mkv files with embedded subs won't display?

[ual]

I don't know if this is Mac specific, but it is a Mac that I use. If I play an mkv file that has subs embedded within the container, the subs don't display on my Samsung TV. Even if I have an external srt file next to the mkv, the srt won't display. If I re-mux the mkv file (Using the latest build of mkvToolnix) and remove the sub file, when I play the mkv, the srt file will display.

The file shows up on the TV as "Filename.mkv {External Subtitles} both before and after removal of the embedded sub. It appears to me that the presence of the embedded sub causes the non-display. Or could it be that the encoding of the embedded sub is wrong? In MkvToolnix it says "S_TEXT UTF8 type:subtitle" ...

Any thoughts?

Using the version of UMS downloaded from your site today on Mac with 10.8.2.

[SubJunk]

Version 2.2.0 will be released in the next few days and it has some subtitle fixes, please post back if that doesn't fix it

[ual]

2.2.0 update The good news: External subs display when the mkv container also has subs embedded ... I haven't tested if it matters if the embedded sub is VOB or text, and have only tested with external srt files.

The disappointing news: Embedded subs in an mkv container do not display, srt or VOB. I don't know if they should be expected to or not, but if I throw an mkv file --with embedded sub files-- on a jump drive and plug it into my Samsung TV, the TV displays the subs.

Do you know of a Mac app that can extract subs from an mkv container?

[Constable Odo]

Yeah, I've been kind of tearing my hair out because the subtitles support seems to be so flaky. I'm having problems playing subs on both .mkv and .avi files. It's inconsistent and I can't pin it down. The subs play perfectly on my Mac computer using MPlayerX, VLC, QuickTime with Perian, and NicePlayer. They even play on my Roku 2XS using Plex. However, some subs are embedded, some are external and some work and some don't with UMS. I've even tried using the #transcoding folder trick of choosing external subs and some subs are still not seen on playback. There's a lot of font settings in the transcoder I don't know about so I've just left everything at default for the most part. I've tried a few alternate settings, but I don't really know what I'm doing and nothing really helped, so I just set everything at default again. I hate seeing the "no subtitles" sign when the subs are sitting in the folder as plain as day. On some of my .mkv files UMS doesn't recognize there are external subs available and I don't quite understand that. I'd thought there was some physical detection or something. I guess it has to do with the .mkv file itself showing some pointer or whatever. I'm not smart enough to troubleshoot .mkv files. I usually HandBrake them the same and they should work consistently, but I must be missing something.

The thing is I'm using a KDLinks HD680 that UMS thinks is a Popcorn Hour device. If I use the KDLinks HD680 without UMS the subtitles are seen if embedded or external. I'm not going to sweat this stuff out because I'm eventually going to have to use a Mac Mini for media center duties. I just thought I'd give this UMS a shot. I'm not criticizing the developers, because they've done a pretty decent job and if I just had only non-subbed video files I wouldn't have any problems at all. It's just that I have so many various encoded Korean and Japanese movies and dramas with subtitles that I require something to consistently work on all those files.

iMac 24", OS10.6.8, UMS 2.2.0, KDLinks HD680 media player

[turningpointup]

One method to solve this issue is hardcode your subtitles to MKV

Here is a step by step guide at http://www.idealshare.net/hardcode-subtitles.html