MPC-HC & MKV subtitles: Haali only?

[dotaly]

For some reason, embedded subtitles in some MKV files only display if I select Haali Renderer instead of VMR-7. Sometimes, subtitles loaded this way ignore my subtitle style settings. They aren't enabled by default, either (although the subtitles menu shows them as enabled when I open the file). The only way to get subtitles in these files to work is to access them through a menu in the filters menu.

Is there any way to get subtitles in these MKVs to work using VMR-7? The Haali renderer messes up if you load multiple instances of MPC-HC.

I'm sure I've left out some important info, but I don't know enough to know what's relevant. Here's some info about my setup: Windows XP SP3; MPC-HC 1.5.2.3456; AC3Filter installed; CoreAVC installed. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

[Chetwood]

I'm on Win7 and do not have Haali installed. With MPC-HC set to VMR-9 (renderless) subs are just fine.

[nand chan]

Are you using VMR-7 in windowed or renderless mode? Windowed VMR-7 does not support subtitles.

If you want subtitles regardless of which renderer is selected, what you can do is turn off the MPC-HC internal subtitles and use an external subtitles filter like DirectVobSub (threaded) (https://code.google.com/p/threaded-vsfilter/) to render the subtitles onto the video frame itself.

[dotaly]

Thanks for the help, guys.

Chetwood: I think that the last time I tried VMR-9 in renderless mode, the player crashed. Subtitles work fine for some videos for me, too. But some videos seem to require Haali.

nand chan: I'm using VMR-7 in renderless mode. Should subtitles work for all MKV files using the MPC-HC internal renderer? I really like it when it works - automatic loading, style controls, keyboard shortcuts to enable/disable.

I couldn't get DirectVobSub to work at all. I already had DirectVobSub 2.23 installed (the one you linked to seems to require Windows Vista or later - I have XP). To use it, I unchecked "Auto-Load subtitles" on the MPC-HC Options==>Playback screen. And in the General tab of the DirectVobSub settings, I set loading to "always load."

Did I need to do anything else to get DirectVobSub to work? After only making these two changes, the VobSub icon showed up in my system tray during video playback. The videos' embedded subtitles showed up in the VobSub icon's menu. But I couldn't get any of them them to display. Also, video playback slowed down significantly, and image quality got worse for some reason too. And the default window size increased.

[Chetwood]

I have VobSub installed but it does not kick in when playing back MKVs with MPC-HC.

[nand chan]

nand chan: I'm using VMR-7 in renderless mode. Should subtitles work for all MKV files using the MPC-HC internal renderer? I really like it when it works - automatic loading, style controls, keyboard shortcuts to enable/disable.


I just tested and yes, subtitles work completely and fine using the internal renderer with VMR-7 (renderless) - including matroska container support, softsubs, animation, automatic loading etc.

[dotaly]

Thanks for checking. So I wonder why some MKV files don't work for me using the internal renderer with VMR-7 (renderless), while others do. I guess it could be a problem with the files, or it could be a software configuration issue.

[nand chan]

Tried updating MPC-HC yet? Build 3733 is available from http://xhmikosr.1f0.de/index.php?folder=bXBjLWhj

[nevcairiel]

Why are you using VMR-7 anyway? The -7 variants were meant for very old systems that didn't have DirectX 9 yet (they use DirectX 7!). By now, they are unmaintained and probably not working 100%.
I would suggest to try VMR-9, maybe it helps to solve some issues. Even if you had some issues with it before, try updating MPC-HC, and try VMR-9 (renderless) again. :)

[dotaly]

I have the most recent version of MPC-HC listed on the official site, at http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/. It was released on 22-July/2011. Is there any reason to think more recent builds have made changes that might fix this issue, or are you guys just suggesting an update as a kind of default thing to try?

With this (fairly recent) version of MPC-HC, VMR-9 crashes the player. I don't want to test it again to reproduce the error, because I might lose unsaved work - I was barely able to safely exit last time I tried VMR-9. My DirectX version, according to dxdiag, is 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904). Some of the files listed on the "DirectX files" tab of dxdiag are dated June 2011, including Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll and Microsoft.DirectX.DirectPlay.dll.

I guess I'll probably have to live with manually changing the renderer to Haali when the internal subtitle render fails to load subtitles for some MKV's. VLC handles these files fine, but it's not a big enough problem to switch away from MPC-HC.

[golagoda]

I have the most recent version of MPC-HC listed on the official site, at http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/. It was released on 22-July/2011. Is there any reason to think more recent builds have made changes that might fix this issue, or are you guys just suggesting an update as a kind of default thing to try?

With this (fairly recent) version of MPC-HC, VMR-9 crashes the player. I don't want to test it again to reproduce the error, because I might lose unsaved work - I was barely able to safely exit last time I tried VMR-9. My DirectX version, according to dxdiag, is 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904). Some of the files listed on the "DirectX files" tab of dxdiag are dated June 2011, including Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll and Microsoft.DirectX.DirectPlay.dll.

I guess I'll probably have to live with manually changing the renderer to Haali when the internal subtitle render fails to load subtitles for some MKV's. VLC handles these files fine, but it's not a big enough problem to switch away from MPC-HC.

Test out one of the builds from here - http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=161047 if unsure just choose x86 SSE. They're based off the most recent source code (much more up to date than the latest stable on the sourceforge page).

[jasonwang]

I only show subtitle by Microsoft Media play. When I use Potplay and MPC-HC play MKV file, even DirectVobSub cannot work. I don't know why. Who can help me?

All software is new version.