[darthdiablo]

What title says.

I rely heavily on subtitles for everything I watch (I'm hearing impaired), so as a result, naturally, downloading subtitles can feel like a chore at times for me.

I'm a software developer, so of course from time to time, to make things more convenient, I develop a solution to automate things for me.

One of things I'm considering developing is a script that runs automatically at XBMC startup or at certain time intervals (much like XBMC Library Autoupdate addon), going through the entire library and see what subtitles are still needed, and download it without me needing to "hold hands" with this process.

Some caveats:

The video (mkv) files would need to be named the same as the subtitle file out there to be downloaded - ie:

Seinfeld.S01E01.720p.x264.SKULLS.mkv

If there exists subtitle named Seinfeld.S01E01.720p.x264.SKULLS.en.srt, it will be downloaded automatically.

At least in my case, more often than not, I am able to find subtitle file that matches up exactly with my mkv file name. (It does require a bit of work on my end to make that happen, but it's worth it).

The script will also be intelligent enough to skip subtitle download if the mkv already have built-in subtitle support - I am assuming I am able to check mkv metadata for this, because I do see "CC" icon in OSD menu for mkvs that has built-in subtitles.

This is something I'd love to develop for myself. UNLESS.. something already exists out there? I want to make sure I'm not reinventing a wheel?

[Mati24]

This will be a great functionnality if it's compatible with other language

[darthdiablo]

This will be a great functionnality if it's compatible with other language

Yep, it will start out as something for my own needs - and if this thing ends up growing on its own legs, I'll add dropdown to allow user to select whichever language s/he wants.

I'm just afraid someone has already done something like this and is available to download out there.

I've found this: http://subdownloader.net/

Will check this out - my "wants" are real specific and I want to see if the "subdownloader" does everything I want it to.

[darthdiablo]

Doesn't seem to work well for me at least - unable to download a single subtitle file from opensubtitles.org, and it also appears the project hasn't been updated since 2010.

Also looking for something more tightly integrated with XBMC (an add-on), not a stand-alone app that I have to run separately.

Since I haven't heard whether or not there's other projects that does the same, I'll start working on this project for my own needs at first, and go from there.

[amet]

after few years working on subtitle addon, I can guarantee that autodownloader will be a hit and miss in more than 50% of the cases.

subtitle addon has the ability to auto download "sync" subs that are supposedly 100% match but in reality its not always like that.

one thing we looked at and it was placed as low priority is the rechecking the CC flags for files, there is no way to do that unless you re-add the file to the library. not sure what language you prefer, but if its english chances are that opensubtitles will have it and it will be a click away with the addon.

just my $0.02, if you decide to write it, good luck and let us know how it goes

[darthdiablo]

after few years working on subtitle addon, I can guarantee that autodownloader will be a hit and miss in more than 50% of the cases.

subtitle addon has the ability to auto download "sync" subs that are supposedly 100% match but in reality its not always like that.

one thing we looked at and it was placed as low priority is the rechecking the CC flags for files, there is no way to do that unless you re-add the file to the library. not sure what language you prefer, but if its english chances are that opensubtitles will have it and it will be a click away with the addon.

just my $0.02, if you decide to write it, good luck and let us know how it goes

I, too, would guarantee that it's gonna be a hit and miss based on my own experiences manually downloading subtitles for my entire library

I WANT to be presented with an option that I can turn auto-downloading on. I did list a few caveats (ie: mkv and subtitle file names must match up) in my original post - it's not going to be perfect by any means, but it will reduce much of the "chore-y" feeling involved with downloading subtitles.

Yes, I'm aware of and have noticed "sync" subs, and as you said it's not perfect. I've seen "sync" icons where it made absolutely no sense (the filenames of mkv and subtitle does not even match up even remotely close), so I'm not sure what logic is used behind determining which subtitle files are considered "sync".

To confirm what you are saying you said there is no way to check to see whether a MKV file already self-contains subtitles, unless I "re-add" the MKV file to the library?

---

Additionally, one of major problems I have with the add-on is that "HI" subtitles seems to be an afterthought. Code has been found in project where it actually EXCLUDES "HI" subtitles from being listed (for Subscene for example). Granted, I can see that the code to do that was added years ago and probably no one noticed that until recently and the logic to exclude "HI" subtitles is finally be removing (thanks!), the problem is I still want things to be more "HI" friendly.

