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[Release] Language Preference Manager
#61
I don't see subtitles:none in conditional tab. I use 0.0.4 version.
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#62
Can't reproduce it. Is it there in the other categories? It should be between Vietnamese and Albanian.
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#63
Yes, it's in another sections when I can set audio language, but not subtitle language
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#64
Ok restart has helped, I see "none".
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#65
Hi ace!

First thanks for this great add-on!
I've one problem. I have two different language codes for german (ger, deu).
ger is recognised right but deu isn't.
Is it possible that you add deu to the db too?

Cheers
Waven
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#66
Image

Here are some free-to-use flag icons Smile
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#67
Thanks! (Found the source and they are indeed free to use; One has to be careful nowadays Wink)
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#68
Hi, i'm a new XBMC user pointed to this tread from another thread so i'll repeat my question here and possibly someone can help.

I have a selection of movies in MKV format where I have checked each movie to ensure that the correct audio and subtitle streams play as i want. The method i use for checking the desired audio and subtitle streams are correctly selected is to watch a portion of the movie using VLC. If something is incorrect (rarely), i determine which stream or streams i prefer via VLC and I then set the appropriate stream "flags" using mkvmergeGUI and the "header editor" contained within and then recheck the movie within VLC. My preference is that the English audio stream and no subtitle stream is selected as default, other than when forced subtitles are present in which case these are shown.

Forced subtitles, for example, are when English is the predominant spoken language within an English audio stream but there are periods of a Italian spoken within this stream and it is desired to have English subtitles shown during these periods. In this example, should i instead choose the Italian audio stream, when English is spoken there will exist the forced Italian subtitles. As such, there can exist multiple forced subtitles associated with each audio language stream...

However, XBMC seems to ignore stream "flags" within the MKV file completely. In fact i have not found a setting within XBMC which defines the preferred audio and subtitle settings for the player so in this sense, stream flags have no relevance if player defaults can't be set! Instead XBMC seems to store the subtitle "status" within it's database on a per movie basis, so changing the subtitle status either on or off via the "audio settings" menu when watching a given film is remembered between viewings. That saved 'per movie subtitle status' can be be wiped from the database for all movies by un-selecting "Enable Subtitles" and then pressing the "Set as default for all videos" button. This is a clunky method at best.

I believe this is counter intuitive to how all DVD players work, that is, the player honors the stream setting in combination with the player setting. This means if i set my player language to Italian, it will play the Italian audio stream if it exists, but if it does no exist the player will play the default audio stream (usually English) and the Italian subtitle stream if it exists. If i over-ride this standard behavior by selecting the French audio stream and Italian subtitle stream when playing a specific movie, this is not remembered between sessions and the player will always default to its normal behavior when the same movie is played at a later time. The concept of ignoring audio and subtitle flags that tell the player what to do is not logical. BD players operate in much the same way as DVD players.

Now some people use separate subtitle files that contain the subtitle information for their movie so obviously this is a different (and odd) use case compared to embedded subtitle streams. But even these odd use cases need to be handled differently than i suspect they are handled currently. For example, the subtitle files and the associated "stream" flags (default, forced, etc) should be specified at movie import, possibly via .nro files, to mimic the embedded streams so that when watching the movie the appropriate subtitle file will be automatically selected and then the viewer can temporarily changed the stream which should not be remembered within the database (much as embedded streams are handled by DVD players today). Thus the only time subtitle information needs to be stored in the database is to link external subtitle files and stream attributes to a particular movie in lieu of embedded stream flags. This would allow multiple subtitle stream files to be handled in a more elegant way that XBMC does today!

Right now, LPM seems to resolve, in part, the basic XBMC problem by mimic a player default "language and subtitle" setting but it is not clear if or how forced flags are handled? And XMBC still ignores the stream flags! I checked again and XBMC now handles simple forced subtitles as expected Smile

In any case, the add-on, which is a great effort, is really trying to resolve a basic missing function that should be contained within XBMC itself where such a feature should be available within the <System> <Settings> <Video> and within a new <Player language Defaults> and <Player Subtitle Defaults> which should allow language and subtitle defaults to be set for the player (similar to LPM but a little more simplified), making the old <subtitles> menu superfluous. But how does one go about highlighting such an improvement to the XBMC developers? Do they listen to such suggestions?

So how do we handle forced subtitle streams within LPM?

PS: sorry for the long post...

PPS: While there is Bold, Italic & Underline options within Post Reply, there is no Strikethrough option? Can this be added?

[Edited: removed lines are formatted with strikethroug and new lines are formatted with underline]
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#69
You already answered your questions, super!

Just to be sure, you have found the preferred audio/subtitle settings under <System><Settings><Appearance><International>?

(2013-06-28, 13:16)skylarking Wrote: In any case, the add-on, which is a great effort, is really trying to resolve a basic missing function that should be contained within XBMC itself where such a feature should be available within the <System> <Settings> <Video> and within a new <Player language Defaults> and <Player Subtitle Defaults> which should allow language and subtitle defaults to be set for the player (similar to LPM but a little more simplified), making the old <subtitles> menu superfluous. But how does one go about highlighting such an improvement to the XBMC developers? Do they listen to such suggestions?

