Why so many subtitle tracks?

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swampdaddy
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:19 am

Why so many subtitle tracks?

Post by swampdaddy »

I ripped my BD copy of Sound of Music and I have all these subtitle tracks. Can you explain the purpose or how you handle having so many? It looks like at least two are nearly identical...

What is PGS?

BTW: I want this to work well being hosted on my Plex server... Suggestions? Is it better to use an SRT track? Im not sure what that means exactly.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrk59yog7u8t9 ... 6.png?dl=0
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.13.46.png
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.13.46.png (491.36 KiB) Viewed 4940 times
From Media Info:
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.18.31.png
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.18.31.png (327.93 KiB) Viewed 4940 times
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.19.21.png
Screenshot 2020-07-21 19.19.21.png (834.8 KiB) Viewed 4940 times
Thanks in advance for your help!
Last edited by swampdaddy on Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
swampdaddy
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:19 am

Re: Why so many subtitle tracks?

Post by swampdaddy »

On further inspection it looks like:
-TRK1 = "Main" Normal subtitles...
-TRK2 = "Commentary ST with Julie Andrews"
-TRK3 = "Sing-Along" only...
-TRK4 = looks like same as TRK1 so far. Yet MediaInfo shows far fewer elements... ?
-TRK5 = Main & Sing-Along...

I guess one of the mysteries is the difference between TRK1 and TRK4.
Woodstock
Posts: 9914
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Why so many subtitle tracks?

Post by Woodstock »

PGS is the graphic subtitle format used primarily on Bluray. It is analogous to the graphic VOB SUB subtitles on DVD, but not the same format.

Without seeing the subtitle tracks themselves, it is hard to say why 1 and 4 seem the same, but... if the movie had multiple audio tracks, one might be intended to be played with the English sound track, the other with the original sound track. It could be that #4 doesn't include song lyrics.
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swampdaddy
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:19 am

Re: Why so many subtitle tracks?

Post by swampdaddy »

Woodstock, thanks for the feedback, yes I think you're right. The song lyrics don't show on track 4 as they do on track 1. You nailed it!

When editing with MKVToolNix and you just change the names of audio and subtitle tracks, does MKVToolNix have to write the entire movie to disc? I ask because I was expecting this edit to take a minute or two and MKVToolNix says it will be two hours. BTW: I did create another thread.... "MKVToolNix for Dummies..."

Again, thanks for your help!

R
Woodstock
Posts: 9914
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Why so many subtitle tracks?

Post by Woodstock »

A full remux involves copying the relevant pieces to a new file. It gets really fun when you're merging parts of 2 or more sources into one, like when I used to add DVD subtitles to BD rips, because my player didn't understand PGS.

Editing the header is a lot faster.
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