HELP!!! Making External Subs on Oppo 203 Work!

[Filmmaker]

I dunno, maybe I'm an idiot but I have tried and tried to follow online tutorials and I cannot seem to make external subs work on my Oppo 203. Here's where I'm at: I'm on my third attempt at subscene.com for the 2020 movie ALONE (the one with the woman stalked by a psycho, not the global pandemic one). After a couple of other dead ends, I've settled on a file named "alone-2020-1_HI_english-2365730" that purports to be ripped from the U.S. Blu-ray (I'm attempting to add English subs to the German BD). I have created a folder named "sub". I have moved this subscene.com file into the sub folder and renamed it "sub.srt". When I play the movie back and select the subs menu, it now has "Other" as an option so I know it's detecting the file on my flash drive, but NO TEXT EVER SHOWS ON THE SCREEN. I've tried this with three different files now. What am I doing wrong? Please, someone show mercy and guide me through this like I'm a five year-old.

[chip75]

Can you bring up the External Subtitle with the OPTION button?

Subtitle Adjustment: Set the subtitle display options.
o Color: Set subtitle text color (only available on external subtitle files).
o Outline color: Set the outline color for subtitle text (only available on external subtitle files).
o Size: Set subtitle text size (only available on external subtitle file).
o Position: Set subtitle display position.
o Sync: Adjust the timing of the subtitles (only available on external subtitle files).
o Defaults: Reset all subtitle options to their default values.

Make sure they've not been lowered out of view (Position) and try selecting the Defaults option.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by chip75

Can you bring up the External Subtitle with the OPTION button?

Make sure they've not been lowered out of view (Position) and try selecting the Defaults option.

I’ll give you points for trying but, no, that didn’t do the trick, and the German subs on the disc show up just the way they’re supposed to. This is truly maddening.

[XGEEKEDGERX]

Do the subs not show up at any point when the film is playing?

I mean, they might not be timed correctly for your disc so they might be showing up on screen later than expected

[Alister_M]

Have you tried adding a ".sup" suffix to the filename?

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by XGEEKEDGERX

Do the subs not show up at any point when the film is playing?

I mean, they might not be timed correctly for your disc so they might be showing up on screen later than expected

I tried playing long patches of the film to track that very issues but literally not a single sub ever appears.

Originally Posted by Alister_M

Have you tried adding a ".sup" suffix to the filename?

No, since everything I’ve read says the suffix should be .srt. Just to be clear, are you saying to name the file sub.sup, or sub.srt.sup?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

No, since everything I’ve read says the suffix should be .srt. Just to be clear, are you saying to name the file sub.sup, or sub.srt.sup?

Is the file extension .srt, you've enabled the option to change extensions with your PC? It's not just labelled sub.srt.srt? If you're viewing file extensions for files it should be labelled sub.srt if not just sub (the .srt will be hidden).

[XGEEKEDGERX]

What you're doing seems right to me, it's the process that I use, so by default, I think the answer might be to do with the file you've downloaded.

Try opening the .srt file in a programme like Jubler and see if there's an actual issue with the file you have. If not then you can try re-saving it from there and see if it works then.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by XGEEKEDGERX

Do the subs not show up at any point when the film is playing?

I mean, they might not be timed correctly for your disc so they might be showing up on screen later than expected

I appreciate the attempts at help but some of it is getting into techno speak and I need to emphasize, in no uncertain terms, I am not a computer guy at all. When I’m advised to change file extensions, or have other sites or apps check my files for viability, I’m lost before I begin. I just tried the process all over again using DIVERGENT instead of ALONE and—goddammit!—I still have this problem. So I’m going to explain, step-by-step, my exact process and someone can hopefully tell me where I’ve gone wrong.

