VOBSUB subtitles, playlists and automatic subtitle detection

[nanomir]

Hi all,

I have tried to back up some of my DVDs as .vobs, and have backed up subtitle files as well. I'd like to put them in a playlist, and have the playlist load subtitles automatically. I'm having some slight nags, which I guess are due to a problematic naming policy I have chosen, so I hope for some advice. I'm on Ubuntu Linux, but I'm assuming these nags would be cross-platform. (EDIT: Using VLC 1.0.6 Goldeneye on this machine, cannot use latest as there is a different bug preventing me to do so)

The situation on the hard drive looks like this:

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:/media/TEST$ for ix in {*,*/*}; do echo ./$ix; done ./MyVID_playlist.m3u ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-10.idx ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-10.sub ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-10.vob ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-11.idx ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-11.sub ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-11.vob ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-1.idx ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-1.sub ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-1.vob ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-2.idx ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-2.sub ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-2.vob ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-3.idx ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-3.sub ./MyVID 1/MyVID 1-3.vob ...

I have tried to set up the M3U playlist like this:

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#EXTM3U #EXTINF:0,MyVID 1-1.vob #EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=/media/TEST/MyVID 1/MyVID 1-1.idx MyVID 1/MyVID 1-1.vob #EXTINF:0,MyVID 1-2.vob #EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=/media/TEST/MyVID 1/MyVID 1-2.idx MyVID 1/MyVID 1-2.vob #EXTINF:0,MyVID 1-3.vob #EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=/media/TEST/MyVID 1/MyVID 1-3.idx MyVID 1/MyVID 1-3.vob #EXTINF:0,MyVID 1-4.vob #EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=/media/TEST/MyVID 1/MyVID 1-4.idx MyVID 1/MyVID 1-4.vob ...

So here's what I think is problematic here:

• 'EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=' fails on relative paths, absolute paths must be used (while for M3U playlist items "local pathname relative to the M3U file location" works fine)
• When playing the first item, VLC automatically tries to load MyVID 1-11.idx and MyVID 1-12.idx and fails, generating an error window
• When playlist arrives at 2nd entry (MyVID 1-2.vob), it starts playing wrong subtitles - right click menu shows then subtitle track 1 selected; if I then select subtitle track 2 manually, correct subtitles appear - but this then needs to be done when each new playlist item starts playing

I can live with the first nag (I can always do Find/Replace All in a text editor, and replace the main part of the path) - but it would be nice if relative paths would be supported

For the second nag, I guess the 'regex' for automatic detection of subtitles may be too strong - a workaround is to turn off automatic subtitle detection as suggested in #4132 (Open ogg file with VLC tries to open text files with certain names). Then again, just as I wanted to paste the error messages I got, now it stopped doing that But I believe it used to give messages such as (since I have them still in opened browser tabs ):

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error: option sub-original-fps does not exist ... subtitle warning: failed to recognize subtitle type ...

Anyways, now (with subtitle detection or without - but without specification in playlist) the playlist shows three subtitle tracks for first file (obviously, having gulped the subtitles for MyVID 1-10.sub and MyVID 1-11.sub), and still starts playing the wrong subtitles for the second (and subsequent) parts...

The biggest problem for me is why does the second part start with wrong subtitles - even when the right file is specified in playlist? And the worst is - the log messages, as far as I can see, do not tell you which is the actual subtitle file loaded... (and I cannot otherwise open vobsub in a text editor - coz they're apparently images, which is why only .idx can be opened in text editor, and is what VLC reqires as vobsub subtitle file )

So I have to then click on subtitle Track 1 (which is the originally active one, and the wrong one) - and then upon second right-click, subtitle Track 2 appears (it is not there at first) - which is the right one, and which I can then select.


In any case - thanks for the great software, and I hope I'll get some suggestions for my problem!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Change the autodetection fuzziness then in preferences.

[nanomir]

Hi Jean-Baptiste Kempf,

Change the autodetection fuzziness then in preferences.

Thanks for the quick reply - I had no idea what autodetection fuzziness was for previously! The option 4 for autodetection fuzziness says 'subtitle file matching the movie name exactly' - and this works perfect for my naming policy, if I load video vob files individually (for instance, through right click).

However, there is still the problem of the wrong subtitle being shown for part 1-2, once I try to play from playlist. How could I go about troubleshooting this? Is there a verbosity level of messages, where VLC will report which subtitle file has been loaded, once a "next" video file from playlist has been played? I should add that I experience this playlist behavior, regardless of whether subtitle autodetection is on (in Preferences) - and regardless of whether 'EXTVLCOPT:sub-file=' exists in the M3U playlist.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

EXTVLCOPT is a hack

[nanomir]

Hi Jean-Baptiste Kempf,

Thanks a lot for your response!

EXTVLCOPT is a hack

Understood Well, for the most part I just need the videos to run in a playlist - if I really need the subtitles, I'll click a couple of times to get them to show

All the best!