I would like to be able to auto-download "HI" subtitles as top priority (might seem like minor thing or even annoyance to non-hearing-impaired users, but it is certainly a major thing for me) - and if no "HI" are found, fall back to the non-HI variation, and so forth on.

Basically, there should be an option somewhere to give priority to "HI" variation.

[queeup]

I am using subliminal python script for my autodownload subtitle process. @amet is right about english subtitle. If its english subliminal success %99. Other languages not so easy.

[darthdiablo]

I am using subliminal python script for my autodownload subtitle process. @amet is right about english subtitle. If its english subliminal success %99. Other languages not so easy.

I'll have to check out that script. English is my primary language. Does subliminal allow one to assign higher priority to "HI" subtitles?

[DaemonSeed]

@darthdiablo, heya bub Deafie here too. I'll have to check your script out sometime it sure do look nifty just thinking about the concept.

Every once a whiles I wonder about subtitle's being "identified" via metatags or something when doing a search for a movie or tv show via xbmc on the various plugin's then theres the 'synch up' problem sometimes, you have to choose the correct format for an episode or movie to match up with the sync rate of the subtitles or everything comes out disjointed. Major peeve huh?

Anyhoo kudo's Just wanted to let ya know there are more Deafies lurking around in the shadows and enjoying XBMC right along with yourself.

[amet]

I, too, would guarantee that it's gonna be a hit and miss based on my own experiences manually downloading subtitles for my entire library

I WANT to be presented with an option that I can turn auto-downloading on. I did list a few caveats (ie: mkv and subtitle file names must match up) in my original post - it's not going to be perfect by any means, but it will reduce much of the "chore-y" feeling involved with downloading subtitles.

Yes, I'm aware of and have noticed "sync" subs, and as you said it's not perfect. I've seen "sync" icons where it made absolutely no sense (the filenames of mkv and subtitle does not even match up even remotely close), so I'm not sure what logic is used behind determining which subtitle files are considered "sync".

To confirm what you are saying you said there is no way to check to see whether a MKV file already self-contains subtitles, unless I "re-add" the MKV file to the library?

---

Additionally, one of major problems I have with the add-on is that "HI" subtitles seems to be an afterthought. Code has been found in project where it actually EXCLUDES "HI" subtitles from being listed (for Subscene for example). Granted, I can see that the code to do that was added years ago and probably no one noticed that until recently and the logic to exclude "HI" subtitles is finally be removing (thanks!), the problem is I still want things to be more "HI" friendly.

I would like to be able to auto-download "HI" subtitles as top priority (might seem like minor thing or even annoyance to non-hearing-impaired users, but it is certainly a major thing for me) - and if no "HI" are found, fall back to the non-HI variation, and so forth on.

Basically, there should be an option somewhere to give priority to "HI" variation.

HI subs are an afterthought purely because noone ever expressed a need for them, addon was developed with non english speakers in mind.

we can add the "auto-download HI subs" as an adition to "auto-download sync subs" .. that should be easy...

[darthdiablo]

HI subs are an afterthought purely because noone ever expressed a need for them, addon was developed with non english speakers in mind.

we can add the "auto-download HI subs" as an adition to "auto-download sync subs" .. that should be easy...

That would be fantastic! I've gotten most of my HI subtitle files from Subscene, so if you have to update this on a per-service basis, Subscene is as good place as any to start. Not sure I can remember why opensubtitles.org doesn't serve my needs as well as Subscene do.

[amet]

HI subs are an afterthought purely because noone ever expressed a need for them, addon was developed with non english speakers in mind.

we can add the "auto-download HI subs" as an adition to "auto-download sync subs" .. that should be easy...

That would be fantastic! I've gotten most of my HI subtitle files from Subscene, so if you have to update this on a per-service basis, Subscene is as good place as any to start. Not sure I can remember why opensubtitles.org doesn't serve my needs as well as Subscene do.

it will be on "general" level like the sync subs are

just to be clear, this will work with "auto download sync subs" with sub option to prefer "Hi"

I'll get to it soon... no promises though