mkv-files won't play on my LG PK350 plasma-TV after muxing subtitles

[cbarduck]

hi evereybody!

i have some 720p mkv-files without any embedded subtitles.
The corresponding separate subtitles are in srt-format.
The videos and subtitles play fine in VLC-Player on my PC.

My plasma-TV plays the videos from the USB-Stick but refuses to display the .srt-subtitles which are in the same folder as the mkv-files.
The names of the subtitles and MKVs are of course identical.

So i decided to embed the subtitles into the video.
For that i used the latest version of MKVToolnix and mkvmergegui.
As a result i get a new mkv-file with embedded subtitles which works as it should on my PC.

But the same file will not play at all on my Plasma-TV.
Does anybody have an idea what might be wrong?
I used the standard settings of mkvtoolnix.
Are there any settings that shoud be changed.

What confuses me is that the muxed video file is slightly smaller (approx. 400kb) than the original video file without embedded subtitle.
Shouldn't it instead just be a little larger because of the embedded subs?

Any help is very much appreciated

[hbx2006]

Hi,
In MKVtoolnix menu File>Options check "Disable header removal compression for audio and video..." -of course, you'll need to remux again.

Bogdan

[cbarduck]

thanks.
Unfortunately it didn't work.
The resulting file is also not playable via the TV.

Then i tried to mux with older version 4.0.0 of mkvtoolnix.
This resulted in a slightly larger (about the size of the subs) file than the original mkv file.
Now that one can be played via the TV but although there is definitely an embedded subtitle it can't be displayed on the TV.

So one might think that the TV's own media player is not capable of displaying subs but i know it can.

[hbx2006]

Sorry to hear it didn't work there -I had the same problem on my LG (LCD) and that was the solution.

About subtiltles: LG TV's don't support subtitles embedded inside MKV . Reason seems to be quite stupid: Inside MKV, subtitles must be in UTF-8 format and if not allready, MKVtoolnix will convert subtitles to UTF-8 automatically when muxing. Now, stupidity explained: LG TV's don't support UTF-8 text format -hence, subtitles inside MKV aren't shown.
That is, you must have separate subtitle file with the same name as MKV has (you know, like with avi). But those extracted from MKV can't be directly used, because they are (as said) in UTF-8 format -you must convert them back to ANSI (i.e. by using Notepad: Save As.. and select Ansi encoding).
I hate separate subtitles... so I bought mediaplayer for watching my MKV files.

Bogdan

[cbarduck]

hey hbx2006,

sorry i didn't answer earlier.
Your tip about saving the subs as ANSI encoding "saved my life"
I don't care much about whether subs are seperate or not and so this does the job perfectly for me.

Thanks a lot.

[prithvi]

same prob i was faceing withmy LG LED... but now everything is ok..Thanks a looooooot hbx2006 urs method really works and thanks to cbarduck too for starting this topic

Btw if some other method is too there,then plz share that too

[Adam901]

I have the same problem but on a mediaplayer, more specific Iomega Screenplay TV Link Director, it keeps telling me "bad container" when trying to play the muxed file, anyone got experience with this ?

[edDV]

You might ask these guys
http://www.avforums.com/forums/hardware-reviews/1343117-lg-pk350-50pk350-review-2.html

I'm finding mixed results with MKV containers for HDTV sets and Blu-Ray players where mts and m2ts transport streams play fine.

[bierdopjeee]

Hi,
In MKVtoolnix menu File>Options check "Disable header removal compression for audio and video..." -of course, you'll need to remux again.

Bogdan

Sorry to hear it didn't work there -I had the same problem on my LG (LCD) and that was the solution.

About subtiltles: LG TV's don't support subtitles embedded inside MKV . Reason seems to be quite stupid: Inside MKV, subtitles must be in UTF-8 format and if not allready, MKVtoolnix will convert subtitles to UTF-8 automatically when muxing. Now, stupidity explained: LG TV's don't support UTF-8 text format -hence, subtitles inside MKV aren't shown.
That is, you must have separate subtitle file with the same name as MKV has (you know, like with avi). But those extracted from MKV can't be directly used, because they are (as said) in UTF-8 format -you must convert them back to ANSI (i.e. by using Notepad: Save As.. and select Ansi encoding).
I hate separate subtitles... so I bought mediaplayer for watching my MKV files.

