Subtitles or Fast Forward, not both

[alf]

Hello

I have observed the following behavior :
- If the external subtitle file is active (let us say, a SRT file), then I cannot navigate along the movie on my TV (no fast forward, the TV shows something like "busy, please wait")
- If I disable the subtitles in UMS (common transcoding settings, tic on the "disable subtitle box"), then no problem, the navigation is possible (and of course I don't have subtitles).

This feature is observed for all media files tried (AVI, MKV and MP4) HD files (1920 x 800) as well as low definition files.
This feature is observed even if I decrease the video transcoding settings to low quality, slow CPU.

Is this a feature of UMS (to be corrected in a future release), or is it just due to the fact that I am using WiFi (then why the same behavior even using the lowest quality on a low definition file) ?

Thanks for your help

[squadjot]

Hi, since renderes act different when it comes to these things, you''ll have to describe manufacturer and model of your TV.
Also read this if you havent already: How to ask for support

[SubJunk]

Yeah that's normal behaviour

[SubJunk]

More info: When you watch subtitles, we use transcoding which means the video is re-encoded so it has the subtitles overlaid, and that is stored in a RAM buffer of 200mb by default. So if that buffer is full you should be able to fast-forward through 200mb worth of video before getting a glitch, which with 480p content can be several minutes, and with 1080p content it can be much less.
Without subtitles the file is being served to your device without transcoding which is much faster so the buffer doesn't run out.

[alf]

Hello

Many thanks for your replies.

squadjot:
Model of TV is Toshiba 40RL938.
I will upload a log soon.

SubJunk:
All clear but....I have exactly the same behavior (not better or worse) with 1080p movies and 480p movies

[alf]

Hello

Logs done with and without subtitles (disabled in UMS transcoding settings.
The debug files are attached.
I copied the debug log and added comments corresponding to the actions done on the TV.
The comment lines start with TAB #.
These commented logs have been appended to the corresponding debug file archives.

The trials were done with the same movie located at the same location in the computer.
The SRT subtitle file, named as the movie, was located in the movie folder.

For each trial (with and without subtitles), I duplicated the operations logged:
• Connect TV to UMS server
• Navigate to movie folder
• Play movie
• Try fast forward 2 times (no success when subtitles enabled, success when subtitles disabled)
• Pause the movie
These operations are described in the comments inserted in the commented log file.

Code: Select all

The movie properties are:

General
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 1.38 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 52mn
Overall bit rate                         : 1 768 Kbps
Writing application                      : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Writing library                          : VirtualDubMod build 2540/release

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 2
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode                              : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 1h 52mn
Bit rate                                 : 1 694 Kbps
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 5:4
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Standard                                 : PAL
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.163
Stream size                              : 1.33 GiB (96%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.0.1 (UTC 2004-06-05)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Codec ID                                 : 55
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 1h 52mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 1 channel
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 51.3 MiB (4%)
Alignment                                : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 40 ms (1.00 video frame)

Please let me know if you need more data or info

Thanks and regards

[alf]

Hello

Sorry to bother you...

Any update on this issue ?

Thanks and regards

[tmchardy]

I just updated to the latest UMS from a quite older version. After upgrading I am also noticing I can't navigate with transcoding. It's not even subtitles, it's just transcoding in general. If it's transcoded, I just can't navigate. I never had this is issue with my previous version (1.5.0). I tried to ensure that the config settings were pretty much the same, but any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Not being able to fast-forward, chapter skip, or even stop a show and come back later makes things tricky.

Edit - I'm only seeing this problem with the XBOX. My WDTV Live seem to have no problem fast-forwarding with transcoding. (And my Aquos TV doesn't even seem to pick up files that need transcoding for some reason). Though, they do only show ~15 minutes of length (I assume that's what's getting into the buffer). So I'm not sure if my issue is the same as the OP as mine appears to be specifically XBOX related, and since I don't use my XBOX to watch videos that often, I don't mind.

[apav]

Hi guys,

I'm here to report the same problem with my Xbox One. Before the latest version I was running a version from last year (sorry, I forgot the specific number) without any issues. After I updated to the latest, I lost the ability to fast forward/rewind on videos with soft subs. In previous versions when I streamed a .mkv video with soft subs to my Xbox One I was always able to fast forward and rewind in 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 64x, and 128x. Now the option on my screen is greyed out and pressing the buttons on my remote do nothing. The only way I have found to renable fast forwarding/rewinding for these videos is to disable subs entirely in my transcoding options menu, which isn't a solution because I need both. Please note that these only affect videos with soft subs as far as I know, any other video I tested is fine. Also, I played the same videos on my Sony TV through UMS and I was able to fast forward and rewind with subs working, so I know this is a Xbox (One?) only issue as well.

For the meantime, it looks like I'm going to work my way down uninstalling UMS and installing a later version until I finally find a version where it's working again.