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  1. Hi all

    I'm struggling to get my Apple TV to automatically display forced subtitles in an m4v container.

    I'm using Subler to create/edit the m4v container from an mkv source. I've set the flag on the subtitle itself to 'All Samples Are Forced'. I've also tried adding the subtitle track in a separate attempt. I've also tried another test where its possible to add a Subtitle track in the Audio track field. I've even tried to the 'Contains Only Forced Subtitles' found via Media Characteristics. The language of the Alien subtitle track is set to English.

    My players are set to Subtitles - Auto (I've also tried 'none').

    The movie in question has alien dialogue which can only be seen by manually selecting the subtitle track. This behaviour is the same in both QT and Apple TV.

    I've tried a variety of settings in Subler and nothing seems to work. The same movie, in an mkv container, played via VLC honours the forced flag. The m4v in VLC does not honour the flag.

    Could someone who has successfully gotten forced subtitles to appear in their projects share their method please. I know there are a number of variables but this is one of those OCD things that is getting on my nerves.

    Thanks in advance for any pointers.
    Last edited by lwoody7110; 22nd Feb 2021 at 12:58.
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    Originally Posted by lwoody7110 View Post
    Hi all

    I'm struggling to get my Apple TV to automatically display forced subtitles in an m4v container.

    I'm using Subler to create/edit the m4v container from an mkv source. I've set the flag on the subtitle itself to 'All Samples Are Forced'. I've also tried adding the subtitle track in a separate attempt. I've also tried another test where its possible to add a Subtitle track in the Audio track field. I've even tried to the 'Contains Only Forced Subtitles' found via Media Characteristics. The language of the Alien subtitle track is set to English.

    My players are set to Subtitles - Auto (I've also tried 'none').

    The movie in question has alien dialogue which can only be seen by manually selecting the subtitle track. This behaviour is the same in both QT and Apple TV.

    I've tried a variety of settings in Subler and nothing seems to work. The same movie, in an mkv container, played via VLC honours the forced flag. The m4v in VLC does not honour the flag.

    Could someone who has successfully gotten forced subtitles to appear in their projects share their method please. I know there are a number of variables but this is one of those OCD things that is getting on my nerves.

    Thanks in advance for any pointers.
    see here for the Apple TV subtitle settings - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT2026
    to add the subtitles to m4v with Subler, see this tutorial - https://www.jesseweb.com/tech/adding-or-removing-subtitles-within-mp4m4v-videos/
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  3. Thank you for the links,

    The 1st link seems dead. I get a 'Page Not Found' returned from Apple.

    The 2nd link does not help my specific issue where forced subtitles are not being honoured by QT or AppleTV.

    Perhaps my post was not clear that the subtitles are present in the m4v container. The 'alien speaking' subtitle track should always play by default without having to manually select the track. It is this 'Forced' function that is not working for me.
    Last edited by lwoody7110; 22nd Feb 2021 at 15:31.
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  4. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Thread moved to the mac forum where you can get more help.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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    Originally Posted by lwoody7110 View Post
    Thank you for the links,

    The 1st link seems dead. I get a 'Page Not Found' returned from Apple.

    The 2nd link does not help my specific issue where forced subtitles are not being honoured by QT or AppleTV.

    Perhaps my post was not clear that the subtitles are present in the m4v container. The 'alien speaking' subtitle track should always play by default without having to manually select the track. It is this 'Forced' function that is not working for me.
    there is a Subler subtitle guide - https://bitbucket.org/galad87/subler/wiki/Subtitles%20Guide
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  6. Thank you for the link to Subler.

    I have set my Alien subtitle track to 'All Samples Are Forced' which should result in the player showing the alien language subtitles regardless. I'm still hoping for some 1st hand experience in setting a subtitle to forced in Subler as the flag does not seem to work at all.

    Does anyone know of a tool that can verify which subtitle has a forced flag set other than Subler?

    2.2.2 Forced
    We have 3 possible values for this option:
    1. No : This is a regular subtitle track. When watching the movie, if the subtitles are turned off, no subtitle form this track will show up.
    2. Some samples are forced : Forced subtitles are included in this regular subtitle track. If the subtitles are turned off, only the subtitles marked as forced (with the 3 exclamations marks, as described here) will show up.
    3. All samples are forced : All subtitles from this track will be considered as forced. If this option is chosen, the subtitle track won’t appear in the subtitle menu of the player (because they will be always displayed) and they will show up automatically. This value is useful if you have a specific track with only the subtitles related to few scenes in a foreign language.
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  7. I found a tool to check if Subler is setting the forced flag. Using MediaInfo, the flag is indeed set.

    Image
    [Attachment 57511 - Click to enlarge]


    Could someone confirm that Quicktime/AppleTV themselves honour forced subtitles from m4v?
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  8. Most Tv Players ignore the forced flag. It works for Pc Movie players like VLC, but not on TV.
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  9. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Just make a regular sub with the words you need,they will show up as needed.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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