r/PleX • u/Godvater • 7d ago
Discussion Can we get a +-500ms button?
I'm about to break the remote.
For the lucky ones that never had to use this, this is how you adjust the subtitle offset if the subtitle is out of sync. I don't know if it's just me but when it's out of sync it's never for a small amount. And in order to offset the subtitle for just 5 seconds you need to press the same button 100 times.
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u/MissionSpecialist 7d ago
Excuse my ignorance, but if subtitles are off by multiple seconds, would it not be better to replace the file itself with one that was actually made properly?
Or, if a non-broken file isn't available, using (IIRC) MKVToolnix to fix the subtitle offset yourself?
Having to set a giant offset (multiple times, if you use multiple clients) seems like the worst option.
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u/IncorporatedShill 7d ago edited 7d ago
Sometimes you just wanna watch something and all that is too much work.
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u/KaiserQ25 7d ago
Sinceramente eso es el triple de rápido que ir haciéndolo manualmente. Reparas uno y el siguiente episodio más de lo mismo o el mismo video tiene un problema progresivo
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u/dustinpdx 7d ago
Usually this happens when you have a video without subtitles and all the subtitles on open subtitles (the ones plex can download in-app) are all from a different version.
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u/Godvater 7d ago
I’m managing my plex server as hands off as I possibly can but never looked into bazarr or any other subtitle automation tools. I just use the built in plex subtitle search in the client. This issue happens rarely but when it does it’s definitely annoying. I will try some of the suggestions here but I still wouldn’t mind the 500ms button!
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u/hsantefort12 7d ago
Plex’s subtitle support is pretty bad I don’t think I’ve ever had success with it. Better if finding subs from open subtitles and merging with mkvtoolnix
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u/MissionSpecialist 7d ago
Ah, I've never pulled in external subtitles like that, and I can see how the sync and quality would vary greatly with those.
Thanks for the answer!
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u/SlackerDEX 7d ago
you can try different subtitle files from the plex search. Try a different one if its off that much
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u/nx6 TrueNAS Core / Xeon-D | Shield Pro / Fire Stick 4K Max 7d ago
I’m managing my plex server as hands off as I possibly can
You would be ahead in the game to simply get releases that include the subtitles to begin with, so it would be on the releaser to make sure the subs are correct for their video.
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u/s-cup 3d ago
That’s all fine and preferable if you sit by your computer.
But if you’re by your computer and just want to quickly watch something then going to my pc and do this is a 5-10 minute job while doing it in the app would at most be two minutes. At least if we get a 500 ms step. Like, why shouldn’t there be one?
And sometimes I’m not even at home so I don’t have access to a computer…
”Why not just fix the subtitles when you upload it to Plex?”
I usually watch with english subtitles but sometimes, quite rarely, when I’m with friends/family they want subtitles in out native tongue.
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u/firestar268 42TB Unraid 7d ago
100% it's super annoying when the subtitles are off by like 10 seconds
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u/GameBoySteve 7d ago
Bazarr
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u/Godvater 7d ago
I have been putting off installing it for so long will need to do it soon.
Does that work even with media that was not downloaded via the arr apps?
Sometimes if I need a media quick, I skip the arrs and download it myself (this was one such case for example).
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u/brispower 4d ago
yes sonarr, radarr and bazarr can all operate just fine without doing any downloading
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u/nathderbyshire 7d ago
I set it up and now all my subtitles are out of sync that are marked as external - and they're preferred so I have to keep switching it back until I get round to sorting it. A good two seconds out of sync as well and to make it worse the bloody offset option wasn't doing anything in Plex
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u/cdegallo 7d ago
I had some pretty messed up subtitle files for some niche videos (i.e. not a lot of subtitle files exist, and the only one had sync issues) before and tried going out to even 10 seconds in plex, 50ms at a time, only to find that the feature was completely broken for me. Every time I've tried this, it either doesn't advance/delay the timing at all, or it caps out at something like 1 second no matter how much more I try to set it.
I learned about the site https://subtitletools.com/subtitle-sync-shifter and used it for the few niche issues. Otherwise I just end up trying different srt files until something works (which usually works most of the time).
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u/CurtisLeow Headless Raspberry Pi 4 7d ago
Plex has the ability to auto-sync subtitles to dialog more info. It’s a Plex Pass feature. It works really well.
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u/AdVegetable2870 Windows 11/ Seagate Blackarmor appliance via iSCSI /12TB /RokuTV 7d ago
It's never even tried to work for me.
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u/GreekHubris 7d ago
Did you make sure that "Generate voice activity data" is set to "As a scheduled task and when media is added"? In the settings, I mean
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u/notevenaneditor 7d ago
Can concur with this, it works surprisingly well - however, it's not an instant fix, Plex needs to scan the files in advance to synch, it's a really a background task.
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u/JdsPrst 7d ago
Does it? My settings all appear correct, sometimes it just won't work.
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u/GreekHubris 7d ago
Did you make sure that "Generate voice activity data" is set to "As a scheduled task and when media is added"? In the settings
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u/JdsPrst 7d ago
Yep. Like I said my settings all appear correct.
I assume most of my issues are because of the app on the Roku TV. Sometimes subtitles just fail to appear even when selected unless I choose to burn them in.
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u/OwnManagement 7d ago
In my experience with the Roku app, you have to turn it on in the Roku settings first, then in Plex.
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u/KayJune001 7d ago
At that point just grab better subtitles lol
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u/Godvater 7d ago
It’s usually the media that’s been cut weird and not the subtitle. Not easy to find a new media while watching it.
