Arch Linux

tony5429

Member

Registered: 2006-03-28

Posts: 1,017

VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

For some reason, I have never been able to play AVI files in VLC with SRT subtitle files. If I drag-and-drop the subtitle onto the video while playing, I see the entry add to the "subtitles" menu in VLC and I can select that but nothing shows up on the video itself. Subtitles seem to work fine in ISO DVD images, DVDs during playback, and an MKV file I acquired from a friend. I recently started using mkvtoolnix to mux MKV files from the pairs of AVI files and SRT files I have but it seems the subtitles never work on those either. On the Windows build of VLC, the subtitles for the exact same files work fine. I have tried changing the line breaks in the SRT files from Windows-style to UNIX-style but it hasn't helped. On Linux, I am using all the newest versions of the software from core/extra/community. Does anyone have any ideas? Is anyone else having this problem?

Llama

Banned

From: St.-Petersburg, Russia

Registered: 2008-03-03

Posts: 1,379

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

No ideas. but I second the question. All the more, because I used to see those SRT subtitles in the VLC, if I remember correctly

tony5429

Member

Registered: 2006-03-28

Posts: 1,017

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

May I take this to mean you are having the same problem?

granjerox

Member

From: karlsruhe, Germany

Registered: 2008-05-19

Posts: 4

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

Hi, i had the same problem. It could be two things :

1º Make sure you have the font that vlc look for or change it
preferences->video->subtitle/osd->text redraw

2º Take care of text codification problems. I mean the codification
page.
preferences->imput/codecs->other codecs->subtitles

Good luck

BTW.: Its really dumb but yesterday I unpacked some subtitles
of lost and they had .SRT extension instead of .srt and they
weren't recognized until i changed the extension. Remember
case sensitive.

Last edited by granjerox (2008-05-26 14:09:20)

Pinqvin

Member

Registered: 2008-05-24

Posts: 8

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

I've always found VLC's softsub support being piss poor. It usually crashed on me while watching softsubbed mkv's and SRT subs were rarely shown correctly. Guess it has gotten a bit better over time, but..

For watching videos that don't have their subtitles burned in to the image I would prefer MPlayer. With a few settings it works really well (or has worked for me, so far.) The only problem with MPlayer is that by default, it uses it's own font for subtitles. This is easily fixed, however. Edit your ~/.mplayer/config as follows:

embeddfonts=yes
ass=yes

This will fix the problems with MKV's atleast. I can test this with SRT / avi combo really soon too. I know this isn't really an fix to the problem at hand, but VLC just isn't too good with softsubs.

EDIT: Ok, just tried this with .srt subs and it displays them just like they should be displayed. If you don't add those two lines (at least embeddfonts=yes) you'll end up with a huge white font and some misplaced lines if the subtitles have some lines stationed at the top of the video, for example.

Last edited by Pinqvin (2008-05-26 14:40:46)

kevin89

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2007-03-14

Posts: 218

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

I have the same problems with SRT's. I use VLC aswell. My girlfriend uses VLC under Windows and the same files (I carry my external drive with me),and the subtitles are displayed correctly there.

carlocci

Member

From: Padova - Italy

Registered: 2008-02-12

Posts: 368

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

I've always found VLC's softsub support being piss poor. It usually crashed on me while watching softsubbed mkv's and SRT subs were rarely shown correctly. Guess it has gotten a bit better over time, but..

I hate VLC: here's the vlc haters manifesto!

Gentlemen, I like VLC. 

Gentlemen, I like VLC. 

Gentlemen, I love VLC! 

I like AVI, I like RMVB, 

I like 120fps, I like interlacing, 

I like rainbowing, I like the dot crawl, I like blocking. 

I like the ringing, and I like tinny audio. 

On a computer, a DVD player, a PS3, on a Mac, on an Archos. 
I truly love each and every kind of artifact man can encode to a file. 

I like the broken ASS support when even the simplest of lines fails to render correctly.
When the translator's notes overlaps the main dialogue, it makes my heart dance! 

I like when an encode displays like it is corrupted!
It always left a warm feeling in my chest when they would check the CRC, only to find it is correct. 

I like it when #darkhold encoders post on AnimeSuki and RAGE about the topic at hand.
I recall how much it moved me, seeing how epic longposts were made, how they would
shun the subject again and again, even though it wouldn't die. And it's painfully exciting
when a leecher posts about how great it is in the same thread. 
And how wonderful it is to have 120fps for a show that is a constant 23.976! 

