Subtitles have stopped working (MKV)

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Hi folks,

As I haven't tried a chinese autio/english subtitled film for some time I'm not sure what has caused the problem but I no longer get DirectVobSub loaded. When I load the file into GraphEdit there is no problem, and VobSub gets loaded after the Haali splitter has done its job, and puts itself between the CoreAVC (h264) codec and the renderer for VMR9.

this is what appears in the PVRX2 log :-
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - Default WaveOut Device
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - AC3Filter
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - CoreAVC Video Decoder
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - CoreFLAC Audio Decoder
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE - \\Griffith\video\NotWatched\HDTV\Films\H264\Curse_of_the_Golden_Flower_(2006)_nzb\Curse.Of.The.Golden.Flower.2006.720p.BluRay.x
2007-12-05 19:41:33.421 VERBOSE getSetting(SaveGraphFiles)


Any ideas how to get VobSub to load? I recall some threads last year about various codecs, such as Xvid, and codec packs causing problems. But CoreAVC was one that was fine, and I never install codec packs, only the codecs I really need.

Now I have definitely used this same file before way back when still on GBPVR, so it could be the recent change to PVRS2 and VMR9 (though I was using the latter with GBPVR too). Or it could be a recent upgrade to CoreAVC 1.6.

Any help appreciated as I've a bunch of foreign language stuff that I can no longer play. Worst case it to try to rollback to a point before I made any changes...urgh, not sure I have the appropriate backup though.

Edit: Just noticed that my old thread that I posted some time ago when I didn't have subs working was resurrected. http://forums.gbpvr.com/showpost.php?p=2...ostcount=9
It was exactly the same file (I think) I'm struggling with now that was eventually working at that point 3+ mths ago.


Spence

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Now I have definitely used this same file before way back when still on GBPVR, so it could be the recent change to PVRS2 and VMR9 (though I was using the latter with GBPVR too). Or it could be a recent upgrade to CoreAVC 1.6.

You can always try running the old GBPVR.exe interface to see if you still get subtitles. I suspect you wont.

I dont really have any advice for you on this though, GB-PVR doesnt know anything about vobsub.

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Old style GBPVR really doesn't like my dual-screen setup and FSE at all, so this isn't easily testable without fiddling with other settings.

I understand it knows nothing of vobsub. But if it doesn't get the same graph as I get with graphedit then troubleshooting is going to be a real pain. Up until now I'd relied on troubleshooting problem files with graphedit, as the logic and merit question was the same, or so I thought. Up the proverbial creek without paddle. :confused:

Testing by Trial and error here we come...

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Managed to run old style GBPVR. No luck, no subtitles, no vobsub. Not sure what this tells me though. Basically GBPVR/PVRX2 is using a different graph to any other app I run using DirectShow. GraphEdit and MPC get it right, GBPVR does not.

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This is vobsub problem, not a GB-PVR problem. There is nothing GB-PVR is doing that would preclude the use of vobsub.

I'm sure you'd be able to get working by tweaking stuff outside of GB-PVR.

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Maybe you are right, I might get it working after alot of faffing around (and probably need to reinstall everything from scratch which is a huge amount of work) but it doesn't answer why GBPVR is using a completely different graph to that shown by GraphEdit and MPC in the first place...which I can't see can be anything other than a GBPVR problem. I used to be able to rely on GBPVR following what graphedit showed me, which used to aid troubleshooting no end...but alas, no longer.

Grrr, DirectShow, its all a dark art really. Not your fault Sub. You only have to breathe close to your system and the filters all get screwed.

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Maybe you are right,

Trust me, I am right.

I might get it working after alot of faffing around (and probably need to reinstall everything from scratch which is a huge amount of work) but it doesn't answer why GBPVR is using a completely different graph to that shown by GraphEdit and MPC in the first place...which I can't see can be anything other than a GBPVR problem. I used to be able to rely on GBPVR following what graphedit showed me, which used to aid troubleshooting no end...but alas, no longer.

To replicate exactly what GB-PVR does when playing .mkv files by running GraphEdit just select the 'Render Media File' option in the menu. It leaves it entirely up to Directshow to choose the graph filters and decoders.

If you're finding you're getting a slightly different graph in some applications then that is usually because you're using decoders that have a per-application type of configuration. For example, recent builds of ffdshow ship with a default configuration that list 30 or so applications ffdshow will be used in (GraphEdit, WMP, MPC etc...), so to get GB-PVR to behave the same was as graphedit for rendering these graphs you need to go into the ffdshow configuration and add PVRX2.exe/GBPVR.exe to the list whitelist of apps.

I used to be able to rely on GBPVR following what graphedit showed me, which used to aid troubleshooting no end...but alas, no longer.

Dont get frustrated at GB-PVR because things entirely separate from GB-PVR arent behaving the way you'd hoped. As I said, GB-PVR just asks Directshow to render the file, and it is responsible for deciding which components are used.

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I had already tried the "Render Media File" option in GraphEdit and it does exactly what I expect it to do...complete with lovely subs via VobSub. So its different, which is why its so frustrating.

I don't use ffdshow, and its not a per-app type of thing...I'm just using Haali/CoreAVC and VobSub, none of these have per app settings. But I think I have a backup somewhere pre-upgrade of CoreAVC, not sure I have a pre-upgrade backup of the system before PVRX2 1.1.15, but I'll hunt around.

Anyway, looks like I'm going to have to go back to a clean build and start trying to figure out which damned filter or codec breaks the loading of vobsub. Or stop watching foreign films with GBPVR

Rebuilding and testing will have to wait for the weekend now.

PS: I could have attached the graphs, but there seems to be little point. Just imagine a graph with and without a VobSub filter in it (just like Ted had last year, and fixed by removing Xvid and using CoreAVC...ho hum, can't do that as its CoreAVC that its NOT working with).

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I had already tried the "Render Media File" option in GraphEdit and it does exactly what I expect it to do...complete with lovely subs via VobSub. So its different, which is why its so frustrating.

I don't use ffdshow, and its not a per-app type of thing...I'm just using Haali/CoreAVC and VobSub, none of these have per app settings.

Honestly, thats exactly what GB-PVR. It just calls IGraphBuilter->RenderFile(filename), which is the same thing as the menu option in GraphEdit. If there is any difference in the graphs that get created then that must be a configured or pre-determined behaviour in external filters. The ffdshow example was just to illustrate this point.

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Okay, good news. I've found out how to fix the problem, though I'm not 100% sure why it was broken. I loaded an old backup and proved that it wasn't CoreAVC 1.6 or PVRX2 1.1.5 or 1.0.8. In fact it is Haali. I thought it was the Haali version, but the weird thing is that the version of Haali (1.7.152.18) was the same, and even the options I had set were the same, but I even found a time when DirectVobSub wouldn't appear in GraphEdit.

The trick to make subs work reliably is to set "Autoload VSFilter=Yes" in the Compatibility section of the Haali config. It is completely beyond me why it sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.

On my old build I initially didn't have VobSub in GraphEdit and then tweaked this setting to Yes, and it started working. Tweaking it back to No didn't stop it working (even through a reboot), so its as if some registry setting gets set by using "Yes" which doesn't get backed out using "No". I think it is even persists through an uninstall/reinstall of Haali, but only for some apps. In some cases, with no consistency it failed to load VobSub and even chose Haali Renderer over the VMR renderer - which I've never seen before.

Anyway. AutoLoad VSFilter did the trick. Hopefully it will stay that way. I have a newer Haali ready to install, so I know which setting to tweak to have subs...fingers crossed.