Bogdan

Thanks! Header compression off and external subtitle with ANSI encoding works for me and my LG LED375300.
Was wondering why I could not get it to work .

[stargazer500]

Sorry to hear it didn't work there -I had the same problem on my LG (LCD) and that was the solution.

About subtiltles: LG TV's don't support subtitles embedded inside MKV . Reason seems to be quite stupid: Inside MKV, subtitles must be in UTF-8 format and if not allready, MKVtoolnix will convert subtitles to UTF-8 automatically when muxing. Now, stupidity explained: LG TV's don't support UTF-8 text format -hence, subtitles inside MKV aren't shown.
That is, you must have separate subtitle file with the same name as MKV has (you know, like with avi). But those extracted from MKV can't be directly used, because they are (as said) in UTF-8 format -you must convert them back to ANSI (i.e. by using Notepad: Save As.. and select Ansi encoding).
I hate separate subtitles... so I bought mediaplayer for watching my MKV files.

Bogdan

Hi Hbx2006/Bogdan! If you're still alive and kicking and recognize your old message? This is a man writing from another time and place hoping for an answer (probably been watching too many David Lynch movies) The Tv have surly had both their hard- and software changed since 2002, and I'm just asking if you happen to know how to deal with the same problem today, 2011?

I have, namely, a separate .srt-file that I have changed to ANSI format and put in the same folder as the .mkv file, but that doesn't help any. It won't show the subs on my tv. Surely it shows it on my pc via MPC, but that doesn't make me any happier, because I don't have an HDMI on my laptop. Besides I refuse to give in to the machines and their software, they drew first blood and I'm not giving in.

Don't

[stargazer500]

Stargazer500 here again! Sorry! a slip of the finger occurred and I'd like to finish off my reply:

...they drew first blood and I'm not giving in.

Don't hesitate to answer me if anyone has an ide or suggestion on what to do!

Best regards

Kjell/Sweden

[stargazer500]

Sorry again folkes! I misread the dates of your conversation. Now I see it's rather recent and. In 2002 these faciltiies on tv of course didn't exist. I also like to add that my tv is a Samsung that I bought about two months ago.

"Don't hesitate to answer me if anyone has an ide or suggestion on what to do!"

Best regards

Kjell/Sweden

[gz023247]

Mate, like you I was also having problems and am using a Samsung TV.

Anyhow, sorted my planet of apes movie via ensuring default and forced track flag option enabled, along with ensuring the notepad file was also included in the same folder with the same name as the MKV file, even after using mkverge.

Once movie is playing I use the remote and hit the tools button and now a subtitle option appears

Hope this helps.

[stargazer500]

Hi and thank you for your answer!

I will save it for it might come in handy some day. However, after some hair-taring work with muxing- and other software, I somehow managed to make my mkv-files work with separate srt-files saved to the same folder. This was an advice I had gotten earlier, but for some reason it didn't work for me at first.

Now, however, the separate srt-files (UTF-8 format) work fine with the mkv-files on my new Samsung and I will settle with this system for now.

Best

Kjell

Sweden

[d_k_333]

Thanks hbx2006... Finally now i can play mkv movies on my LG LCD 32LD460... i removed subtitles from mkv movies by using MKVToolNix

Sorry to hear it didn't work there -I had the same problem on my LG (LCD) and that was the solution.

About subtiltles: LG TV's don't support subtitles embedded inside MKV . Reason seems to be quite stupid: Inside MKV, subtitles must be in UTF-8 format and if not allready, MKVtoolnix will convert subtitles to UTF-8 automatically when muxing. Now, stupidity explained: LG TV's don't support UTF-8 text format -hence, subtitles inside MKV aren't shown.
That is, you must have separate subtitle file with the same name as MKV has (you know, like with avi). But those extracted from MKV can't be directly used, because they are (as said) in UTF-8 format -you must convert them back to ANSI (i.e. by using Notepad: Save As.. and select Ansi encoding).
I hate separate subtitles... so I bought mediaplayer for watching my MKV files.

Bogdan