1. Go to subscene.com
2. Search for DIVERGENT
3. Of the many English options, I chose the one titled Divergent.2014.BDRip.x264-SPARKS by GoldenBeard (a file which has been rated by users as ‘good’)
4. Click the Download English Subtitle button
5. File Divergent.2014.720p.BluRay.x264-SPARKS.srt is downloaded to my PC
6. Move the file over to my flash drive and dump it into a folder named sub
7. Rename the file to sub.srt
8. Stick USB in Oppo 203
9. Play disc
10. Select Other from subtitle menu
11. Select Options, then Subtitle Adjustment, and set to Default (I’ve also tried shifting the subtitle position as high up on the screen as it can go)

NOTHING SHOWS ON SCREEN. Am I missing something? Somebody save me because I’m getting PISSED at my Oppo and she’s usually the love of my life.

[chip75]

Try naming the file just "sub". It should already have the .srt extension.

Or you can try copying all the text into Notepad and then naming it sub.srt (save it in a different place to the other files so you're creating a new file).

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by chip75

Try naming the file just "sub". It should already have the .srt extension.

When I do that, the computer warns the file may become unusable, and the Oppo no longer gives me an Other subtitle option.

Originally Posted by chip75

Or you can try copying all the text into Notepad and then naming it sub.srt (save it in a different place to the other files so you're creating a new file).

I did that and STILL NO SUBTITLES (although the Other option returned to the subtitle list). I honestly think my Oppo, which otherwise operates to perfection, is broken in this regard. And it makes me want to scream because I desperately want to take advantage of this feature. I don’t know what else to do!

[D00mM4r1n3]

According to another thread about external subs the disc you are playing needs to have at least 1 subtitle on the disc in order for external subs to work. Here is the post that states it: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=19

It may be easier to just rip the movie, name the .srt the same thing as the movie file, and play it digitally. Forum rules don't allow discussing how that's done though.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by D00mM4r1n3

According to another thread about external subs the disc you are playing needs to have at least 1 subtitle on the disc in order for external subs to work. Here is the post that states it: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=19

Each of the films I’ve tried have Italian subs. I already know the restriction for sub-less films.

Originally Posted by D00mM4r1n3

It may be easier to just rip the movie, name the .srt the same thing as the movie file, and play it digitally. Forum rules don't allow discussing how that's done though.

I have neither the tech, nor the desire, for that. I have a player that should allow me to do this simple act with discs featuring sub tracks. I just want that to work.

[Filmmaker]

I seem to have fixed it. I did a factory reset of everything, followed by a hard reset of the Oppo. I went back in and put all my settings back the way they were, played DIVERGENT and still no English subs. However, when I pressed the Info button, voilà, the English subs magically appeared and stayed displayed even when I dropped out of the Info display. What a pain in the ass but it looks like I may be in business at last. Mercy me.

[gkolb]

I take no pleasure in your travails, but your persistence was admirable.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by gkolb

I take no pleasure in your travails, but your persistence was admirable.

It tasked me. It tasked me and I would have it! I chased it 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before I would give it up!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

I seem to have fixed it. I did a factory reset of everything, followed by a hard reset of the Oppo. I went back in and put all my settings back the way they were, played DIVERGENT and still no English subs. However, when I pressed the Info button, voilà, the English subs magically appeared and stayed displayed even when I dropped out of the Info display. What a pain in the ass but it looks like I may be in business at last. Mercy me.

Now you mention it, I recall something similar when I tried this with La Piscine. It picked up the Other first time but nothing would display, so I tried cycling the sub options then audio options and then it seemed to work when I went back to Other. Sorry I didn't mention this before but I literally only just remembered it!

[castor]

Originally Posted by chip75

Try naming the file just "sub". It should already have the .srt extension.

I'd never been able to make external subs work on my OPPO 203 before, but today I tried naming a sub file "sub" instead of "sub.srt" and it worked! Thanks, Chip!

[Filmmaker]

Tonight, I watched my first full film with the external subs feature active (the German Mediabook of John Hyams’ ALONE) and felt like King Nerd atop Dork Mountain. It was a righteous feeling.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

Tonight, I watched my first full film with the external subs feature active (the German Mediabook of John Hyams’ ALONE) and felt like King Nerd atop Dork Mountain. It was a righteous feeling.

I too felt this feeling...until my OPPO crapped out 38 minutes into the UHD of La Piscine. Then I felt an entirely different emotion.