And that pitiful resistance, encoding to h264, despite it being harder on the CPU.
I even remember when XviD had a 10:1 leecher ratio! 

I like it when the MKV fanboys are thrown into chaos. And when the VFR feature they
are supposed to be promoting is violated repeatedly... oh how very sad it is. 

I like it when the detail and sharpness in HD encodes are crushed and obliterated!
And them being filtered, smearing and ghosting and looking worse than a standard DVD. 
Gentlemen, what I want is a low bitrate hell. 

Gentlemen, my compatriots, leechers, you who abuse my XDCC bots... gentlemen, what 
o you desire? Do you also want eyecancer? Is a return to the age of VCDs what you want? 

Do you yearn for a VHS encode that stretches the very limits of poor quality, the artifacts
so intense that it makes Stevie Wonder cringe? 

Very well then, we shall have VLC.

It's funny because it's true

For watching videos that don't have their subtitles burned in to the image I would prefer MPlayer. With a few settings it works really well (or has worked for me, so far.) The only problem with MPlayer is that by default, it uses it's own font for subtitles. This is easily fixed, however. Edit your ~/.mplayer/config as follows:

embeddfonts=yes
ass=yes

This will fix the problems with MKV's atleast. I can test this with SRT / avi combo really soon too. I know this isn't really an fix to the problem at hand, but VLC just isn't too good with softsubs.

embeddedfonts works only for fonts embedded into mkv containers for use with ssa or ass stylized subtitles, I think.
The man page state it's enabled by default if you have a recent fontconfig:

-embeddedfonts (FreeType only)
              Enables extraction of Matroska  embedded  fonts  (default:  dis‐
              abled).   These fonts can be used for SSA/ASS subtitle rendering
              (-ass option).  Font files are created in  the  ~/.mplayer/fonts
              directory.
              NOTE:  With FontConfig 2.4.2 or newer, embedded fonts are opened
              directly from memory, and this option is enabled by default.

ass means mplayer uses libass to render ssa and ass subtitles; srt subtitles aren't affected by this option.

I agree with you though that where windows has CCCP, linux and mac have mplayer

edit: fixed quote

Last edited by carlocci (2008-05-26 17:32:47)

kevin89

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2007-03-14

Posts: 218

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

@Granjerox: Thanks for the simple yet effective solution. VLC was trying to draw the subtitles with a font I didn't have installed. Changing the font to one I had installed worked wonders. Thanks alot!

tony5429

Member

Registered: 2006-03-28

Posts: 1,017

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

Thanks! Changing the font worked great!

granjerox

Member

From: karlsruhe, Germany

Registered: 2008-05-19

Posts: 4

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

You're welcome !!!

Pinqvin

Member

Registered: 2008-05-24

Posts: 8

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

...

embeddedfonts works only for fonts embedded into mkv containers for use with ssa or ass stylized subtitles, I think.
The man page state it's enabled by default if you have a recent fontconfig:

...

Oh, didn't know that. Well for me it didn't work by default and those lines fixed it. Also, the .srt subs showed me the same huge font that mkv's softsubs used, and again those lines in my config file fixed it all for me. Could've been a update I didn't notice but I doubt it. Well anyways, looks like this is solved (not really though. Use mplayer! )

blueskies

Member

From: Santa Barbara, CA

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 12

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

Woohoo this helped me too!
VLC was looking for /usr/share/fonts/TTF/veranda.ttf, which wasn't installed.  install package ttf-ms-fonts to fix that.  I also had to click 'advanced options' in the font rendering window and bring the font size up, because it was set to 0. 

UnbreakableMJ

Member

From: Bahrain

Registered: 2007-05-24

Posts: 29

Website

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

1º Make sure you have the font that vlc look for or change it
preferences->video->subtitle/osd->text redraw

2º Take care of text codification problems. I mean the codification
page.
preferences->imput/codecs->other codecs->subtitles

The Preferences are always useful to check, yet many of us skip that and look for quick fix!

filam

Wiki Maintainer

From: Portland, ME

Registered: 2008-04-11

Posts: 158

Website

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

1º Make sure you have the font that vlc look for or change it
preferences->video->subtitle/osd->text redraw

Thank you granjerox. This was my problem.

fredspayo

Member

Registered: 2007-11-08

Posts: 14

Re: VLC Player will not Display Subtitles for AVI/SRT Files and Some MKVs

granjerox ur a bloody genius!!
it was the font... i was freaking out!
thanks, mate
cheers!