VLC playback failure with subtitles

Hello,

This is a known limitation of VLC
see here https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?p=321530#p321530

But there is a solution described here:
https://jhaxce.medium.com/play-ts-files-with-subtitles-on-vlc-a-guide-to-fixing-common-issues-9ec6b5560dfe

In French:
Menu / Tools / Preferences
    select at the bottom of the window:
    Show settings All (instead of Simple)
    Then:
      Input/Codecs
        Demultiplexers
            Demultiplexer: Avformat
 

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Correlation of games and international strategies:
The Chinese play Go, the Russians play chess, the Americans play poker, and the Europeans play tic-tac-toe.

Hello,

I found a player that works for these cases.

SMplayer https://www.smplayer.info/fr/download-windows

It works on Linux and Windows, it subtitles without a hitch... and automatically if the SRT file is in the same folder.

You can also remove it from the menus or the context menu.

Hoping to bring some water to the mill..!!

Have a great weekend

Hello,

Where and how is the SRT file added..? Where does this SRT file come from..?

Is this subtitling also from videos coming from FranceTV..?

It is likely that these "Replay" videos already have the subtitling..

What is the version of VLC..?

A view of MediaInfos (text format) would be welcome.

Hello,

thank you for your response, I will try to clarify:

My VLC was uninstalled and reinstalled yesterday, so the latest version from the official site for Windows 11 64 bits: version 3.0.21 Vetinari, default settings, I deleted all my preferences during the reinstallation to ensure that the problem did not come from there.

The ts and srt files come from France TV via Captvty (v2.10.8.2) with subtitle download when they are available (the software retrieves the srt and vtt files at the same time as the video with the same name.
I cannot play the video unless I move the subtitle files to another directory or change the name so that VLC does not load it with the video.
If the subtitles are in the same directory, the video fails to launch and I have no information in media info.

If the srt file is not added, the VLC subtitle option does not detect any subtitles to display in the ts file which works normally, and if I click on add a subtitle file my already launched video will not play anymore, but I have media info here is what is displayed for my test:

Stream 0
Original ID: 34,
Codec: ADTS,
Type: audio,
Channels: Stereo,
Sample rate: 48000 Hz,
Bits per sample: 32

Stream 1:
Original ID: 33,
Codec: H264 - mpeg-4 AVC (part 10) (h264),
Type: video,
Video resolution: 640x360
Buffer size: 640x368
Frame rate: 25,
Decoded format:
Orientation: Top-left
Chroma location: Left

Stream 2
Codec: Text subtitles with various tags (subt)
Language: 2\videos\Les enquêtes du commissaire Van Der Valk - Season 3 episode 1 - Liberté à Amsterdam_France 3_2025_01_05_21_05
Type: Subtitles

(I removed the "n" from "saison" in the subtitle file name to be able to add the subtitles manually and get the media info because if I open the video without renaming the subtitles, the media info is empty).

If I just launch the ts file without subtitles, I get the same thing without stream 2.

I hope this answers your requests, thank you for your help.

Hello,

I downloaded the same replay on both Windows 7 and Windows 10... with different versions of Captvty... including version 3, and I'm getting the same result.

The video alone, without subtitles, works... As soon as we turn on the subtitles, everything stops and VLC turns into a white screen... I have no answer to that.

I note that in Captvty 3, there is no subtitle file in the folder... and yet it still blocks.

Good evening,

Thank you, so the problem doesn’t come from my end. I don’t understand why it works on the Windows player and not on VLC, which is usually so effective where other players stumble. I will have to resort to using the Windows player for this purpose, hoping that a solution comes up. Thank you very much for taking the time to look into my issue and have a good evening.

Yes, I just checked with another movie, it's the same...

I also started a movie with subtitles from something else and that crashed too.

I tried with another video player (MPC-HC64)... the video starts, without the subtitles... if I look for the SRT file, it is grayed out; not recognized.

I suspect that the SRT file is not good.... there’s a mystery there..?

Your message made me think..

The srt file works when I run it on a video of a different format (mp4, mkv...)

On the other hand, if I use another srt file that works on a different video, it doesn't work with my ts video, so VLC cannot associate an external srt file with the ts format for a reason I don't know, while Windows Media Player succeeds.

This doesn't solve my problem, but at least I've made progress in understanding the issue, thank you.

OK, I tried the "hypothelix" setting, it works... but not without difficulty, the video suffers, it advances in successive jumps, lags... and creates artifacts...

In short, it's not ideal... maybe I should try another setting..??

In my readings yesterday, I also came across information suggesting to save the file, using the option to convert to MP4, right away...

I tried converting to MP4 and then adding subtitles in VLC, it doesn’t change anything...

Next, I need to try recording with immediate conversion to MP4...

Beyond that, I would have to go through re-encoding (with Avidemux for example)

Hello,

Thank you, changing the demuxer from "automatic" to "avformat" works, my ts file is played correctly with subtitles, problem solved.

One last question, can I leave avformat as a permanent setting or is there an advantage to switching back to "automatic" when I'm playing other formats or when I don't need the subtitles?

Thanks again

Hello,

If I understood correctly, avformat is a bit like the generic demultiplexer,
so less optimized, therefore reserved for this particular case: ts file with subtitles

All you need to do is create a new VLC shortcut on the desktop with the target:
"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --demux=avcodec

Correlation between games and international strategies:
The Chinese play Go, the Russians play chess, the Americans play poker, and Europeans play noughts and crosses.

Hello,

If I understand correctly, I could have 2 versions of vlf with each having auto/avformat settings?

How do I do this? Do I just need to create a subdirectory avformat and duplicate the vlf exe file with the avformat setting in it? But the shortcut path will be different...

If I create a shortcut "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --demux=avcodec

I get an alert that the target does not exist.

If my assumption is correct, do I just need to duplicate the vlf.exe file or should I do a second complete installation with a completely different path? I would like to avoid conflicts. Thank you.

Good evening,

I managed to duplicate my VLC shortcut and copy your path for the target, both shortcuts work but VLC opens with the last demultiplexer chosen in the preferences, no matter which shortcut I click. I don't understand how following two different shortcuts can lead to the same exe with different settings, something is escaping me, I'm sorry, I must be missing something.

Have a good evening

Just so you know, I wanted to re-encode this video to MP4 with the subtitle file included, using AVIdemux... it works, but when it came to providing the SRT, it refused it and suggested converting it to SRA; which I accepted... the subtitling is exactly the same, except that it is integrated into the file... So..? what is the reason for this refusal..? the files being simpler, lighter, and also very widespread...

I am quite surprised and a bit disappointed..!! that VLC does not handle this feature well.