Also, I will NOT retract any of my statements even the personal ones!!!

Perhaps a good place to start would be to erase VLC's preferences folder because the default will recognize an English sub where the Operating system is also English. This is of coarse assuming that the video and the sub carry the same name and are in the same directory. Same rules for MPC. It is also assuming that we are discussing VLC 0.8.5

sigh...

Lets put it this way! I only post the generic answer when the user was not real clear about what they have tried or what they have done in preferences and it seems that if and when you follow the instructions for usage it really does work.

Now as far as the problem of subs not showing up when you double click on he file from within Windows. There has been a lot of work in this area for the next revision and we all hope that it is resolved.

If you want to try this, DL a nightly build.

http://nightlies.videolan.org/

Lets put it this way! I only post the generic answer when the user was not real clear about what they have tried or what they have done in preferences and it seems that if and when you follow the instructions for usage it really does work.

precisely why i am slightly annoyed here, as i did put in the effort and am clear about what i have tried and what i havent tried. i just got the feeling (more than once) that you didnt bother reading what i posted.

Now as far as the problem of subs not showing up when you double click on he file from within Windows. There has been a lot of work in this area for the next revision and we all hope that it is resolved.

If you want to try this, DL a nightly build.

http://nightlies.videolan.org/

that it seems is the only problem i am having as i have everything else correct.

thank you for the link.

I know you put forth the effort (nice pictures) but what is clear for some is not always clear for others. Also there are Subtitle questions and or problems here every day and we all try to be polite about dealing with these until the next revision. But the reality is we are all tired to see these and most of us grit our teeth when we see a new one, specially so when the user says they have tried everything!

I know you put forth the effort (nice pictures) but what is clear for some is not always clear for others. Also there are Subtitle questions and or problems here every day and we all try to be polite about dealing with these until the next revision. But the reality is we are all tired to see these and most of us grit our teeth when we see a new one, specially so when the user says they have tried everything! :lol:

then hows about making a sticky to deal with the problem? i saw many threads related to this issue but none actually said:

there is a problem with loading subtitles when you double-click a video file. until the next revision, please open your files by dragging them onto the player or by opening them from the VLC file menu.

voila.. no more having to be annoyed with users moaning about subtitle problems.. at least ones related to this issue.

thanks for your time.

Only wish it were that simple! FYI there is a section that does describe the most common questions (FAQ) on the Wiki if you had taken the time to look. But I also put forth the effort to be kind and answer your problem directly.

Only wish it were that simple! :P FYI there is a section that does describe the most common questions (FAQ) on the Wiki if you had taken the time to look. But I also put forth the effort to be kind and answer your problem directly. :roll:

actually i did look, the wiki is useless as far as subtitle information or this double clicking problem. but thanks for the tip...

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Spec ... king&go=Go

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Subtitles

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/What ... _subtitles

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Comm ... le_Problem

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/What ... _subtitles

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/FAQ# ... _subtitles

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Subviewer

But even more likely the answer was more basic than these and would be covered here:

http://www.videolan.org/doc/

This should be a users first read and to keep them around for reference.

DJ, your 'Subtitle for Dummies' must be made sticky!

Will be of great help to those looking for sub help.

.....and the same problem u had so did I. What did I do ?
Installed the previous version of VLC.

Now works fine.

I also tried EVERYTHING, but the subs just wouldn't load wih new version.......

So chill...you are not alone.....