Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

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quasar51
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:27 pm

Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by quasar51 »

Description of problem or question
My video source, an mkv file, has subtitles burned in already. At least I think they are, because when I import it into Handbrake and go to the Subtitle tab, I can't select any subtitle track (only Foreign Audio Scan). Additionally, when I play the file in VLC, there are no subtitle tracks to select from. The problem is, when I use Handbrake to convert to MP4, the subtitles don't get encoded. I even tried to keep the file as an MKV, but it still doesn't work. I'm at a loss as to why, if the subtitles are burned into the original source, it's not showing up post-conversion. Any suggestions?

HandBrake version (e.g., 1.0.0)
1.0.7

Operating system and version (e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, macOS 10.3 High Sierra, Windows 10 Creators Update)
Windows 10

HandBrake Activity Log ***required***

https://pastebin.com/GxhBHgdN
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JohnAStebbins
HandBrake Team
Posts: 5712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:21 pm

Re: Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by JohnAStebbins »

The subtitles are probably in the region at the bottom of the picture that HandBrake is auto-cropping. You'll have to manually disable cropping.
Woodstock
Veteran User
Posts: 4614
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:39 am

Re: Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by Woodstock »

Actually, I think it's this part, John:
[09:26:37] Skipping subtitle scan. No suitable subtitle tracks.
The log doesn't indicate any subtitle tracks found in the MKV file; were they selected when ripping the disk?
quasar51
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:27 pm

Re: Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by quasar51 »

Thanks guys. I'll check the cropping--I hadn't thought of that.
As for selecting the subtitle tracks, there were actually none to select. Which is what baffles me. That would indicate to me that the source already had them burned in. The only option on the Subtitle tab is Foreign Audio scan. But it looks like that is moot since if were to scan, it wouldn't find any track, anyway.
I'll try the cropping and report back. Thanks for your thoughts.
quasar51
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:27 pm

Re: Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by quasar51 »

Indeed, it was the cropping. I adjusted it to 0 and viola! The subtitles were there are the converted file.
Thanks again!
Woodstock
Veteran User
Posts: 4614
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:39 am

Re: Subtitles Not Displayed After Conversion

Post by Woodstock »

Ah, a "pre-burned" subtitled feature...

Yes, they have a tendency to put the subtitles in the letterbox area, which handbrake crops by default. The normal scan for what is "wasted space" would have a high probability of missing the frames with subtitles in them, so autocrop would remove the "unneeded" bars.
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