Transcoding video files with .srt, playing on Philips TV

[starterz]

Hello everyone, my first post here.

Thank you for the great effort into UMS. I (would like to) use it to stream video with .srt subtitles to my Philips 40PFL6606H/12 TV set. When I start UMS, the TV appears as renderer "Philips TV" and I see the shared content on the TV.

When I try to play video with .srt subtitles (with the same name, in the same folder as the video) the video fails, I receive a message on the TV that the video file cannot be read. When I completely disable subtitles (common transcode settings), the video plays just fine. I have tried it with .avi and .mp4 - no difference.

Audio streaming works just fine, mp3 or flac. Flac is not supported by default on the TV, so I guess this is through transcoding too.

I will provide in this message all data to possibly diagnose the problem.

Computer AMD dual core, 2GB RAM, Lenovo ThinkPad EDGE. Windows 7 Ultimate. UMS version 2.2.4.
Streaming to TV set Philips 40PFL6606H/12 (2011 model). I guess using PhilipsPFL.conf.
Connection, 100Mbps ethernet or WiFi, the problem is the same. WRT54GL router.
Transcoding with Mencoder. Main (and only) reason for transcoding is to display .srt subtitles via DLNA.

What is not working:

The TV (Philips 40PFL6606H/12) gives me a message that the file (any video file that needs transcoding for external .srt subtitles) cannot be played.

When I completely disable subtitles, videos play with no problems - so I guess the problem lies with the transcoding.

Debug files and mediainfo.zip are in attach. I am thinking that it is some kind of a codec/mencoder issue. I have CCCP codec pack installed, if external codecs are of any importance for UMS.

Any help would be highly appreciated. Subs are natively supported on the TV only through USB, and they look plain awful.

Thanks in advance and all best.

[starterz]

Can I try any other option (Avisynth/Mencoder, Avisynth/FFmpeg) in order to display .srt subtitles via DLNA? Thanks for any advise.

[starterz]

Another information - I cannot get the video to work with subtitles enabled with any video engine - tried Mencoder, FFmpeg, Avisynth/Mencoder, Avisynth/FFmpeg. Please, any suggestions?

I see that all options in the #Transcoding# folder use AAC audio, could this be the problem? How can I change this to mp3 for example?

Thanks, all best.

[squadjot]

I'm not an expert, just want tomention that normally mencoder is the only engine that will give you subs.

It's possible with avisynth + plugs and or FFDshow.
In FFDSHOW there's actually a option somewhere where you can select to load srt's aswell.

I had problems with dual subtitles at a point because of this.. =P

--

Anyways, it seems that you just need to get mencoder to send the correct format to your player.. (i'm too noob to help with that)

[starterz]

It is very interesting, because I tried PS3 Media Server a week ago, and it worked with Mencoder, out of the box. I just changed the size of the subs, nothing else. I watched a couple of episodes and a full movie with subtitles, it was great.

Then, a few days ago it suddenly stopped working. Out of nowhere. I was looking for a newer version of Mencoder to see if it will solve the problem, and this is how I learned about UMS, and installed it also immediately.

But with UMS I get the same problem, videos work if I select to deactivate all subtitles. If transcoding, nothing works.

Please, anyone with enough expertise to provide any help? Do I need to have any external codec pack with UMS? I have Shark007 Windows 7 codecs installed at the moment. Had CCCP untill today, but the problem stays the same.

All best.

[ExSport]

[DEBUG 2013-01-12 22:01:02.071 [mencoder.exe-1] Starting "C:\Program Files\Universal Media Server\win32\mencoder.exe" -ss 0 "C:\Users\Starter\Series\Prison Break\Season 4\Prison Break S04E19 (S.O.B).avi" -msglevel statusline=2 -oac lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=mpeg2:muxrate=500000:vbuf_size=1194:abuf_size=64 -ovc lavc -channels 6 -lavdopts debug=0:threads=2 -lavcopts autoaspect=1:vcodec=mpeg2video:acodec=ac3:abitrate=448:threads=2:keyint=5:vqscale=1:vqmin=2:vrc_maxrate=36000:vrc_buf_size=1835 -ass -ass-color ffffff00 -ass-border-color 00000000 -ass-font-scale 2.6 -font C:\Windows\Fonts\Arial.ttf -ass-force-style FontName=C:\Windows\Fonts\Arial.ttf,Outline=1,Shadow=1,MarginV=10 -noflip-hebrew -fontconfig -subcp cp1252 -nosub -sub "C:\Users\Starter\Series\Prison Break\Season 4\Prison Break S04E19 (S.O.B).srt" -ofps 24000/1001 -lavdopts fast -mc 0 -noskip -af lavcresample=48000 -srate 48000 -o \\.\pipe\mencoder1358024461774

I don't know what will do with MEncoder when "-nosub -sub ..." is defined but it is not OK. this debug.log is with definitely disabled subs or enabled?
Also sometimes mplayer font cache can be the problem when it is corrupted or incompatible. Try to delete it so it can be regenerated after ums restart.

[starterz]

I don't know what will do with MEncoder when "-nosub -sub ..." is defined but it is not OK. this debug.log is with definitely disabled subs or enabled?
Also sometimes mplayer font cache can be the problem when it is corrupted or incompatible. Try to delete it so it can be regenerated after ums restart.

This debug.log is with subs enabled - when I was actually trying to play the file with subs on the TV.

I will google on how to delete the mplayer.font cache.

Thanks for this and any other suggestion.

[starterz]

I don't know what will do with MEncoder when "-nosub -sub ..." is defined but it is not OK. this debug.log is with definitely disabled subs or enabled?
Also sometimes mplayer font cache can be the problem when it is corrupted or incompatible. Try to delete it so it can be regenerated after ums restart.

This debug.log is with subs enabled - when I was actually trying to play the file with subs on the TV.

I will google on how to delete the mplayer.font cache.

Thanks for this and any other suggestion.

OMG this solved the problem! I deleted a .cache folder in C:\ - and the subs are working again. I am not sure if it was created by UMS or PMS though.

Thank you! All best.

[ExSport]

Great!
Thanks for feedback.
So we should fix it somehow automatically... When MEncoder version will change, font cache will be automatically recreated.
SubJunk, do you have any thoughts?