-Guide- Playback with Embedded and External Subs

[dohkebi]

A little guide to help you get setup with subtitle support with your videos. Embedded subs in MKVs have always been the most troublesome to get working, you should be able to run them with this guide.
Note: Take a look at your videos /w embedded subs using MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) check what the subtitle source is. SRT embedded videos don't work for me, but UTF does. Other than the SSA/ASS/ASS2 subs that are configured in ffdshow, not sure what other types are supported besides UTF.


with the new version I'd suggest changing the Media Library to "File System" setting. Makes organization much easier.
PS3 2.10
TVersity 0.9.11.4
XP Pro

Before you start please remove all codecs.



-TVersity settings-

General settings you want the PS3 as the selected media device.
Transcoder settings always want transcoding on. The rest of the settings you're free to tweak as you like.
I use 1280x720 res, optimize Quality, Wired, and Minimum compression.

You'll probably want to change the transcoding to mpeg2 as well, open the profiles.xml in notepad and Ctrl+F to search "playstation". Scroll down a bit further and you'll see the transcoding settings. Change the video and onlineVideo from mpeg16 to mpeg2.


<transcodeTarget audio="audio/x-wav" video="video/mpeg2" photo="image/jpeg"
onlineAudio="audio/mpeg" onlineVideo="video/mpeg2" onlinePhoto="image/jpeg"
adjustReadStartPos="false" audioFailFutureSeek="false" videoFailFutureSeek="true" />



If you have windows firewall on, you need to make an exception for the mediaserver.exe
Start > control panel > windows firewall settings/security settings > Exceptions tab > add program > search your tversity directory for mediaserver.exe

**Important don't skip this**

Change the login for tversity service.
Right click my computer > manage > services & applications > services
find "TVersityMediaServer" and double click to open properties
click on "Log On" tab and change the login from the local system account to an account for the computer. (your account must be password protected or windows will not accept it)

----Method A---- Should be less confusing than using Klite codec pack.

1. Download latest ffdshow
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
2. Download gabest matroska filter (thanks Davin, I could never find the standalone version)
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... _id=400404
3. Download MP4splitter (gabest version as well)
http://www.digital-digest.com/software/ ... itter.html

There are 2 versions of the matroskasplitter.ax and MP4splitter.ax (use Release Unicode for NT versions of Windows...2000/XP)
Copy the file into your C:\Windows\System32 directory
Register the codec manually.
-start > run
-type regsvr32 "c:\windows\system32\matroskasplitter.ax"
-start > run
-type regsvr32 "c:\windows\system32\MP4Splitter.ax"

Edit ffdshow video decoder settings *in the codec section, ffdshow should be decoding any type of video that will be using subs internal/external.*
Scroll down to the Subtitles section and check it.
Make sure to check on:
-Accept embedded subtitles
-Accept SSA, ASS and ASS2..
-Decode closed captions

----Method B---- Both methods should play all videos now, just a matter of preference or what works for you.

Only codec pack you'll need is the K-lite FULL version codec pack. So before you start remove all your codecs.
http://www.free-codecs.com/K_Lite_Codec ... wnload.htm

Installing the codec pack
Gotta pay attention to what filters you select when you install, you can change it later with the codec tweak tool if you make a mistake though. The reason MKV's with embedded subs give you difficulty is that pretty much all codec packs default to the Haali matroska filter and don't even give you a choice for Gabest. Never got subs working with the Haali filter.

-make sure you select ffdshow for H264 instead of CoreAVC
-make sure you select the Gabest filter for MP4, MKV and OGG instead of the Haali version.
-make sure you uncheck DirectShow subtitles filter so ffdshow can do this.
-also ffdshow should be selected for any filter type that you want to run external subs from like xvid/divx.



If you notice any problems with subs, open the codec tweak tool and make sure to disable any filter that Haali is using.

Edit ffdshow video decoder settings
Scroll down to the Subtitles section and check it.
Make sure to check on:
-Accept embedded subtitles
-Accept SSA, ASS and ASS2..
-Decode closed captions

[SiW]

I still can't get embedded subs working properly even after following these instructions. Anything I can list for you to check?

[dohkebi]

Try downloading mediainfo and check what type of video codec your vids are and also the type of embedded sub. I notice some of my older mkv's don't work if they use a UTF embedded sub....but I barely have any of those.

Also did you try running the codectweak tool and scroll down the list for all the video filters? If any of the Haali filters are enabled then it won't work.

If you still have problems, might want to try just installing ffdshow and SUPER. Since super installs the Gabest filters for you.

[SiW]

Well after starting over and doing some reboots between installs (and after running the service under my user) it finally works, thanks a lot!

[randorin]

Dohkebi,

THANK YOU!

This should be stickied information. I was having the EXACT same problem, and I already had the K-Lite codec pack installed.

I followed these steps, and the files that I previously could not play in tversity (.mkv files with embedded subs) played in my tversity library. I have not had a chance to check it on the stream to my PS3 or xbox 360 yet, but that was working previously.

The only thing that was not working was .mkv files with embedded subs, and I have a series that I wanted to watch that was in that file format.

I googled all over the net, and this was the only place I could find information that worked, and also in a easy to read format.

I registered for the board just to say thanks!

[dohkebi]

awesome, glad it worked out for ya.

