Trouble with embedded subtitles in Matroska container.

[HyperDrive]

First of all, I must say I'm doing this as a last resort. I absolutely hate asking (apparently puerile) questions in forums. I tried searching and read all the available documentation (except for mkvmerge's source code).

I've got several .ogm files I'd like to remux to Matroska container. However, after remuxing, Media Player Classic (with the latest VSFilter) doesn't display the subtitles. MKVinfo says everything is correct, MKVmerge gives no warnings whatsoever. Also, if I only mux the audio/video and leave the subtitles in a separate file, they display correctly.

Surely, there must be something I overlooked, since I've also got several Matroska files with embedded SRT subtitles working perfectly. Would anyone be so kind to point me in the right direction? Thank you very much in advance!

[Randi]

Funny thing is I had the same issue last week, when I remuxed an old avi rip I had done with GK and separate idx/sub files(ripped with vobsub), into mkv, and had a lot of trouble, getting the subs to work while watching. Sometimes they just stopped showing, than *sometimes* switching to another sub stream helped, *sometimes* pause/unpause. The words were definitly there, as after pause/unpause and than rewind 20sec they showed up.
Info: Haali Splitter latest version, latest ffdshow at that time (must have been sth like 6xx) for vid(xvid),audio(ac3) and subs (idx/sub), Zoom Player 4.5 pro, VMR9 windowless.

[pdanpdan]

Hi, I had the same problem - it was related to a bug in mkvmerge when you had "--engage use_simpleblock" enabled. It was fixwd in the latest versions, but require remuxing of the files.

[Randi]

mmh, I used 1.8.0 (aka latest :-) ) and that option is/was disabled, cos I didnt even know it was there, nonetheless for what.
But thanks anyway!

[HyperDrive]

Hi, I had the same problem - it was related to a bug in mkvmerge when you had "--engage use_simpleblock" enabled. It was fixwd in the latest versions, but require remuxing of the files.

I'm using mkvmerge 1.8.1 and also tried enabling/disabling simple block usage, with the exact same result. The same problem occurs if muxing with AVI-Mux GUI. VirtualDubMod crashed on my machine, so I couldn't actually try it (though it's Matroska implementation is outdated, or so I read).
I thought this could also be related to the subtitle format, so I tried SSA and SRT. All that's left is the subtitle encoding (fiddling with it as I write this post).
I'm definitely running out of options/ideas, here... :(

Edit: It's definitely a problem with simple block usage in mkvmerge. I was finally able to mux the files (disabled simple blocks correct subtitle encoding). Thank you all for your help! :)

[Mosu]

Just for the record. mkvtoolnix 2.0.0 is OK in this regard. Meaning you can leave simple blocks enabled and still get perfectly playable subs.

[HyperDrive]

Just for the record. mkvtoolnix 2.0.0 is OK in this regard. Meaning you can leave simple blocks enabled and still get perfectly playable subs.

Thanks, I made a reply confirming it in the mkvtoolnix 2.0.0 release thread, referencing this one. It's definitely corrected! :)

[Randi]

Thanks a lot! Will test this on my file

[har-vas]

Hi there. It seems that I have a very similar problem with embedded idx subtitles in matroska. I have made a new thread in Subtitles section, after I had tried everything I know. Could you please read it and tell me your opinion about what may cause that weird problem? Thanks.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122553