The VideoLAN Forums

Hey guys,

I have a problem with the VLC player that I just can't fix. Since a few months, when I open a video file and add subtitles, they are out of synch. Every file has a different time "error", subs1 are 12 secs ahead, subs2 are 18 seconds behind etc. I can't synchronise them using the build in "synch" tool. When I load a .srt on a movie, I first time the "lag", I listen to a word or a sentence, and start timing see when the right subtitle comes by. When this is, for instance, 15 seconds, I will use the synch tool to make the subs play 15 seconds ahead of the file, so synch them. But this doesnt work, now when I play the file, they are still completely out of synch. I can time again, and the difference has change to something completely else, for instance -19 seconds. I can't get them to synch, it's so frustrating! Could anyone help me with this? Would be greatly appreciated!

Dave

And you are sure you have downloaded correct subs?

Yes I'm sure, I never had this problem with any subs until one day, and now they're all doing this.. I think i've downloaded 40+ subs in the meanwhile so it can't be an incident.. Even tried reinstalling, nothing works

Removal of %appdata%\vlc folder helps?

Can't find that folder/file....even searched for it, you sure it's on my VLC directory?

It depends on which version of Windows you're using:
Go to Start > Run > type %appdata% and hit enter. It'll open an Explorer window. Find VLC folder and delete it.

Hmmm I have Vista. I searched for appdata, found a directory called Appdata->Roaming->VLC and I deleted that one.. Doesn't help though, still out of synch

If you found your subs are totally out of synch... I solve the problem this way, I am a SUBBER and watch a lot of film, a lot. I got thre disk, fast ones. One to windows, one for downloads... and one for HOLDING my films. I just downloaded 275 films, and they was ALL out of synch, like yours was! I did a defrag, and now they are 100% in synch. I use the good and free program: Mydefrag which is much better than the windows thing. Do a defrag, and your problem, which IS the synch, is solved. Thats all folks ;-]

Defragging should not have an effect to subtitle sync. VLC loads external subtitle directly to memory and renders them from there, so hard drive read or seek speeds don't matter.

It did in my case. When you download anything, windows wil throw the files all over the disk platters. Over time fragmention is needed, maybe not for the subs, but for the FILM, who take a lot more space, than a sub.