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Solved Subtitles over UPnP streams
#1
Hello guys,

I have an UPnP server that shares video files with the client. Some of them, have external subtitles (.srt format, if it might be relevant).
While the subtitles are correctly fetched by a Samsung TV I have, I cannot see them using XBMC as a client.

I also tried to move the subs locally to XBMC and set the proper path into XBMC (System -> Video -> Subtitles) without any luck.

Am I missing something?
Is there a way to use external subs when playing UPnP streams?

Thanks in Advance and Regards.

P.S. Searching in google, I was able to find some old threads that looks similar to this one, but I wasn't able to follow the link and tried to use the forum's search function without any luck. In any case, sorry for the double posting...
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#2
The problem can be twofold, depending on which server you use:
1) Your server might serve the subtitles in a way only Samsung systems understand
2) XBMC does not support external subtitles through UPnP

Serving external subtitles is not part of the UPnP specs, and different vendors have therefore started using different methods. There are basically 2(/3) ways that are being used at the moment. If you can, give Serviio a quick try (it's a painless server for a quick test). At least that server uses both methods so you can determine if it's a server issue.

I do not know XBMC well enough to know if it supports external subtitles through UPnP in the first place, but I assume it is. Not using it myself though.
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#3
Currently XBMC does not support external subtitle files over UPnP when serving those files.
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#4
This is a function that i miss in xbmc. The dev-team is doing a great job and I hope some of you could try getting this feature in Gotham.
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#5
Alcoheca is going to tackle dlna transcoding as his GSOC project, which will hopefully make it possible to support external subtitles.
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#6
Ohh that sounds wonderful :-).
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#7
I use XBMC on OS X and Windows with a minidlna server. External SRT files don't work.
However, my iPad running 8player, with the same minidlna works perfectly.

After a bit of digging, the root of the problem is that XBMC never requests the subtitle info in the first place, which sort of makes sense since this is likely outside the DLNA (mishmash) standard.

Basically, in the ContentDirectory SOAP request, 8player asks for:
...<Filter>...,sec:CaptionInfoEx,pvConfusedubtitleFileType,res@pvConfusedubtitleFileUri,pvConfusedubtitlefile</Filter>...

And minidlna returns:
... pvConfusedubtitleFileUri="http://192.168.1.7:8200/Captions/6069.srt" ...
sec:CaptionInfoEx sec:type="srt"&gt;http://192.168.1.7:8200/Captions/6069.srt&lt;/sec:CaptionInfoEx&gt;

A simple http get to subtitleFileUri returns the subtitle data.

Looking around the source code, it doesn't look like this would be too hard to implement but I don't have the time.
Hopefully someone else does.
I like foreign films and other than French or English, I need subtitles. Or watch on iPad's teeny little screen.
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#8
This is a very important feature, for users who connect with HTPC or android device.
Can one of the dev implement it? I'm sure many users would appreciate it a lot.

Thanks (and sorry for the bump) Smile
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#9
This would be an awesome feature!
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#10
I believe this is now working in the Gotham builds: Beta (wiki)
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#11
Confirmed. It works on Gotham. Do note that after testing it turns out it is picky concerning the method of supplying subtitles through UPnP. There are basically two ways subtitles are served through UPnP. I call the two available methods the "Samsung" and the "Panasonic" way, where the latter has two variations again. I can't tell you which method is officially supposed to work with XBMC now.

After a quick test with some servers:
  • Serviio supports both methods and it's working with XBMC
  • Rygel supports only the "Samsung" way at the moment and it's not working for XBMC. The "Panasonic" way has been added in the upcoming release (0.22)
  • MiniDLNA is supposed to support both methods but is known to have issues. While it works on my TV the "Panasonic" way, it fails for XBMC
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#12
For some reason I can not get my external subtitles to show over UPnP.
The subtitles .srt files are in the same folder as the video file and tried naming them:

<videoname>.srt
<videoname>.en.srt/<videoname>.nl.srt

But they still won't show over UPnP. The XBMC that is running the UPnP server is on a windows computer, version Gotham beta 3. Tried browsing it from XBMC on my tablet by adding it as an UPnP source, also running Gotham beta 3. Can play the videos just fine but no subtitles. Also tried using BubbleUPnP but it also doesn't see the external subtitles either.
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#13
Hello,

I've tested it with latest version of xmbc, and the srt subtitles work partially: they work with Serviio server only, not with xbmc server.

XBMC on my PC as uPnP server --> XBMC on Adroid as uPnP client : doesn't work, srt subtitles are not transferred along with the movie.
Serviio on my PC as uPnP server --> XBMC on Adroid as uPnP client : works, srt is transferred fine.

So I guess the problem is only fixed on the android version of xbmc (as uPnp client), but it's still not implemented on the PC version (as uPnP server).

Any chance to make it work?

Thanks Smile
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#14
(2014-04-19, 13:34)Animor Wrote: So I guess the problem is only fixed on the android version of xbmc (as uPnp client), but it's still not implemented on the PC version (as uPnP server).
No, it appears XBMC as a client, not just for Android, is using the subtitles now, if being provided by a server, and the XBMC uPnP server does not serve subtitles yet.
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#15
(2014-04-19, 15:12)Forage Wrote:
(2014-04-19, 13:34)Animor Wrote: So I guess the problem is only fixed on the android version of xbmc (as uPnp client), but it's still not implemented on the PC version (as uPnP server).
No, it appears XBMC as a client, not just for Android, is using the subtitles now, if being provided by a server, and the XBMC uPnP server does not serve subtitles yet.
Yes, but the main point remains that xbmc uPnP server doesn't transfer subtitles along with the movie.
Is this on the future feature list? any ETA perhaps?
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