Mini media player doesn't show subtitles

[xchcui]

Hi.

I bought 1080hd mini media player that it meant to be connected to the TV.
It looks like the one at my attached photo.
Among all the other video,audio and subtitles files that it supported,it says that it supports
MKV files and SRT.subtitles files.Usually the MKV files come with several audio tracks and several subtitle tracks,that can be chosen.When i play the MKV file on the mini player,the video is playing okay.I can choose my prefered audio track by clicking the audio button of the remote controller.But refer to the subtitles,the player shows in the OSD control bar that there is no subtitles(see attached photo-for example).While when i play the file on any other media player(like VLC/NERO/QUICK TIME etc.)the subtitles are shown in them and i can choose one of them.
So,the subtitles are exist in the MKV files,but my mini player doesn't show them.
What can i do that my mini player will show the subtitles?BTW,i tried to make the name of the movie and the subtitle the same name with even one word,but it doesn't help.
Thanks.

[jagabo]

Maybe it only plays separate SRT subs. Demux the subs and see if displays them.

<edit>
Oops, I missed the last sentence where you said you've already tried that.
</edit>

[orsetto]

BTW,i tried to make the name of the movie and the subtitle the same name with even one word,but it doesn't help.

Interesting looking mini player: I tried a similar unit (Micca Spec x2) that was recommended by several people here, but found the video output much too dark and the sound distorted (on three examples from different vendors).

As jagabo said, almost every player is compatible with separate .srt subtitle files if named exactly the same as the video file and placed in the same folder as the video file (video title.mkv + video title.srt). However, there are a couple ways this can go wrong and not work as expected. Check for these common issues and try again:

1. Where did you get the .srt file? Downloaded from a subtitle website, or you extracted it yourself from the mkv file? If you extracted it yourself, it may not actually be an srt file but an ass file (very common with current MKVs). You cannot simply rename an ass file to srt to have it recognized as an srt: the ass must be converted to srt format with a subtitle utility.

2. If the subtitle file is definitely srt format, it might be slightly corrupted and need to be repaired with a subtitle utility before your player will recognize it. Something as harmless as renaming the file to match the video title can disturb the formatting just enough that the srt file won't be recognized by some hardware players (makes no sense, but it happens to me repeatedly). I use an LG BluRay player for USB and disc-data video files with srts, and find it can be very finicky about the srt formatting (computer software players will display the srt no problem, but the BD players or mini-media players won't).

If my separate player refuses to "see" an srt file, I can almost always cure the problem by opening the srt file in a utility like SubtitleWorkshop, and making a "Save As..." copy in "SubRip" format (aka srt). This "repaired" srt copy almost always plays properly in all players I've used. This also works if you extract the subtitles from an MKV and find they are in ass format: doing a "Save As... SubRip" makes a proper srt version that should be recognized by all players.

[jagabo]

Make sure you use only plain 8-bit alphanumeric text in the name of the videos; and in the SRT file. Some players will have trouble with extended character sets, Unicode, etc.

[xchcui]

Thanks for all the replies.
I tried all the methods that you advised but the player
didn't show any subtitles.After alot of attemps,i noticed that the player
can show only the subtitles that were already inside the MKV file and if you download another separated subtitle langauge(which wasn't already in the MKV file)and put this subtitle file in the folder with the MKV file(MKV file+SRT file),the player doesn't read any of the subtitles,but if i remove the SRT file(leave the MKV file alone),the player suddenly read the other subtitle tracks in the MKV file.The problem is that most of the movies don't come with subtitle tracks of my langauge,so my only option that the player will see it was to muxing the subtitle of my language into the MKV file.
This is working,but it is too much hassle,too much action to make,you lose the desire to watch the movie.Besides that,the player manual says that the player should read SRT file and it should add it to video while it is playing,so i don't know what is the problem with it.
Lets say that i found the solution for the MKV files(though i don't like it at all),What about the other files?i took AVI video file and Subtitle SRT file put them side by side in one file,the same name,but even here the player doesn't read the subtitle.What can i do in this
situation?Hardcoded the subtitles is not an option,since it took hours and you lost quality,i believe that with AVI video files(and other not MKV files)the player is probably read the srt file,but maybe i miss something here?
Do you have another suggestions?
BTW,jagabo,what did you mean,when you said:"...use only plain 8-bit alphanumeric text in the name of the videos..."did you refer to the text code?UTF-8?
Thanks.

[jagabo]

Lets say that i found the solution for the MKV files(though i don't like it at all),What about the other files?i took AVI video file and Subtitle SRT file put them side by side in one file,the same name,but even here the player doesn't read the subtitle.What can i do in this
situation?

