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Opensubtitles became really frustrating to use once they began asking for a login and a password to download subtitles in VLC or Xbmc/kodi (basically every time

Opensubtitles became really frustrating to use once they began asking for a login and a password to download subtitles in VLC or Xbmc/kodi (basically every time you need to use the API). I always forgot about login details and in my opinion it wasn't needed at all for them except for profile tracking I guess. They forced people to register to get subtitles, they willingly forced people to increase their attack surface for not much benefits to users (and probably themselves). edit: at the time I also was young and naive [0] and thought the open part of opensubtitles meant that people submitted subtitles in their free time out of their good heart and the site was simply hosting and organizing them, no problem with displaying ads on the website or at the beginning of the subs I thought, to make up for hosting costs. Subs hunting was so much fun at the time /s. But having to register to "prevent abuse" was a tad too much. [0] still am by the way, thanks for asking :)

mkdirp 5y ago
> Opensubtitles became really frustrating to use once they began asking for a login and a password to download subtitles in VLC or Xbmc/kodi (basically every time you need to use the API). This was actually optional, and always was. I think the issue was that they had made some changes in the backend, but the addons didn't update the code to accommodate. At least this was the case for Kodi. The opensubtitles addon has essentially become abandonware anyway. There are now third-party addons that provide the same functionality but without a login, and across different subtitle websites.
- morrbo 5y ago
  Can you name a few please?
  - Liquix 5y ago
    https://github.com/a4k-openproject/a4kSubtitles https://github.com/a4k-openproject/a4kSubtitles anonymous, scrapes a handful of sites including opensubtitles + subscene
    - johnchristopher 5y ago
      I am confused, the GIF show a login+password for opensubtitles https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a1cd19d17f0484669e61673fadf22096ef2ebaf6071a7f3ca0ba8a0daa416785/68747470733a2f2f6d656469612e67697068792e636f6d2f6d656469612f6b65777545344267664f6e46696e307645432f736f757263652e676966 https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a1cd19d17f0484669e61673fa.... Oh, well. I'll give a try next time I launch kodi, thanks for the tip.
      - mkdirp 5y ago
        It says "Optional" next to the username/password.
        johnchristopher 5y ago
        Aaaand it's naptime for me :).
- stevenwoo 5y ago
  The website began to require login within the last three days for me.
Markoff 5y ago
huh? I use to download subtitles in VLC through built in VLsub via opensubtitles and nobody ask me for any login/pwd and I download A LOT of subs, sometimes even 5-10 to try with some releases now on the website I would hit the limit very fast, but through VLsub it's essentially unlimited
- johnchristopher 5y ago
  There was a time the built-in VLSub wasn't built-in and I remember at some point it was abandoned and then picked up again. Nowadays it's working again as intended, no more freezes or invalid login. Still has the bug where the next video in a queue picks up the good subtitles but it downloads the subtitle for the previous video. I googled vlsub opensubtitles not working and I still find relevant threads https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=152485 https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=152485 I have been using opensubtitles since they opened the site though and I couldn't really tell when the problem appeared and disappeared.
  - Markoff 5y ago
    but you present your opinion as if it would be required now, while I use VLsub in VLC FOR YEARS without anyone asking me for long/pwd, so not sure what's your deal but you are clearly trying to mislead other based on maybe many years old experience, while reality for many years is that nobody asks you for login/pwd in VLsub and yes, it is still sometimes freezing or has issues, but not sure what you expect from service you don't pay anything for, not even in forms of ads if you use it through VLsub
    - johnchristopher 5y ago
      Another random thread where someone has a problem with VLC and opensubtitles login password: https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/aqvzlm/unable_to_work_subtitles/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/aqvzlm/unable_to_work_... It's from my boy Andrew from the anti-vlsub-opensubtitles cell #3948 in Wichita. Thanks for outing us, we have to rebrand our whole operation now and update banners and usernames, etc. We were so close to convincing everyone to stop using vlsub and opensubtitles :(. /s > so not sure what's your deal but you are clearly trying to mislead other based on maybe many years old experience, while reality for many years is that nobody asks you for login/pwd in VLsub
spamtarget 5y ago
It became way more frustrating when they started to add ads in the subtitles. It was a few years ago and since then i never even tried to use them
- m-p-3 5y ago
  I downloaded the SRT, stripped the ads using SubtitleEdit and embedded them in the MKV file using MKVToolNix to keep it all together.
  - Markoff 5y ago
    why bother with any dedicated app just to remove one or two lines of "ad" (99.9% is just them offering ad service, but seems like nobody is interested really), open in notepad, Shift+End, Delete, done
    - m-p-3 5y ago
      I like to make sure all the numbered lines are all sequential, and I already use it for creating subtitles so why not do it the proper way.
      - Markoff 5y ago
        but they will be sequential, you can just fill them with empty space or you can completely delete whole string including timestamp, it's not like any hardware of software videoplayer cares about missing number
joshspankit 5y ago
I have a heartbreaking story for you about a wildly popular site that allowed people to submit album info from CDs (and then everyone else could have automatic metadata when they ripped their own copies of those CDs)

