Default Tracks In MP4 Files

[Makaveli84]

I am switching from using MKV to MP4 as my preferred container. When i used to mux tracks using mkvmergegui, there was an option to flag tracks as "default", so i would flag one audio and one subtitle track as default (not forced), and they would load by default when opening the mkvs in MPC-HC. Is there an equivalent to this in the MP4 container??

I am playing around with ffmpeg, mp4creator (mp4muxer GUI), mp4box (My MP4Box GUI), and most recently, mkvtomp4 (which i guess uses ffmpeg and/or mp4box, but i'm not sure). So which of these would be better regarding setting default tracks (if any, cause i'm not sure that the MP4 format supports such a thing in the 1st place)??

[Makaveli84]

I found this info on a Handbrake wiki page:
If you wish to have your player automatically select a subtitle track during playback, then you can select the “default” checkbox for the subtitle track you wish to enable. You should note that this does not currently work with Apple software or playback devices.
While this option is available for mp4 files, it does not currently serve any purpose. Default subtitle tracks will only be enabled on playback when using mkv files.


Is this final, or is there some workaround??

[Selur]

afaik there is no such thing as default or forced tracks in mp4 files, it's always up to the player to decide which tracks to use or not,.. (most players simple use the first track)

[Makaveli84]

Thx for your input Selur.
Now with mp4 files containing ttxt subs, the subs show horribly on MPC-HC using the Haali splitter, and even the first subtitle track is off by default. If i use the Gabest splitter, i get 2 streams for each subtitle track (the first is a regular one and the second is a (plain-text) one). The regular one looks as bad as the single one does with Haali. But the (plain-text) option works nicely with MPC-HC and responds to changes in subs settings within the player. My question is: how can i make MPC-HC load the 2nd stream (plain-text) by default? I'm trying to configure this for some technologically challenged folks, and changing the subs from regular to plain-text every time seems beyond their scope.

P.S: VLC has some unexpected hitches and quirks every here and there, so it's not really a viable alternative, especially that the subs in VLC are always 'off' by default anyways.

[Selur]

Don't think there's an option to tell MPC-HC to use 'plain-text' as default, but if the normal subtitles show up, the easiest way is probably to change the subtitle default style in MPC-HC,..

[Makaveli84]

Changing default style doesn't affect how the ttxt subs embedded in mp4 files show. The only thing that marginally helps is changing the scale on a new "text" tab that shows on the default styles window when i load an mp4 video with ttxt subs, but even then, settings on this tab don't get saved. When i reload the video, these settings (which are independent of the settings of the initial default tab) are reset to default. And as i said, changing the settings of the first (and default) tab of the default styles window doesn't seem to change anything in how the ttxt subs are displayed.