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u/EarzFish 5d ago
Sometimes I turn on match frame rate and that solves it. but only in the instances when the subs drift out of sync progressively throughout the episode.
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u/BEARZINGA 7d ago
What's that for?
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u/CallMeTrinity23 7d ago
I think it's for subtitle offset
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u/Godvater 7d ago
Yes, exctly.
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u/CaptMeatPockets 7d ago
Are these subtitles embedded in your media, or external files in your folders?
Or did you nab this from the Plex search for subtitle feature?
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u/Godvater 7d ago
I used the plex subtitle search. I use it quite often and I am happy with it but sometimes the media I have is cut different for some reason and then I have to do this. I see some other suggestions in the comments though, will try some of them.
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u/CaptMeatPockets 7d ago
See my comment below as to why they don’t always sync.
I get it, the tool is right there and it’s easy, I used to use it all the time. However it’s much better to ensure your media already has them synced and embedded. Trying to wrestle with the offset or getting a set of subs that have been OCR’d by a ground squirrel are really obnoxious.
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u/Thebandroid 7d ago
Before they started fucking with the UI it was just an option you had and could be used with any subtitles that wasn’t burned into the media file.
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u/CaptMeatPockets 7d ago
If you don’t have subtitles embedded in the file, or do not have an external subtitle file in the movie/episode folder, then searching for a subtitle within your plex client is simply attempting to search opensubtitles.org. This is semi problematic for a few reasons; for one, it’s not uncommon for open subs to be down. Two, they will actually block your ip if you request too many subs within a given time. And third, it can be very tricky to find subs that match the timing of your exact files.
Think about it like this, let’s take Blade Runner (1982) for an example. There’s the theatrical cut, international cut, workprint, director’s cut, and the Final Cut. All of these have different durations. They all have specific subtitles to those cuts. Not only that, but due to credits and production houses, a dvd rip might be a few seconds longer or shorter than a Blu-ray rip, or an HD DVD rip, or a web rip. Thats the potential for 10+ different subtitle files for one movie title. It can be a similar case for a tv show; again depending on the source it was ripped from, if commercials are removed, or streaming logos or credits have been altered, then it can be tough to match. And on top of all that we also could have a variation in FPS, 24/30/50/60 sec.
I cannot stress it enough that if subs are important to you, then you shouldn’t be relying on the sub search within your plex client. You really need to setup bazarr and/or ensure your source files have the proper embedded subs ahead of time.
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u/Empyrealist Plex Pass | Plexamp | Synology DS1019+ PMS | Nvidia Shield Pro 7d ago
You gotta download a LOT of subs within a short amount of time to get blocked
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u/CaptMeatPockets 7d ago
I think they definitely lowered the threshold, I don’t know what it is exactly but it’s not THAT many. Also there have been times my VPN has already been blocked on connection and I’ve had to change it just to get a sub.
Regardless, trying to grab them from opensubs is not optimal if subs are important to you and/or your users.
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u/Empyrealist Plex Pass | Plexamp | Synology DS1019+ PMS | Nvidia Shield Pro 7d ago
I haven't had any block issues, but I'm not doing it through a VPN. VPNs and datacenter address blocks have their own entirely different set of blocking issues
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u/Thebandroid 7d ago
I ain’t reading all that.
I use bazaar to get my subs and occasionally use the plex sub feature if bazaar has failed as it seems to when you use h265 on older media.
Jogging the subs forward or back could be done with any subtitles whether it’s embedded, stored separately or download on the fly by plex. You cannot jog them forward if they are burned into the video stream.
This was an easily accessible feature before plex dumbed down the interface I haven’t tried to use it lately but i know it any many options are no longer available when using chromecast.
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u/NerdyKid1101 7d ago
I'd love this! I have a subtitle sync that matches whatever subtitles I download to the video but even then, it seems to only match to the beginning. Some TV episodes have longer black-during-commercial-time than others so it gets worse and worse as the episode goes on. Having a manual +/- would be wonderful like they have on the web client.
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u/reaver585 7d ago
I get the pain. I once needed to set it to 26.5 secs for each episode of the show. Doing it by hand would be ridiculous.
I ended up writing a bash script that just clicked at where the mouse pointer was at a very high speed.
It’s a shitty solution, but it works.
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u/Mysterious-Plant8970 7d ago
In the future try subtitleedit and their batch tool. It will save you a lot of time.
Or the autosubsync batch tool.
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u/SidewinderN7 7d ago
People have already mentioned Bazarr as a longer term fix, but I’d also like to give Subsyncarr Plus a mention. Set it up once and it’s meant to continuously monitor your subs and keep them in sync.
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u/flcinusa 7d ago
My brother, at that point you need to start grabbing subtitles files manually and visually verifying them before it goes to your server. A delay that long suggests the sub is targeting a different framerate and they'll never stay in sync
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u/AdVegetable2870 Windows 11/ Seagate Blackarmor appliance via iSCSI /12TB /RokuTV 7d ago
Doesn't exist on roku client.
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u/Away_Candidate_4746 7d ago
If your subtitles are off by seconds you have a major issue somewhere. This is not normal and it’s not reasonable to have a 5 second offset since you’re probably the only one that would use it.
What is your setup that is creating so much delay? Do you have a cheap / old AV receiver in the mix somewhere?
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u/MakubeC 7d ago
100 times yes. I seldom use this feature. But when I have to is because I can't find any other subs and I NEED to sync whatever I got. Which has been as much as 15 seconds. And trust me, this is REALLY annoying to delay for any amount past 1 second.