Forced subtitles

[Dobbs2]

Thanks, but it only seems to be for Blu-ray, not DVD.

Makemkv also supports DVD

 

[priitv8]

Makemkv also supports DVD

The problem is, as far as I understand, in the fact that DVD does not indicate forced subtitles in the stream.
If they are encoded as separate subtitle stream, then you'd only need to figure out which one that is and include in the rip.

 

[Rigby]

The problem is, as far as I understand, in the fact that DVD does not indicate forced subtitles in the stream.

The DVD subtitle format can definitely flag individual forced subtitles, but it seems MakeMKV cannot detect them. The author of MakeMKV has acknowledged it and said that it would be fixed, but it doesn't look like that has happened (I can't confirm since I haven't ripped a DVD in years):

https://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1760#p7157

 

[priitv8]

The DVD subtitle format can definitely flag individual forced subtitles, but it seems MakeMKV cannot detect them. The author of MakeMKV has acknowledged it and said that it would be fixed, but it doesn't look like that has happened (I can't confirm since I haven't ripped a DVD in years):

Good to know.
I haven't had to rip a DVD-s either for many years now.

 

[rayward]

I’ve also noticed in a lot of newer Blu-ray movies, they like to be artsy with the sub titles and so they are pre-burned in. Because they want to use a specific font or put it in a specific place on screen.

In my experience, using MakeMKV to rip and then having HandBrake scan for forced subs produces the necessary burned-in sub, in the intended font, in the intended location.

 

[mattyj2001]

In my experience, using MakeMKV to rip and then having HandBrake scan for forced subs produces the necessary burned-in sub, in the intended font, in the intended location.

I've found this workflow to also be the most reliable.

Highlight (for me) all English subtitles in MakeMKV, including forced, then rip.

Load into HandBrake and enable Foreign Language Search on the subs and let it do its thing.

I'm coming across some Blurays in my collection that _have_ forced subtitles but they are not marked that way so MakeMKV doesn't pick them up. I'm a little type A in that I don't want to lose any quality in the stream or spend two hours HandBraking all my blurays, so sometimes I just load them into HandBrake, let it get past the subtitle scan, then stop the encode and consult the log. Then I load the mkv into MKVToolNix and ensure the track that HandBrake chose is set as Forced. If not, I set it and that's that.

I happen to not stream from an Apple device so players like VLC and Kodi will properly display a forced subtitle track as long as it's properly marked that way.