mkdirp 5y ago

> Opensubtitles became really frustrating to use once they began asking for a login and a password to download subtitles in VLC or Xbmc/kodi (basically every time you need to use the API). This was actually optional, and always was. I think the issue was that they had made some changes in the backend, but the addons didn't update the code to accommodate. At least this was the case for Kodi. The opensubtitles addon has essentially become abandonware anyway. There are now third-party addons that provide the same functionality but without a login, and across different subtitle websites.

morrbo 5y ago
Can you name a few please?
- Liquix 5y ago
  https://github.com/a4k-openproject/a4kSubtitles https://github.com/a4k-openproject/a4kSubtitles anonymous, scrapes a handful of sites including opensubtitles + subscene
  - johnchristopher 5y ago
    I am confused, the GIF show a login+password for opensubtitles https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a1cd19d17f0484669e61673fadf22096ef2ebaf6071a7f3ca0ba8a0daa416785/68747470733a2f2f6d656469612e67697068792e636f6d2f6d656469612f6b65777545344267664f6e46696e307645432f736f757263652e676966 https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a1cd19d17f0484669e61673fa.... Oh, well. I'll give a try next time I launch kodi, thanks for the tip.
    - mkdirp 5y ago
      It says "Optional" next to the username/password.
      - johnchristopher 5y ago
        Aaaand it's naptime for me :).
stevenwoo 5y ago
The website began to require login within the last three days for me.

Markoff 5y ago

huh? I use to download subtitles in VLC through built in VLsub via opensubtitles and nobody ask me for any login/pwd and I download A LOT of subs, sometimes even 5-10 to try with some releases now on the website I would hit the limit very fast, but through VLsub it's essentially unlimited

johnchristopher 5y ago
There was a time the built-in VLSub wasn't built-in and I remember at some point it was abandoned and then picked up again. Nowadays it's working again as intended, no more freezes or invalid login. Still has the bug where the next video in a queue picks up the good subtitles but it downloads the subtitle for the previous video. I googled vlsub opensubtitles not working and I still find relevant threads https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=152485 https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=152485 I have been using opensubtitles since they opened the site though and I couldn't really tell when the problem appeared and disappeared.
- Markoff 5y ago
  but you present your opinion as if it would be required now, while I use VLsub in VLC FOR YEARS without anyone asking me for long/pwd, so not sure what's your deal but you are clearly trying to mislead other based on maybe many years old experience, while reality for many years is that nobody asks you for login/pwd in VLsub and yes, it is still sometimes freezing or has issues, but not sure what you expect from service you don't pay anything for, not even in forms of ads if you use it through VLsub
  - johnchristopher 5y ago
    Another random thread where someone has a problem with VLC and opensubtitles login password: https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/aqvzlm/unable_to_work_subtitles/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/aqvzlm/unable_to_work_... It's from my boy Andrew from the anti-vlsub-opensubtitles cell #3948 in Wichita. Thanks for outing us, we have to rebrand our whole operation now and update banners and usernames, etc. We were so close to convincing everyone to stop using vlsub and opensubtitles :(. /s > so not sure what's your deal but you are clearly trying to mislead other based on maybe many years old experience, while reality for many years is that nobody asks you for login/pwd in VLsub

spamtarget 5y ago

It became way more frustrating when they started to add ads in the subtitles. It was a few years ago and since then i never even tried to use them

m-p-3 5y ago
I downloaded the SRT, stripped the ads using SubtitleEdit and embedded them in the MKV file using MKVToolNix to keep it all together.
- Markoff 5y ago
  why bother with any dedicated app just to remove one or two lines of "ad" (99.9% is just them offering ad service, but seems like nobody is interested really), open in notepad, Shift+End, Delete, done
  - m-p-3 5y ago
    I like to make sure all the numbered lines are all sequential, and I already use it for creating subtitles so why not do it the proper way.
    - Markoff 5y ago
      but they will be sequential, you can just fill them with empty space or you can completely delete whole string including timestamp, it's not like any hardware of software videoplayer cares about missing number

joshspankit 5y ago

I have a heartbreaking story for you about a wildly popular site that allowed people to submit album info from CDs (and then everyone else could have automatic metadata when they ripped their own copies of those CDs)