Make VLC recognize all subtitle files, whatever their name is, in the ".\subs" folder

[Alexandros]

Hello Ι would like to request for a change to be done.
When I download a movie it usually comes like this in the Movies Directory Path:

[SUBS]
↳English.srt

Movie Name .mkv

Movie Name.jpg

What I want to do is, when I have the "Autodetect subtitle files" on, the "Subtitle autodetection path" set to ".\subs" and the "autodetection fuzziness" to 1, to just automatically find, all the subtitle files that are in the ".\subs" folder, whatever their name is and let me chose the one I want in the "Sub Track" option in the VLC Subtitle Menu.

Now, when I put the "autodetection fuzziness" to 2 or 3 and I rename the .srt file in the ".\subs" folder, same as the movies name, without moving it, it finds it automatically....Why can it not be done when "autodetection fuzziness" is set to 1? That's what I would wish for VLC to change in a future update, if possible. Thank you.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Other users are already complaining that scanning for subs automatically is too slow. Adding another directory will make the problem twice as bad...

[Alexandros]

But it is not about adding another directory, ".\subs" in the "Subtitle autodetection path" is a prefixed directory in the "Preferences menu".

I know you already know the technicalities that I'm about to say, but someone who doesn't want to use the "scanning for subs automatically" feature because he believes it is slow, can uncheck it, or remove the ".\subs" from "subtitle autocorrection paths" or set it up to look only for subtitles containing the movie name with subtitle "autodetection fuzziness" set to 2 or set it to 3 for a movie title with additional chars.

And all those work just fine, I have tested them.

It is when I set it to do what I want, that the program seems to have a glitch that it is not addressed.

I as a user, want it to scan for subs automatically, in the designated directories paths and fetch me any subtitle file that it finds. I adjust the settings as I aforementioned above and it doesn't do what it should be logically doing.

And I will repeat it , the "Subtitle autodetection path" works with all the other "autodetection fuzziness" settings, but not when it is set to 1. And If I put a subtitle whatever the name is, in the same directory with the movie and set "autodetection fuzziness" to 1 it finds it, it does not work in coalition with the "Subtitle autodetection path" checked to Ok.
Please look in to it.

[msundman]

Even Alexandros' suggestion is just a workaround for a real implementation. Reality is that there are several different setups, and it's actually not very difficult to figure out algorithmically which one it is. Whenever there is a subtitle folder we have 3 alternatives:

1. the files there have the same names as video files in the parent dir (maybe with a few extra characters, namely the language name/code)
2. the file names are language names/codes (like eng.srt, english_sdh.srt)
3. the file names conform to a media file layout standard (like dvd, bluray, whatever)

All cases are fairly easily detectable, and can be handled accordingly. The only slow(ish) part is listing the files, which is done any which way.

I think the lack of proper subtitle handling in VLC is a PITA for millions of users, so I'd be happy to contribute the code that tries to figure out which of the cases above should be used.

[Alexandros]

Unfortunately, at least the glitch in the way that I want VLC to handle subtitles, was first detected from user jmhg92 on 22 Oct 2019 and it has not being addressed yet. I have vainly filed a bug report and I'm secretly waiting for it to be implemented on any of the upcoming updates.

I would not look for other program than VLC, when I am using my PC for watching movies and I've done so for many, many years.

But it is so foolish, to have to add a subtitle track from the menu, every time I want to watch a movie(or even continue the same one from where I've left of) or to have to move around or rename files, every time I add a new one on my collection.....

[SL2]

I agree, this is the only feature I've been waiting for, but it never comes. My previous account was gone so I had to register just to say this.

Please let Subtitle autodetection fuzziness = 1 work together with Subtitle autodetection paths.

It doesn't have to be default setting. IIRC, Subtitle autodetection fuzziness = 1 isn't even the default setting right now.