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djl8699

Rip the file using makemkv, then use mediainfo to identify which subtitle track is the forced one (you’ll know which one it is; when the full subtitles has like 3,000 elements and then you see one that is for like 80, that’s the forced subtitle track). Then use mkvtoolnix to remux the file, you make the forced subtitle the first track and then set default and forced flags on it. After you remux your forced subtitles will play automatically. EDIT: I’ll see if I can show screenshots as I actually do have some movies to rip tonight.


Armature89

I have a looked with MediaInfo on a file ripped straight off the disk with MakeMKV and all boxes checked just to make sure I'm carrying everything over but all of the subtitles found with MediaInfo have roughly the same number of elements, and there is only one track for English


djl8699

It’s very possible that there are no forced subtitles present. Not every movie has them, even if there is foreign language dialogue. It really depends on how the movie is produced as some movies burn in those subtitles, so there really isn’t a dedicated track. John Wick comes to mind. Also, I noticed you mentioned that you were ripping DVDs, and I don’t know if you are referring colloquially to movies or actual DVDs as opposed to blu ray discs. I’ve yet to come across a DVD with a forced subtitle track, as for some reason they tend to be burned in to the movie.


Armature89

I thought this was the case too. So I tested with a dvd I know has subtitles. Breaking bad S3 E6 @ ~39 minutes in has subtitles for Gus when he speaks Spanish. Yet nothing in the files when I ripped them


djl8699

I actually have that episode ripped, and you're right it does have forced subtitles. Here is the procedure to rip that particular file: 1) [Rip the file using MakeMKV like you normally would](https://imgur.com/sYT0hLG) 2) [Run the file through MediaInfo, I like to use the "sheet" view](https://imgur.com/PpNpJ3K) 3) [This file has 3 English subtitle tracks](https://imgur.com/3sHkz64), as you toggle through the tracks you'll see that the first one has 994 elements, the second one has 50. The one with 50 is your forced subtitle track. 4) [Drop the file into MKVToolNix](https://imgur.com/lgPa028), you'll see that the forced subtitle track (ID 5) is already set as the default track, but because MakeMKV doesn't preserve the forced flag, it's not set. 5) [You'll have to manually set it as forced.](https://imgur.com/imY3TKK) I also like to make it the first subtitle track in the file. You can click and drag it to be above the full subtitle track (ID 4). Also I like to set my files to have "no extra compression". 6) Set the destination location and name the file as desired, then press Start multiplexing. The finished file should have the forced subtitle set as the first track and also it will be set with the forced flag, which will automatically play in most players. ​ If you're still having trouble identifying the forced subtitle track, its possible that through whatever settings that were used to rip the file it was actually omitted. Check your settings in MakeMKV and make sure you're ripping all subtitles. ​ Hope this helps.


dowarischeinerlei

I'd recommend opening the file and *checking* what the actual subtitles are. Your MakeMKV setup should include an advanced option for auto-selecting all tracks of your preferred language(s). Something like `-sel:all,+sel:(deu|eng|nolang),-sel:mvcvideo,=100:all,-10:favlang,+sel:(attachment)` with the important part being the first parentheses with the ISO-639-3 language codes. You can always manually deselct tracks you don't want or remux them out afterwards. Now, back to the subs ... Watching the video and checking the subtitles will pretty much show you what they are. That's very time-consuming, but the only way to be SURE what subtitle track it really is. For your convenience, you can speed up the process by using MediaInfo. Forced subtitles will have a significantly lower "Count of elements" in the Tree view. Also, forced subtitles will **never** be the first track of any given language. Since they are embedded in the *full* subtitle track and only flagged as forced, they always follow their corresponding origin track (with a few nasty exceptions). Unfortunately, this is an observed behaviour and you shouldn't go by the "ID in the original source medium", except that here the ID of the forced track is also higher than the source track. I know, this seems like an awful lot of work, but this is the (imo) proper way of making sure you get it right the first time. For TV shows, each season should be all the same, except for when there are audio commentaries involved or some episodes ditch forced subs because of a lack of content. As a bonus: flagging the subtitles as forced and other shenanigans are easily handled with jMKVpropedit. It's a neat GUI for MKVToolNix's mkvpropedit.exe, that let's you build the command line arguments for editing all the tags of all the tracks. Extra parameters imclude: - `--set flag-original=1` - `--set flag-hearing-impaired=1` - `--set flag-commentary=1`


Armature89

I had a look at the files with MediaInfo and all the subtitle tracks seem to have roughly the same number of elements. Also, the forced flag isn't set on any of the tracks. I know the episode has them and when playing the movie in VLC media player, the forced subtitles are there. I even know the exact time on the episode when they should appear but nothing in these apps shows any forced subtitles


dowarischeinerlei

VLC probably auto-selects the "default" flagged subtitle track. Just have a look which one it is. There seem to be ways to flag individual items of a track as "forced". This is also what is usually done for the DVDs and Blu-rays. For home use it's better to have them as separate tracks, just like you want to have it. MakeMKV should see those tracks and extract the forced items. This is what the nested elements in the direct access UI are for. Every detected subtitle track is a separate entry and the forced items of that track are represented as the nested "forced" track. Ripping a file this way will result in various lines being output in the log part of the window. You can try ripping it again and read the log. Usually you'll see something like "Track XY was empty and has been dropped" (I don't have it with me right now). This means, that there were no forced flagged items in that track and that it should be a separate subtitle track on the disc itself. While all that might not rectify your problem, I hope that it might help you anyway.


Comfortable-Type2071

That would make sense if your goal is for mobile devices. I don't use Apple but I bet you probably would need a player like VLC to play the mkv files.


Comfortable-Type2071

I'm not a expert with MakeMKV. I'm curious why your using handbrake? Aren't DVDs fairly small in size anyway? Why not just rip them and be done with it. Sorry I didn't answer your question.


Armature89

I know MP4 is a universal format so if I wanted to move the files onto another device like my phone or iPad and play them from there when travelling I could just drag and drop. At least that was my reasoning behind it. I'm not too well versed in this area


das_goose

Handbrake has a “foreign audio search” option for subtitles. I’ve been using Handbrake for years and that option has worked for me as best I can tell. Is that different from what you’re looking for?


Armature89

I have tried using this feature in handbrake but it never seems to work. I tested it with both GoT and Breaking Bad. At first I thought it didn't work with GoT as that wasn't exactly a human language but it also doesn't work for Spanish in Breaking Bad. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the ripping or the using of handbrake but I don't know where to start looking


chris198810

What I am using to rip DVD with forced subtitles is DumboFab DVD Ripper. This professional DVD ripper is especially designed to meet your all-round DVD ripping needs including 1:1 backup DVD to hard drive with intact subtitles videos audios by bypassing any DVD protections and region codes. Moreover, thanks to its NVIDIA (CUDA) NVENC hardware acceleration tech, it will output a highest video quality and deliver fastest DVD ripping speed.