Adding subtitles to MKV files

markst33

Hi there,

My mother in law is over with us and does not speak any englisg so I was hoping to add spanish subtitles to a few mkv files I have on my Iomega media player.

Firstly, anyone know of any sites where I can get spanish subtitles ie .srt files and also what is involved in adding them ?

Mark.

MiniNukinfuts

Here's a link to a subtitle website. Just download the subtitles required. Also, download VLC, if you haven't done so already.

Then play the .mkv, then on VLC go to Video> subtitles track > open file

Subtitles for most movies are available on subscene, opensubtitles.org, allsubs.org etc.

First play your movie (eg with VLC) and manually open the subtitle to make sure it syncs.

Once you've found one that syncs, use MKVMergeGUI to mux it with the movie. Download MKVToolnix to get this app.

Are you sure your Iomege player supports MKVs with embedded subs?

markst33

Hi Folks,

thanks for your replies. Any mkv files I have played on the Iomega have always had subtitles ON by default. So I have had to switch them off when watching a movie (these are english ones)

Mark.

yoyo

Once the subtitle file is the same file name as the video file (eg video.mkv and video.idx) the subs will display by default

Nick

markst33

How about adding subtitles to MP4's. ?

I downloaded the spanish .srt file. I then saved the.srt files as UTF8 as it said to do this if they are not english subtitles.

I then started playing the movie with vlc and went to video - subtitles track and opened the srt file.

I then copied over both files MP4 and .srt and also MKV and .srt to my Iomega media drive and played them on the TV but its not picking up the spanish subtitles.

yoyo

markst33 wrote: »

How about adding subtitles to MP4's. ?

I downloaded the spanish .srt file. I then saved the.srt files as UTF8 as it said to do this if they are not english subtitles.

I then started playing the movie with vlc and went to video - subtitles track and opened the srt file.

I then copied over both files MP4 and .srt and also MKV and .srt to my Iomega media drive and played them on the TV but its not picking up the spanish subtitles.

Did you ensure the sub name is the same as video name? also remove any accents from the file name. E.g: movie.mkv and movie.srt. Make sure both sub and movie are in the same folder.
It could also be the Iomega firmware needs an additional action to play subtitles, check the remote

Nick

markst33

markst33 wrote: »

How about adding subtitles to MP4's. ?

I downloaded the spanish .srt file. I then saved the.srt files as UTF8 as it said to do this if they are not english subtitles.

I then started playing the movie with vlc and went to video - subtitles track and opened the srt file.

I then copied over both files MP4 and .srt and also MKV and .srt to my Iomega media drive and played them on the TV but its not picking up the spanish subtitles.

Mux them into the MKV file as explained above. Works for MP4 input files as well although obviously the muxed output now becomes a MKV. But your player supports it so makes no difference.

During the muxing process you should set the subtitle to be the default sub track and also set it to be forced.

One last thing, before you use MKVMergeGUI, go into the options and tick the box that says 'Disable Header Removal Compression'.

markst33

OK, for both the MKV files and the MP4's I made sure the .srt files name matched the movies name exactly and it has worked for the mp4's (although the subtitles is about 4 seconds ahead of the sound) but it has not worked for the mkv's.

So I have to mux the srt and the mkv for these ??

markst33

also can u do this with avi's

markst33

markst33 wrote: »

OK, for both the MKV files and the MP4's I made sure the .srt files name matched the movies name exactly and it has worked for the mp4's (although the subtitles is about 4 seconds ahead of the sound) but it has not worked for the mkv's.

So I have to mux the srt and the mkv for these ??

I have no idea, it depends on the player. A decent player should recognize subs both internal and external for all files.

But you asked how to add subtitles to MKV files. That's the title of the thread. So that's what ive explained how to do. You say in post 4 that MKV with embedded subs work with your player so it should work.

You can adjust sync when muxing if it turns out there is an issue. Again, a decent player should let you adjust sync +/- on the fly anyway.