4K film subtitles won't show on Android TV

[cheeseus]

It seems that if the video file is 4K, subtitles won't display.

I add the subtitles the usual way – select the icon bottom left, go to the Audio/Subtitles submenu, select the triangle to open the add subtitles menu, add them and... nothing. Tried two formats: SRT and SUB, multiple times, including after reopening VLC.

Then I downloaded the 1080p version of the film – the exact same subtitle file loads and displays without issues. I've tried this with two different films (2160P vs. 1080p).

I'm running the latest version of VLC Player 3.5.2 on a Sharp Aquos Android TV (Android 11). All files are on my computer (LAN).

There are other problems but they are minor in comparison:
1. Although I have activated the option to automatically add subtitles (Settings > Subtitles > Auto load subtitles, they are never added automatically. The subtitles file always has the exact same name as the video file.
2. The subtitles language selection menu does not list my language, Bulgarian.
3. Subtitles that are ANSI encoded (typical here) display as ?????. Only UTF-8 encoded subs work.

Let me know if I can provide any additional information.

[Aza]

For the 4K issue, did you change the aspect ratio? To verify, long tap the ratio icon: the icon before the last in the controls at the bottom. Then verify that "Best fit" is checked.

About the other issues:
1. What protocol is used? SMB, UPnP?
2. What does it display? It's probably a file issue though.
3. You should probably change the encoding in the settings > Subtitles then.

[cheeseus]

For the 4K issue, did you change the aspect ratio? To verify, long tap the ratio icon: the icon before the last in the controls at the bottom. Then verify that "Best fit" is checked.

About the other issues:
1. What protocol is used? SMB, UPnP?
2. What does it display? It's probably a file issue though.
3. You should probably change the encoding in the settings > Subtitles then.

Thank you for replying.
– Yes, the aspect ratio is set to "Best fit".
– SMB. This has no relevance, though. All supported files open without a problem. 4K videos play smoothly.
– Nothing is displayed. No, it's not a file issue, I explained above that the exact same subtitles file loads and displays fine with the 1080p version of the film – tested with two different films that I downloaded in 4K and in 1080p.
– When the subtitles do load, they display without problems. The subtitles encoding in VLC was set to Windows (1252) by default. I've changed it to UTF-8 and I manually change the encoding of the SRT/SUB files from ANSI to UTF-8, so they display correctly. I've also tried setting this to Windows (1251) but ANSI files still show as ???, while UTF-8 files show correctly. That's not a problem, though, it takes seconds to save the file as UTF-8.

The only actual problem that I can't find a solution for remains that the subtitles won't load at all with 4K videos. (They load automatically on my computer.)

[Aza]

For your ratio issue, could you please share a screenshot? Could you also share a sample?

1. It's relevant to know if we are already aware of the issue. We are: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc- ... ssues/2672
2. Can you share a screenshot of the tracks popup then?

[cheeseus]

Sorry for the delay replying.

I just tested this again – opened the 4K video, added the subtitles, and they did show. I've no idea why they didn't show the previous half a dozen attempts.

Link to video demonstration: https://youtu.be/eu2TVW4pnP8

PS. The second time I opened the film (5 minutes later) the Subtitles section again showed "Disable track" ticked but when I selected "Track 2", the subs appeared.