Streaming / Capture Features of VLC player

[Seeker47]

The first part of this involves a mystery. I downloaded the file of a 1992 Russian movie -- at another member's request on another forum, not the one here at VH. It's an AVI file. When I went to check it on the computer using VLC (ver. 301), strangely enough EN subs (which would have been needed) began to appear, overlaid on the video. At first, I thought they must have been hardcoded subs, but that was not the case. (Incidentally, this was verified by another user, also via VLC playback.) The next thing I was thinking was, this is not an MKV file, so how did they cram soft subs into an AVI ? -- never seen that before. When the video is playing, it also shows umpteen other subs options as being available, from the drop down menu. However, MediaInfo reports that there are NO subs in the file ! Then someone mentioned an add-on for VLC, VLsub, but I have no add-ons installed for VLC. So, the mystery: where are these subs coming from ? How would I ascertain the answer ? (I've looked around at Opensubtitles, SubDL, https://www.addic7ed.com/, DuckDuckGo search, under both the original Russian and the English titles, and no one seemed to be offering those subs.) The mystery continues . . . .

I was generally aware that VLC is supposed to have some features related to streaming & capture, which I'd never really learned about. I thought that might offer some way to capture these "phantom" EN subs, wherever they might be coming from, and to save them.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=use+VLC+to+capture+streaming+subtitles&so...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
seemed to offer some ideas to that end. My experiments with that have so far not been successful though. If Subtitle Edit had such streaming features, not limited to the downloaded file itself, I would try that as well.

Any more knowledgeable and experienced answers on these matters will be most welcome.
[If the suggestion to find out what is coming in from where is Wireshark, I know of it, but suspect that it will be over my head in terms of complexity and learning curve.]

[Subtitles]

Have you tried to open the video in Subtitle Edit and see if shows any subtitles?
I would also try to upgrade VLC to latest version 3.0.20 and play the file using other video players like the Windows Movies & TV.
If you still get it, try to reset VLC to default values.
Tools > Preferences
Reset Preferences

[Seeker47]

Have you tried to open the video in Subtitle Edit and see if shows any subtitles?
I would also try to upgrade VLC to latest version 3.0.20 and play the file using other video players like the Windows Movies & TV.
If you still get it, try to reset VLC to default values.
Tools > Preferences
Reset Preferences

MediaInfo reveals everything (that matters) within a video file. It has never failed me. But Yes, besides VLC I also played the file in MBC-BE, Zoom Player Max, and Daum Potplayer, all with the same results -- except for those "phantom" EN subs coming in from somewhere, which remain to be explained. They must exist somewhere out there on the web, though not at any of the conventional sources one might expect.

I also opened the file in SE 408, which showed nothing present within the file. Since I already had SE up and running, I decided to run a Whisper translation job on that file. This had to run overnight, but during the time that was happening, either the computer crashed or there was some reboot event, and that Whisper job was lost. I do have a system UPS, good for about 20 - 25 minutes of power backup, but either the alarm did not go off, or it did not wake me. So I'll just run that job again, some other night.

In case you'd like to check out that weird "phantom" subs phenomenon yourself -- with this AVI file, in VLC -- here is what I believe to be the source (torrent, magnet link) for the file that the person I was helping had requested:

https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1525370

At this point I don't recall whether I picked up the torrent itself, or whether it was from one of the 2 or 3 iterations of the same file that can be found for download on OK.RU. The original Russian title is Отражение в зеркале (1992). According to IMDB, the complete film should be 15 minutes longer, but this may be the only version in circulation, or at least the only one that we could find.

[Subtitles]

Can you upload the file and share a link to download, preferably with PM because of copyright issues? I want to check if I get the same problem.
I can also create subtitles file for you (obviously in the original language Russian) if you like, as I have a good setup which doesn't take long.
Have you tried converting the avi to mp4 and see if you get the same problem?
One last question are the subtitles for the movie or something not related?

[Seeker47]

Can you upload the file and share a link to download, preferably with PM because of copyright issues? I want to check if I get the same problem.
I can also create subtitles file for you (obviously in the original language Russian) if you like, as I have a good setup which doesn't take long.
Have you tried converting the avi to mp4 and see if you get the same problem?
One last question are the subtitles for the movie or something not related?

Thanks. The EN subs seem to fit the movie, but not being a Russian speaker I can't be sure. I have a few good converter apps, and will try that. Someone on the other forum already replicated my results, but it would be worthwhile getting your additional confirmation. (I'm doubting the version of VLC is going to be relevant.) Will see about that upload and get back to you.

[Seeker47]

I converted the AVI to MP4, and the "phantom" EN subs were no longer happening.
First mystery now resolved: there were a bunch of other movies within the same folder on the HDD. For whatever reason, VLC was picking up subs from one of the other SRT files. (On reflection, the timings seemed to fit dialog scenes, but the subject matter does not fit.) I proved this with a keyword search for a specific piece of dialog, among all of those SRTs. The movie it belonged to was an MP4 -- so, you could not say it was any sort of closest match, either. And the respective titles / languages don't match up as being at all similar. This would appear to be a VLC failing and an odd program bug. I will see if it continues in the current version.

[EDIT: I've now run the Whisper job for this twice. On the first attempt (running overnight), either the computer crashed, or there was some unknown reboot event, and the job in progress was lost. Have to consult the Win-10 Event Logs, if there is to be any enlightenment about that. The 2nd. attempt was apparently successful. So I can now fulfill the original request for the relevant party.]

[EDIT #2: No difference using current VLC 3021. Either they never vanquished that bug, or it has returned.]