Burninchicken, I am having the exact same problem.
I ordered several dvd boxsets of some vintage anime (Nippon Animation/World Masterpiece Theater series) from JSDVD Mall.
All are Region 3 dvds too. And I'm so so so grateful that the VLC player can play R3!!!
3 out of the 4 series were succesful in showing the English subtitles. I didn't have any troubles with them at all.
However, one series (Dog Of Flanders) won't show any subtitles-even though it says I can select them under the:
Video>
Subtitles Track menu. It lists:
Track 1 - Chinese and
Track 2 -English.
While the movie is playing, I tried selecting the subtitle tracks from the drop down menu, and it shows a check next to the English sub but I do not see anything. And I wait a good long while for it to pop up.
However I was able to change the audio tracks during playback (too bad I don't understand Japanese or Chinese).
I also tried selecting the subtitles from the DVD Menu, and no luck. The English sub is checked under the dropdown menu, but nothing appears
I figured it must be because I had an old version of VLC. So I downloaded the latest one and tried everything again. No luck.
*I'm thinking of buying a region-free dvd player. Hopefully the player can play the show with English subtitles. The boxsets are also OFFICIAL/LEGITIMATE releases from PIM Group (Power International Media) and the subtitles worked fine except for the one I stated above. They even have it in printed on the box that there are English subtitles
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one with this weird problem. I really hope I can view the show with Eng Subs through a region-free dvd player. I hope this isn't one of those "dud" dvds... that would make me very miserable... what can we do though... Sh*t happens
besides that little problem, I still think that the VLC player is the coolest program ever!!!