Topic: Video question

[6pairsofshoes]

I have a Spanish language video that has subtitle tracks that are not hard coded, but that require selection while the video is playing.  It's in mp4 files.  There's several language tracks but they are not in separate files.  No .srt files included.  Just one file.  I can watch the file on my desktop just fine using VLC, but at night we prefer to sit on the sofa in the living room to watch.  That's where the trouble starts.  The smart tv isn't so smart.  It can't play mp4 files.  So I need to convert to .avi or something more friendly to the tv.

I tried to upload the file and do an online avi conversion and it worked great except it eliminated the subtitles.  There's no way to view with the subtitle track.  Even with an avi file, if the subtitles are not hard coded, they won't show up and there's no way to activate them on the tv.

So I'm wondering if there is a way to extract or visualize the subtitle tracks on the mp4 files so they might be isolated and then hard coded?  And perhaps if you know that much, you might suggest appropriate software to effect this?  Or should I give up and sit at the computer to watch?  These are long  shows and there's about 20 of them, so it's quite the slog to sit through them all.

Thanks for any advice.

[smokester]

Sometimes my TV (LG) says it "can't play this type of video file" when it's an mp4 even though it can play mp4s. I found that re-encoding it as an mp4 - with what I assume is a standard codec - makes it work on my TV.

TNG says your file may be VP8 or VP9 which TVs struggle with so maybe just re-encoding in Handbrake will sort it out.

[6pairsofshoes]

Part of the problem is that if the subtitle track isn't hard coded, the tv has no way to go select subtitles (VLC does this easily, but Samsung, not so much).  I can only access them via VLC on the desktop.  I have been able to convert the mp4 to .avi with the result that the subtitles are no longer accessible anywhere -- not on the desktop and if that won't work, the tv sure won't be able to get them.  The only other alternative is to become fluent in Spanish, and while i might pull that off in another year or two, my husband won't, as he's not learned the language.

I've done an info grab on the file and it says this:
MPEG-4 movie
Codecs: Subtitle, AAC, H.264

Like I said, if it had .srt files, I could work with a video editor to hard code them, but it seems to have multiple language options, and no separate files for the subtitles.

[smokester]

I'd just install Plex and play it from there. I have a lifetime subscription and it didn't cost that much at all. It'll find all the videos and subs and play them accordingly.

Oh, and Plex is free if you don't want things like skip intro.

[6pairsofshoes]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I checked Plex and our Samsung is too old to support the streaming.  We've basically been loading files on a flash drive and playing them from there.

I guess we'll sit in my office and watch from there until I can figure out something else.

[8ullfrog]

Can you cast it? My mom's TV is old enough it rejects pretty much all formats, but I can still cast to her chromecast.

I'm guessing the format your TV doesn't like is the H.264, which is a bone standard format.

They spent more time on the copy protection than actually making the formats play nice with each other.

My bad, I'm a dumbass. I mixed up .264, which is actually MP4, and HEVC.

God I hate encodes.

from the site I read up on

And Plex still only transcodes to H.264/AVC (no matter from what source format). In retrospect, plenty of video codecs are knocked out, such as H.263 and H.26L. But MPEG-2 is still playing a role in the DVD and BD industries, which indicates that a codec that marks a significant milestone in video delivery could last longer. At least now H.264 still performs excellently in combining compatibility, coding efficiency, and video quality.

[6pairsofshoes]

I did use Plex successfully a long time ago, but it stopped working due to some kind of operating system upgrade.  Now, I guess it's incompatible with the tv.  Ha.  I have an old apple tv that never worked, and an ancient Roku device.  Both are so old that they don't work any longer with any of the newer devices (tv or computer). 

[8ullfrog]

There is a weird janky help menu in the samsung UI, did you see if it says anything about formats?

For instance, my old samsung doesn't have wireless capabilities, but it does have an ethernet port. I've never set it up for network play, but wonder if that would help.

I know it's insanely difficult to find the model number on a Samsung TV, but do you know yours? for instance, mine is called a 5 series, a 5000 series, and I think 5137 series.

[6pairsofshoes]

We've tried to mess with the menu settings to figure out if we can select subtitles on these files, but to no avail, and that's with the various files that have subtitles I can access on my desktop via VLC but not via Samsung.  We've tried it with other softcoded subtitle files and it just can't find them.  I have attempted to locate hard coded versions of the files and they exist, but are not seeded, so that's not much help.

The model is UN40EH5300FXZA.  I had to take a photo of the back of the set with my phone to get that.  I'm sure I have a pdf of the instruction manual on my computer somewhere.  The major problem is that the mp4 files won't play on there.  And the transformed versions of the files (those converted to avi) lose all subtitles.  The show has gone so over the top in its dramatism that it beggars belief, but I just can't stop watching it.

[6pairsofshoes]

And, just like that, some angel sent me hard coded subs.  Thank you, kind stranger.

So the lessons of diy hard coding will have to wait...

[8ullfrog]

My initial viewing of Game of Thrones was extremely confusing because it had no subs

[6pairsofshoes]

I was actually surprised to discover that the files with the hardcoded subs are also .mp4, so what TNG had to say about those files is probably accurate.  Who knows why they wouldn't play with the subtitles in their original format when they were softcoded.

[smokester]

TNG likes to be right so I'll remember not to tell him.