Post a feature request in the Feature Suggestions sub-forum.
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#70
I have opened Ticket 14491.

I don't know how long it will take the XBMC devs to fix this as this issue has been discussed for years and still isn't fixed. The industry standard used by all commercial players (blu-ray, dvd, etc...) is that the forced subtitles language automatically changes to the active audio language. This basic function has been broken in XBMC for ever, how is this possibleHuh

So, in the meantime, as this industry standard behavior seems to be taking years for the XBMC devs, could you please add the "forced subtitles" option to your addon?

So that:

- the "forced subtitle" language changes with the active audio language (as it does with every commercial player).
- if no forced subtitles exists for the active language, select a forced subtitles according to the next best language match in your preferences.


IMHO the forced subtitles come first in order of importance. Normal subtitles languages are secondary.

Many thanks.
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#71
(2013-07-08, 04:52)Mangoes Wrote: So, in the meantime, as this industry standard behavior seems to be taking years for the XBMC devs, could you please add the "forced subtitles" option to your addon?

Not possible at the moment since flags can't be queried by addons. I have too many opened PRs to maintain, so that has a very low priority on my list.

(2013-07-08, 04:52)Mangoes Wrote: IMHO the forced subtitles come first in order of importance. Normal subtitles languages are secondary.

IMO the users preferred subtitle is the most important one.

PS Attacking xbmc's devs verbally is not the best way to ask for a feature/bugfix Wink
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#72
Thanks for the feedback.

(2013-07-08, 10:38)ace20022 Wrote: PS Attacking xbmc's devs verbally is not the best way to ask for a feature/bugfix Wink

No one is attacking anyone, where did you get this idea? We are all grateful for the great work the devs do, XBMC is a marvelous application.

I'm only saying things as they are: it takes years for the devs to get the forced subs to work properly and if no one says it, it will probably never occur to the devs that users are having issues with this. (there are so many things to do, it's easy to forget or leave one behind).

As I see it, this is the last issue that would make MKV video (backups, etc...) behave properly: like the commercial blu-ray and dvd players.

Thanks.
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#73
Then it was probably a misunderstanding.
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#74
ace20022, while my subtiltle concerns seem solved in part, i don't like the term solved as we are really using a xbmc workaround rather than an elegant integrated solution.

The problem as i see it is that the audio and subtitle settings are convoluted and less that clear to any normal user. This is further compounded by storing what should be temporary per viewing actions in the database thus effectively making them permanent which overrides the global player settings and providing an add-on as a workaround to the xbmc deficiencies.

For example within system - settings - appearance - international i have set "preferred audio language" and "preferred subtitle language" to "original stream's language" but it's not clear what this really does.

And within system - settings - videos - subtitles i have the default settings where these settings presumably exist to define subtitle fonts for 'external' subtitle files. But as i don't use this feature, all i can suggest is that if this is indeed the case it needs to be clearer to the users.

Then there is the audio settings section when watching a video which results in per film settings being stored within the database. Though this can be logical when the movie being watched is interrupted and then resumed possibly at another viewing station, such data should be cleared from the database when the film has been viewed to the end as such audio/subtitle conditions shouldn't be permanent in a permanent sense, semi-permanent would be more appropriate (unless i am missing something). And again external subtitles should have some form of .nro configurability to define the equivalent of stream flags for the external subs on a per video basis and only this part should be permanent within the database.

Further, users must realize that they need an add-on to fix xbmc deficiencies and download and install the add-on. Then within "programs" and not "system - settings", we have LPM listed where we must right click to get "add-on settings" for LPM where a number of tabs are presented. Within the "general" tab i have set "enable LPM" & "turn off subtitles if no subtitle preference matched, and within "audio preferences" tab i have set "enable preference" and "primary language =english", while within "subtitle preferences" tab i have set "enable preferences" with other options set to none and finally within "conditional subtitle preferences" tabs i have set "enable preferences" and "if audio language is english then display subtitles with language none".

While LPM this is a good workaround, it is still a workaround and confusing to first time uses who would also find it confusing to have "international" and "videos" as places to configure audio and subtitle player options. It really needs to be simplifies for the 'audio and subtitle use cases' that exist, i.e. for DVD and BD disks and proper DVD and BD rips where audio and subtitle streams have embedded stream flags to define what stream is played depending on player preferences while the use case where someone has done a poor rip (or needs languages not available in the available streams) and uses external subtitle files to fill there needs should be handled in a different manner than is the case today.

This could be improved by combining such audio and subtitle preference settings into "settings - video -player defaults - audio / subtitle" which would make more sense to a first time user, particularly if a short sentence describing the settings use is available for each setting and the LPM add-on will no longer be needed.
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#75
ace20022 I have a small feature request. I have many files which are in a foreign language, whilst the English audio is recognized as undetermined. anyway to set undetermined as a preference after English i.e. if English soundtrack is not found select undetermined sound track.. I already tried the following eng>udf>und but did not work..
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