Remux the contents of the AVI file and the SRT file into an MKV file. That's certainly faster, easier, and better quality than hardcoding the subs.

BTW,jagabo,what did you mean,when you said:"...use only plain 8-bit alphanumeric text in the name of the videos..."

Use only 8 bit ASCII text in file names: the letters A-Z, the numbers 0-9, and underscore (_). Don't use diacriticals (ie, accented characters, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic), 16 bit character sets, etc. Those often cause problems with some devices. I mean this as just a test to make sure such issues aren't the problem.

The best long term solution is to just buy a player that doesn't have the problem.

[xchcui]

jagabo,i did a mistake that i wrote my last post before i checked if the subtitles that was muxed in the MKV are actually works good in my player,since it is unfortunatelly,doesn't.
My mistake was that i checked it in my VLC media and i saw that the subtitles was remux well and it was showing in the video,i was pretty sure that it will be showed well in the player,since the other subtitles that original came with the MKV were shown in the player after i removed my separated srt file and now since the subtitle is inside the MKV file,I was so sure that it is okay,so i didn't even check it.Again,my mistake.
Now,when i am playing the MKV file in my player,my specific subtitles track is,actually,shown in the OSD control bar,but when i choose it,i see only one or two changing characters of .. or ?? or "" or ,, or a number,instead of subtitles.I tried to change the text encoding(utf8/western/etc.)with the text encoding function(see photo in the first post)while the movie playing,but nothing change.
So,it turns out that i am still with that problem.
Why did i get those characters instead of the subtitles?in the vlc player there isn't any problem.Should i try to remux the subtitles with different subtitles format?

[jagabo]

Zip up one of you your problematic subtitles and upload it here.

Another thing to try: Open one of your SRT files in Wordpad. Then save as "Text Document 0 MS-DOS Format (*.txt)". Try that new SRT file.


[Attachment 53956 - Click to enlarge]

[xchcui]

In my notepad there is only two option to save:
"text documemts(".txt)"or"all files.There isn't "MS-DOS Format"
So i save it as text documents(txt),but it didn't work.
Instead of subtitles i see one or two dots,commas or question mark,
(as i said i see those marks as single each time,not several characters
in a row.
Anyway,i use the muxing with MKVMERGE GUI and i have noticed that
even if i load txt file to the software,the mkv tool convert it to srt.file again,
this is,at least,what it is written under the title"tracks,chapters and tags".
BTW,the english,spanish and italian subtitles are shown in the movie and
they are srt. files.Only my language(Hebrew)is shown as i mention before
(.,?"1)without letters.
Should i take 10 kg hammer and smash it?

[jagabo]

BTW,the english,spanish and italian subtitles are shown in the movie and
they are srt. files.Only my language(Hebrew)is shown as i mention before
(.,?"1)without letters.

You only now think to mention this? Unless your player lets you select a code page you're out of luck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page_862

[cornemuse]

Interesting looking mini player: I tried a similar unit (Micca Spec x2)

I tried the Micca Speck, that was wasted money IMHO.

This one, one up from speck:

https://www.miccatron.com/micca-mplay-hd-mini-1080p-digital-media-player/

supports lots more vid formats, and I dont have any problems with subtitles. (I'm near deaf & need 'em)

The speck I couldnt get to recognize (2.5" usb) hdds, even with 5v power to usb.

-c-

[xchcui]

As you may see in my attached photo,the player has the function to select text encoding
and among all the list that it shows,it has the "hebrew"language option,but nothing change,
i see only one or two punctuation marks or numbers that changing.I try to use all the text coding
in its list,but nothing change.
I made a test which i demux 4 language in to the MKV file.
I demux:ENGLISH,FRENCH,HEBREW AND ARABIC.
The player shows in the OSD control bar all the four subtitles.
The english and french language were shown properly.
The hebrew and arabic weren't shown properly.
They were shown as i described before(.,"?1 etc.).
Does this information mean something?
Thanks.

[xchcui]

Does anyone have a solution?
does someone know how to fix it?
Thanks.

[xchcui]

Okay,I understand that you have no idea what may be the issue in my player,
though i was hoping to find here a professionals that are specialist in the media
player problems.Don't get me wrong,i am very appreciate that you were trying to
solve my issue and i thank you for your replies,but i am disappointed that no one
could tell the problem according to my descriptions.
BTW,does somebody here know,what may cause the subtitles to show
only one or two(not as several characters in line)punctuation marks or numbers each time?
I know why the subtitles may be shown in gibberish or squares,
but why the are shown in one dot or one question mark,i can't figure why.
Is there any expert here?

