mkv subtitles displaying incorrectly in vlc in win and osx

[mickfuzz]

I created a mkv file with AVIMux_GUI using 4 srt files which work fine in VLC as independent subtitle files.

The subtitles take too long to dissappear. As such they overlap. This is true in the lastest VLC player for Win and OSX

the mkv file is here
http://www.clearerchannel.org/docs/tran ... troska.mkv

and the source files [xvid/mp3 and 4 srt subtitle files] used to create it are here
http://www.network23.org.uk/node/79

Any help for this is greatly appreciated, as you will see at the above link it's part of an open source subtitling project.

mick

[KoahJohnson]

Apparently this has been an ongoing issue for several years now, and every overlapping post I've read either doesn't provide a solution, or explains that it's a known problem that will take some time to work on. Even when downloading the latest VLC media player (0.8.6b), subtitle overlapping still occurs. (I can make the mkv files available for review if desired.) Since it seems as though a fix is not anytime soon, perhaps I should switch to another media player. Any recommendations for a Windows-based media player that works best on MKV files?

[DJ]

Try VLC 0.8.6b and perhaps see what you think of Gabest's Media Player Classic. This is a Direct Show player and as such uses Window's codecs. The XviD package would need to be added to Windows Direct Show. VLC is self contained so this is not necessary as it is NOT reliant on Direct Show.

The only difference between these (as I see on first viewing) is that:

1. VLC doesn't see the default language of the system, but this may be changed in Preferences. In other words, the sub language in VLC must be selected and some people may not realize it's there.

2. The subs displayed in VLC do hold on screen longer, but I do not experience an overlap. This seems to be consistent with the text that is burned into the video.

[KoahJohnson]

The overlapping occurs not because one line of text is being held longer than the other. The overlapping is occuring because it is a moment where two characters are talking at the same time, one of which is speaking a normal line, and the other is making a comment. So the line and comment overlap one another. Whereas in Windows Media Player, Zoom, or other players, it separates the two lines of text on separate lines for readability. This issue only seems to occur on mkv files.

Now you mentioned language settings. Whereabouts in VideoLAN 0.8.6b can I find this particular setting? I've scanned through both the regular and advance settings of the Preferences section and could not find anything mentioning language settings.

So any assistance with this would be appreciated.

[DJ]

Preferences, Input/Codecs "Subtitle language"

[KoahJohnson]

Ah. I found the field mentioned. I passed it over because it was blank and had no options or drop down box to select from. I gave "en" a try in the Subtitle language box to indicate english, but there was no change.

This is what the overlapping looks like in VLC


And this is what the text looks like in Windows Media Player Classic

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

SSA subtitles are not correctly showed in VLC. There is a project to support them in a better way this summer.

[KoahJohnson]

Aaaah! An answer! Very much appreciated! I'll definately be looking forward to that when it comes. Thank you so very much for your time and your attention towards this matter.

[MartinT]

2. The subs displayed in VLC do hold on screen longer, but I do not experience an overlap. This seems to be consistent with the text that is burned into the video.

Ok. So where is problem? In VLC setting or mkv file? I have the same problem, but when i use mplayer subtitles holn on screen no longer. On the other side they display earlier. So i must set delay. I thing that each program interprets some informations in mkv file a bit different(default setting). And some informations are ignored.

[KoahJohnson]

SSA subtitles are not correctly showed in VLC. There is a project to support them in a better way this summer.

From what he was saying, it appears as though the SSA subtitles found in MKV file formats are not yet wholly supported by VLC. So it's a combination of MKV and VLC that's causing all of these subtitle issues. So two solutions are being worked on to fix this problem.

1. Many people are gravitating away from MKV formats because of the issues it causes (i.e. Fraps cannot capture from an MKV as smoothly as it can from other formats)

2. The developers of VLC will be working on this very issue this summer.

So for now, if I understand things correctly, patience is our best answer against this problem until one or both of the above are dealth with.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

SSA subtitles are not correctly showed in VLC. There is a project to support them in a better way this summer.

From what he was saying, it appears as though the SSA subtitles found in MKV file formats are not yet wholly supported by VLC. So it's a combination of MKV and VLC that's causing all of these subtitle issues. So two solutions are being worked on to fix this problem.

1. Many people are gravitating away from MKV formats because of the issues it causes (i.e. Fraps cannot capture from an MKV as smoothly as it can from other formats)

2. The developers of VLC will be working on this very issue this summer.

So for now, if I understand things correctly, patience is our best answer against this problem until one or both of the above are dealth with.

O_o

EXACT. Thanks. I couldn't say it in a better way.

Btw, it is not really MKV which is not a good format, it is just that there are way too many different flavours of SSA and ASS subtitles.

[MartinT]

Ok. So where is problem? In VLC setting or mkv file? I have the same problem, but when i use mplayer subtitles holn on screen no longer. On the other side they display earlier. So i must set delay. I thing that each program interprets some informations in mkv file a bit different(default setting). And some informations are ignored.

I think problem was in mkv file writen by application "Avi-Mux". Now i use "MKVToolnix -- Cross-platform tools for Matroska" http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ and i have no problem with subtitles. They are displayed OK.

[DJ]

I didn't say THAT!!! Please stop putting words in my mouth.

I have run across this issue with VLC in Sub Station Alpha formated sub files, where VLC does not recognize all the attributes contained within the file. This has nothing to do with the container or muxer. It means that whoever started support for Sub Station Alpha never finished it.

BTW This has nothing to do with the original post here as that was not a Sub Station Alpha sub file. Nor could I find a problem with it.

[ssbssa]

i've looked into the code of vlc, because i want to prevent the overlapping of subtitles.
there is one thing i don't understand: why can subtitles have more than 1 region? i didn't see it ever happening but it's still there.
if somebode could answer this question (or point me to a source-file where more than one region is used) i would be really happy.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

i've looked into the code of vlc, because i want to prevent the overlapping of subtitles.
there is one thing i don't understand: why can subtitles have more than 1 region? i didn't see it ever happening but it's still there.
if somebode could answer this question (or point me to a source-file where more than one region is used) i would be really happy.

I don't really know, but a bit OT, you should know that we are going to integrate libasa during Google Summer of Code. But any help is appreciated.

[ssbssa]

I don't really know, but a bit OT, you should know that we are going to integrate libasa during Google Summer of Code. But any help is appreciated.

well, i know, but i watch many subtitled videos and the overlapping makes it often unreadable (and there is still much time until summer). i see it as a temporary solution.

[KoahJohnson]

It has been a while since I've checked here. Does anybody know if the issue of the overlapping subtitles in the exampled MKV issue above was ever looked at or addressed?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

It should have been addressed in the latest Nightly Builds.