Bug: displaying VOBSUB in mkv

TEXT/UTF-8 works flawless but VOBSUB is displayed transparent with a black outline so there is merely a chance to see it. I had only one example that showed it, maybe others can test this behavior to prove it. VLC plays it flawless too.

It appears there’s been a lot of issues with MKV.  Have you tried searching for other options in the forum?

I have one DVD rip (Primer 2004)  with exacly the same problem.

It only happens when the original DVD uses fading subtitles.

The WD TV doesn’t handle fading VOBSUB subtitles correctly.

BTW Handbrake had a similar problem resulting in invisible subtitles.

The 1.00 firmware had this bug with external Vobsubs too, the first firmware patch fixed this, however someone apparently forgot to apply this fix to internal Vobsubs as well. Probably the same guy who thought that a transparent outline on SRT subs would be a good idea…

As a workarround you can remove the subtitle fading using the following procedure:

  1. Extract the vobsub track  with mkvextract

mkvextract tracks :

  1. Open the resulting idx file in BDSup2Sup

  2. Select output format “SUB/IDX” and export the file.

  3. Open the the original MKV with MKVToolnix  

  4. Add the exported idx file

  5. (Optional) Remove the old subtitle track

  6. Click “Start Muxing”

What’s the point? Why extract the idx/sub and then mux it back into the MKV when playback from internal idx/sub is the problem? Simply extract the idx/sub and watch the MKV with external subs till WD fixes this oversight.

What’s the point?

BDSup2Sup automatically removes the VOBSUB fading making the subtitle readable again.

The whole procedure takes less than a minute, way less than hunting for an external subtitle.

BDSup2Sup does not actually remove the fading since this is done by a mistuned setting of the WD. My guess is that it simply writes a different color palette which happens to be better suited for playback on the Live’s messed up routines.

way less than hunting for an external subtitle.

And way more than simply extracting the idx/sub which will look just fine when played back as an external file.