Problem with Embedded DVB subtitle tracks

14th Oct 2016 12:11 #1

Member

O.K., folks, this is a weird one.

I've got this .ts file with embedded DVB subtitle tracks. The video is not quite right; it plays back with annoying interlacing artifacts.

The tool I chose to fix that was XMedia Recode. I dragged the .ts file into XMR, selected the mp4 format, told it to make a copy of the audio, told it to transcode the video into h.264 and set it for 16 megs a second, went to the Filters/Subtitles menu and activated the Deinterlace filter, chose the Yadif flavor, and pulled the trigger.

The end product was an mp4 clip with perfect video, interlacing artifacts totally removed.

But I opened it in VLC, took a look at the Codec and Subtitles menu, and saw that there were no embedded DVB subtitle tracks.

And then I accidentally discovered that those DVB subtitle tracks were really there in the mp4 file all along after all.

Here's how.

I copied that mp4 file I had created in XMR from my local hard drive, which is where I targeted it for saving in XMR, over to an external USB hard drive.

Then I opened the copy I had made to that USB hard drive in VLC, just to make sure that it played properly and that the seeking was working properly.

And, in so doing, suddenly I was seeing the default English-language DVB embedded subtitles popping up on the screen, right as they were supposed to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I seriously questioned my sanity for a moment.

Then I opened up the VLC subtitle and codec menus.

All of the DVB subtitle tracks were there, safe and sound, just as if they had always been there, without a problem!

WTF???!!!!!!!!

For some reason, when I copied the mp4 file over to the external hard drive, the embedded DVB subtitles in that file became visible and started working properly.

I then copied that copy, which was successfully showing all the subtitle tracks, back to my local hard drive.

Subtitle tracks disappeared again!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some weird reason, the subtitle tracks won't show up if the mp4 file is on my local C drive, even though they show up fine on my external USB hard drive.

What is going on?

Could it be that my local hard drive has a problem?

Or could it be that my VLC player has a problem seeing subtitles in mp4 files when those files are located on my local hard drive?

Unfortunately VLC is the only player I have that can spot and play back embedded DVB subtitles, so I have no idea whether this is a local hard drive problem of mine or whether it's a VLC bug.

Is there another good video player that can play back embedded DVB subtitle tracks that you can recommend so I could help eliminate one or the other possibilities?

Alternately, have any of you ever experienced anything like this? Do you know what might be going on?

Like I said, this is a weird one; it seems to defy logic or common sense.

I accidentally posted this in the wrong forum, User Guides. But I can't seem to figure out how to delete that erroneous thread posting. My apologies.