I am not sure if this is an issue with XBMC or the way I am ripping the movies but when playing a movie like "Captain Phillips" I either have to have subtitles on all the time or off all the time. It will not display them normally like the movie would if I was just playing the disc. When playing the disc subtitles will only come on when the language spoken is not english. Is there a way to correct this?
Perhaps tell us how you rip them
You want forced subtitles on, not the subtitle track. If you ripped them, you need to rip all the english subtitle tracks, not just the main one.
Ok maybe you could help me with that. I am using makemkv to rip the movies. The only options I see under preferences > language is interface language which is set to auto and preferred language which is set to none. Should I set preferred to english?
That is a question for somebody that has used MakeMKV. I use DVDFAB to rip my movies. You may also check subscene or opensubtitles.org. Sometimes, many times in fact, I've been able to find the sub I'm looking for in a matter of minutes. You can download these directly through XBMC.
Ok, just to make sure you are understanding. I have the english subtitles and I can turn them on or off, but they do not automatically come on when the spoken language changes from english.
Without using an external player, I don't think you're ever going to get that functionality. There's simply not enough control over the subtitles and/or individual streams. Why not just leave subtitles on permanently and then set up a button on your remote to choose the next subtitle language. It won't be the exact setup you're looking for, but it will limit your interface with the system.
Hmm, ok, that's a bummer. But I guess you answered my questions. Thanks.
I'm not saying there's no way to do it, just none of found personally. There very well could be a way to do what you want within xbmc.
(2014-12-02, 04:07)xmjsilverx Wrote: [ -> ]Ok, just to make sure you are understanding. I have the english subtitles and I can turn them on or off, but they do not automatically come on when the spoken language changes from english.
From your description I'm not 100% on the problem. Is it:
1. Subtitles are not displayed unless you enable them and displayed subtitles are for both English and non-English spoken parts. If so then forced subtitle track has not been ripped by MakeMKV.
2. Subtitles for only the non-English spoken parts are not automatically enabled. If so then this suggests the forced subtitle flag is not set by MakeMKV, therefore the file headers need to be altered with MKVMerge.
So yes what you want is possible as long as the correct subtitle track has been ripped and it has the forced flag set by the ripping software.
Try pausing the movie and navigate to the player control menu, the audio tab, scroll down to subtitles and then select the up/down arrow. If you ripped your title properly, all subtitles will be there including English subtitle for foreign spoken language if that track was included with that title. I think Kodi remembers the selection for every movie separately? If you're simply T ogling your only options are enable/disable and defaults to which sub is on the top of the list. I have my remote programed so each time I press subtitle it scrolls through all available subs. I can only scroll one direction, down. English is usually default at the top of the list so I have to scroll through the entire alphabet until I reach the last sub track and then click once more to get to Subtitles disabled when I want them off. So the function is a blessing and a curse.
Correctly flagged Forced sub's should automatically appear, there should be no need to go into the menus and enable subs, if this is not happening then it is a bug which needs to be fixed.