[jagabo]

When a text parser doesn't recognize a character set it will misinterpret characters. In some case it may display different characters. It may display spaces instead of characters it doesn't understand. Or it may misinterpret a character as an end-of-line, skipping the rest of the line.


Text encoding/decoding isn't simple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding

At this forum I believe most people are native English speakers and don't have a lot of experience with foreign character sets. Especially when it comes to media players.

[zing269]

Have you ever gotten Hebrew subtitles to show up? Does the media player have Hebrew and Arabic fonts installed? Have you tried including the appropriate fonts in the mkv file?

[xchcui]

Okay,jagabo,i understand your point.
Refer to zing269 questions,i tried several types of fonts,
with no success and i am not sure if it will help,but i am ready to give it another try,maybe i chose the wrong one.
What do you think is the appropriate font to choose for hebrew?

[jagabo]

16 bit code page 1255 is Hebrew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows-1255
There are several others too: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/code-page-identifiers

You might have better luck changing your SRT files to use whatever code page your device uses for Hebrew. Notepad++ appears to have this ability:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/windows-10-character-encoding-in-notepad-wordpad-need-help/

[xchcui]

Yes,i tried the 1255 code page(using workshop subtitles software)and others.
I tried them with ANSI,unicode,utf-8 etc.Nothing help.
I guess,that the only way to see movie with hebrew subtitles in that player is to hardcoded
them.I did that,but it takes too much time and as you know you lost quality.
After my first time that i saw the punctuation marks instead of subtitles,i,at this point,
got the feeling that it will not support hebrew,but i hoped that it will.Now,i 100% sure
that it doesn't.It also doesn't support subtitles of any language as a separated file,you
must to demux the srt. file into the mkv file with mkv tool.I guess i will return this crap
to the seller.
Thanks again to all the helper.

[jagabo]

There's one other possible fix: convert the text subs to graphic subs, like sub/idx (DVD) format.

[xchcui]

Thanks,jagabo,for your last advice. I tried that,but it is too complicate procedure and i got a very poor orange subtitle instead of white color and the mkvmerge tool doesn't support sub files.
This crap player is not friendly.A normal player should upload an srt.file without any issue,
this purchase was a mistake.
Thanks,again,for your help.

[jagabo]

Subtitle Edit makes it easy to create IDX/SUB files. Open your SRT file, Export -> VOBSUB (SUB/IDX). Getting the size right may be a problem. MkvToolnix does support SUB/IDX format. Your player may not though. Here' a screen cap of SUB/IDX files muxed into an MKV video:


[Attachment 54059 - Click to enlarge]

Still, your best bet is to get a player that supports Hebrew subs properly. I think the problem is that most of the players are made by small Chinese companies who don't have any experience with Hebrew subs. They test English and Chinese and assume everything else will work too.

[xchcui]

I was using the TXT2VOBSUB software.It produced two files,one sub and other idx.
MKVMERGE GUI software(for demux the subtitles to the video)enable the idx file but
reject the sub file,so i don't know how you made it to load also the sub file.
After the demuxing(with only the idx file)i could see the mkv movie in
VLC player but with poor orange color(inspite that i choose by default the white font).
But it is not relevant now and it was not surprising at all,my player didn't show the subtitles anyway.
In the manual it says that it support sub/idx and all the codecs in the world,but the different between what
it says to the reality is huge.As you said,i better find a normal player.
Thanks

[xchcui]

Hi,jagabo.
I would like to ask something that is not related anymore to my specific player,
but to the SUBTITLE EDIT software that you had mentioned before.
I download the subtitle edit software,which seems to be better than txt2vobsub tool.
I managed,finally,to get the white color of the subtitles with that tool opposed to the strange orange in the other.
But when i want to demux the 2 files(sub file and idx file)in mkvmerge gui,
the mkvmerge gui accept the idx file,but it doesn't accept the sub file.it gives a message
that the sub file doesn't contain any tracks.What should i do that it will accept the sub file?
I know that you said that in your case your mkvtoolnix accepted both files,but i would like to
mention that i am using only the MKVMERGE GUI tool(which as far as i know is part of the
mkvtoolnix)not the MKVTOOLNIX.May i need to choose any function that the mkvmerge gui
will accept the sub file and not only the idx file?since i know that them both needed for
playing properly on the screen.

[jagabo]

I used MkvToolnix-gui. Just drag/drop the files onto the program:


[Attachment 54088 - Click to enlarge]

[xchcui]

Okay,thanks jagabo.