Dealing with complex embedded subtitles with custom fonts on clients reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ordik · 2023-12-02 13:00 **Here is my setup**: * old PC as media server running debian and docker * *arr apps for media search and managing, jellyfin as media system * lg c2 as primary client for media consumption with jellyfin webOS app This was working flawlessly, really liking jellyfin after using plex for some time. I'm mostly watching anime with original audio and subs, there was no problems until i decided to watch one particular release with pretty complex embedded ass subs, a lot of captions occurring at the same time as dialogs, complex graphical rendering, almost 100 fonts attached to mkv. I've noticed jellyfin transcoding and after hours of troubleshooting i narrowed down to subs being the culprit. **What i've tried**: * playing from flash drive using tv's native video player,video plays fine, sub are broken. * playing from web with browsers not working. * using jellyfin pc client is ok, duh. * transcoding kinda solves it, but quality is really bad, i want to avoid transcoding as much as possible. * repacking mkv without subs helps, but defeats purpose. * sideloaded Kodi to tv, installed jellyfin addon. This provided best results, file plays without transcoding and subs working as intended, almost. There is some lag in rendering, like half a second, its either something to do with no stable version of Kodi or just tv hardware can't handle rendering complex subs. * started android tv emulator in android studio, installed official jellyfin app for android tv, video plays fine but subs not rendering properly * spin up plex container, transcoding again, although quality is a lot better than jellyfin At this point i think only sane solution is just getting some hardware media player that can run some jellyfin client, to avoid using webOS altogether and potentially solving some problems preemptively( i've actually had problem with DV 7.1 profile not being supported on webOS). So did i miss some possible solution or hw media player it is? And if yes, what could get me the closest to pc client compatibility? I've seen Zidoo boxes get mentioned a lot, but it's android tv, wich i've already tried with emulator. Or just build some htpc and forget all of this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pigers1986 · 2023-12-02 14:20 lots of work for single show - just watch and forget that one :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ordik · 2023-12-02 14:41 > lots of work for single show - just watch and forget that one :) Until same problem occurs again, i would like to avoid that. > does VLC works on your TV ? ;) Do you mean as native app? Seems no, there is some workarounds with casting from phone, but it's not looking like good permanent solution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pigers1986 · 2023-12-02 15:55 ouch - for example - 2nd movie of Mahouka is making my player go bollocks - so I installed VLC on TV and if I find such troublesome file to play, I simply tell jellyfin to use external player as VLC. Since it happens twice a year,i do not bother to look for other solution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ordik · 2023-12-02 16:08 Ah you meant using external player. Sadly, webos app don't have that functionality. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pigers1986 · 2023-12-02 16:34 sorry for your loss than. In your case .. I'd download another release for whatever you are watching. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OppositeFisherman89 · 2023-12-02 18:42 I think you already realize this, but your client needs to support ASS subtitles, otherwise your server will need to transcode. I'm not up to date as far as hardware that supports ASS subtitles, but I believe the Nvidia Shield is a popular option. Here's a screenshot showing the Shield can do ASS subtitles with Plex, https://imgur.io/T1LHism ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ordik · 2023-12-02 20:49 Yeah, I've been researching that and results are kinda meh. Basically it comes down to minipc with Kodi or android/android tv box like nvidia shield. Andriod route have advantage with licensed a/v stuff like DolbyVision, but it's default media app exoplayer has no ass support because they don't want to pull libass and it's dependencies and trying to reinvent the wheel. It's so bad that Plex just forked ExoPlayer to include libass for ASS handling like a year ago. So its actually a gamble with buying one. MiniPC route solves subtitles problem, as you have proper linux and can leverage libass, but no fancy licensed a/v stuff and you need to solve how you interact with it from couch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OppositeFisherman89 · 2023-12-02 21:34 I guess another option is to use something like Bazarr and/or OpenSubtitles.com to grab the subs in a different format