[isutwo]

I still can't get the subtitles to work on mkv files. I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything five times trying to follow the above process step by step. Even with rebooting after every step, making sure the Haali filter is disable everywhere and checking with mediainfo to see what kind of subtitle files are embedded, it simply doesn't work. I've tried with at least three different subtitle file types, both in the Tversity front end and on the PS3 and it seems no matter what I do I get no subtitles. I've switched everything to gabest, made sure to uncheck directshow subtitles, checked the subtitles tab in ffdshow, everything in the first post and still no dice. Is there anything else I could be missing?

[dohkebi]

When you load the video file into mediainfo, what type of subtitle is embedded ASS/SSA/SRT....?

Made sure to change the tversity login for the service?

Also can you view the subs at all on the computer?

When you run the video on your computer or stream it to PS3, does the FFv icon show up in the system tray?

If you do not see the FFv icon, then ffdshow is not decoding the video so it can display the subs.

[isutwo]

I've tried two with ASS, one with SSA and one with ASS as the first subtitle track and UTF as the second.

I did change the tversity login for the service. Every time I reinstalled, in fact. I even had to change my login because it wouldn't take it without a password.

Subs come up automatically in every other video player I have including VLC, media player classic, and media player (as well as media center).

The FFv icon used to pop up with Tversity, but for some reason isn't anymore. Apparently, it is only a problem with Tversity since it pops up when I play the files with anything else. If it isn't running ffdshow with Tversity, how do I get it to do so?

[dohkebi]

If you open up the ffdshow video decoder settings and look in the codec section, are most of the types being decoded by ffdshow? Particularly divx/xvid/mp4 alltypes/h264. Usually will have "libavcodec" for ffdshow.

Also tversity is set to transcode always?

If you still have problems you can try what I used to use, it's simpler but does not play everything. Any video with the MP4 file extension would not play unless I installed the matroska filter (haali) which would then kill subs. But it does let you play divx/xvid/h264/ogg...pretty much anything with the .avi .mkv .ogg extensions.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html#Dnload
and the latest ffdshow

configure ffdshow the same way as well as tversity.
SUPER installs the gabest matroska filter and the OggDS filter, so you only need to install it, and run the program once....you might be able to skip running the program but I've never tested that.

[isutwo]

Most of the codec types are listed as "libavcodec". All of the types you listed are.

Tversity wasn't set to transcode always. It is no, but there is no difference. Still no subs.

Installing the matroska filter (haali) sounds like it wouldn't change anything. The files play fine as it is, but I don't get subtitles when I watch videos in Tversity. The video and audio, however, work perfectly.

I'll try this progra you're linking, but I doubt it will change anything. like I said, everything else is using ffdshow to decode the mkv files. Tversity seems to be the only program that doesn't.

edit: Ok, for some reason installing that program seems to have gotten the subtitles to work. Thanks for the input.

[SiW]

Well something killed my subs

Using the Codec Tweak Tool doesn't seem to show anything wrong.. I guess I'm looking at a reinstall again.

[alui]

Another thing I forgot to ask you is that if you see the FFv icons showing up in your system tray while streaming. Mines show up during PC playback only, NEVER while streaming, even for files that are transcoding/streaming perfectly ...

Thanks

When you load the video file into mediainfo, what type of subtitle is embedded ASS/SSA/SRT....?

Made sure to change the tversity login for the service?

Also can you view the subs at all on the computer?

When you run the video on your computer or stream it to PS3, does the FFv icon show up in the system tray?

If you do not see the FFv icon, then ffdshow is not decoding the video so it can display the subs.

[ekoshyun]

Looks like your instructions work nearly perfectly for correct video/audio playback (as of 0.9.14 anyway), but stylized subtitles embedded in MKV containers are still not working no matter what I've tried.

I've trolled the forums for quite some time now, reading everything everyone has to say. I've tried other codec packs too, but nothing seems to work. It sounds like SUPER might work, but isn't it a dated program? And plus - what's so different from using that vs. the K-Lite Codec pack? It sounds nearly identical (Gabest filter, ffdshow) except for maybe OggDS (which I don't think would effect much anyway).

All in all, pretty much the majority of embedded subtitles my MKV anime files fail to work, but video/audio work flawlessly. My guess is that TVersity simply is dropping the ffdshow subtitle support when it transcodes (a program flaw perhaps?). I guess I'll wait until the next release for now, but thanks for the helpful tips! At least I can watch the Office on HDTV without any hiccups! Gundam Mobile Suit 00 will have to just wait.. or I could bring down my computer downstairs but who the hell wants to do that?

[dohkebi]

@alui

I haven't changed my codecs since I installed k-lite Full codec pack v353 which is using ffdshow rev 1576.

My FFv icon does show up when streaming so I know ffdshow is doing the decoding. I'm thinking when you start fresh you still have some codec that won't uninstall taking priority over ffdshow.

You can try what I used to use before. Its simple but did not play .MP4 extensions for me, just latest ffdshow and SUPER.(scroll up for link)

@ekoshyun

The only reason I suggest SUPER is to make things simple. Since if you are not thorough with K-lite settings you can overlook things that will affect getting subs to work.

Even though SUPER has been around for awhile, its not the program I want its the codec it installs. Since whenever I've used that damn Haali MKV filter I could never get subs working. I've probably spent 50+ hrs trying to get Haali filter working with every codec pack, codec combination I could find.

Since SUPER doesn't even tell you it installs those codecs nor gives you a choice you can't mess up the install. But you need to be sure you have no other codecs when you start over. Ffdshow + SUPER worked great for me but I needed .MP4s to work thats when I started using the K-lite Full codec pack.