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Just a heads-up if you need subtitles, for me and apparently many others with Jellyfin the subs get easily out of sync. The issue in Github[0] has been open for

Just a heads-up if you need subtitles, for me and apparently many others with Jellyfin the subs get easily out of sync. The issue in Github[0] has been open for 2.5 years and seems dead.. Only option seems to be re-transcoding and burning the subtitles into the video (which is an option, but consumes some system resources). [0] https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/2547 https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/2547

atchoo 4y ago
I don't have any issues watching subtitled material straight through but I think I've seen it after skipping around and the workaround was to close the video and reopen it so it resumes from the right spot - not ideal but not a show-stopper at least.
Avamander 4y ago
You can use an another player such as Infuse to avoid that issue.
layer8 4y ago
What’s currently the best alternative for video with subtitles? Ideally with the ability to control the position (subtitle shift) and timing delay.
- TheSpiceIsLife 4y ago
  VLC has the features to adjust subtitle timing. I've tried a few other players and media centre type options but always found them a poor dit for the few things I like to fiddle with from time to time.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  FWIW I've never had trouble with the subtitles in Jellyfin on the Roku app, or on Infuse (AppleTV client). In fact I've practically never had any kind of trouble at all, aside from my Roku devices not supporting h.265 encoding. Android TV (a Shield, in my case) did have bad audio sync problems with several common audio codecs. My bad for trying to cheap out, should have just gotten the AppleTV to begin with. Bites me in the ass nearly every time I try to save money in that way.
- 3np 4y ago
  Jellyfin with your preferred client - just try them out until you find one that suits your preferences. Also see my cousin comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33365376 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33365376 jellyfin-mpv-shim, kodi, and the offical apps work well IME. https://jellyfin.org/clients/all https://jellyfin.org/clients/all
hcurtiss 4y ago
With apologies for the diversion, may I ask why you like subtitles? I have a neighbor who watches every movie with subtitles. I've never understood it. When I ask him, it's usually something about seeing the words, but he's not hard of hearing, and they listen to their movies outrageously loud anyway. In any event, to me, it detracts from the cinematography, and absent some handicap, I can't understand why you'd want subtitles. But I'm fully aware there's a sizable contingent that prefers watching movies with subtitles. Why is that?
- googlryas 4y ago
  I put on subtitles so I don't need to constantly adjust volume based on whether it is an action scene or a quiet conversation. But, I agree they are overall distracting - even when I can hear a conversation perfectly, I still find myself staring at the subtitles.
- bscphil 4y ago
  Plenty of people watch movies in languages that they don't speak. Probably half the movies I see are foreign. Subtitles are obviously necessary in this case, and even if watching foreign films weren't extremely common, working subtitle support would be crucial for accessibility reasons.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  > With apologies for the diversion, may I ask why you like subtitles? Because I like to watch movies in languages I do not understand.
  - hcurtiss 4y ago
    Obviously needed in that scenario. That doesn't explain my neighbor, the Marvel Universe fan, but maybe he's an anomaly. I just had the sense there were a bunch of people out there like him who watched movies with subtitles as a matter of course.
    - joseda-hg 4y ago
3np 4y ago
Not saying this is not an issue but we've easily watched several hundreds of different releases, all with subtitles, never had the out-of-sync problem appear in Jellyfin and not in other players (that is, sometimes subs are just inherently off-sync to the video file if it's from a different release etc). The other subs-related annoyances (takes time to appear; transcoding/DS behave differently) appear in web client only and not when playing trough a "proper" player (mpv-shim/kodi/whathaveyou), which also support convenient timing adjustments. Maybe switching clients is a work-around that works for you. jellyfin-mpv-shim would be the smoothest if you just want to continue issuing local playback ("cast") from the web interface.
- counttheforks 4y ago
  But I want to use the web client. Why is it inferior?
  - 3np 4y ago
    Typically because you are trying to play media with codecs that aren't supported by your browser, and transcoding is either not working or working suboptimally. Native clients (like MPV, VLC, or the desktop app) tend to have better codec support and support decoding the native media stream directly. Some people work around this by making sure they only store supported codecs, either by being selective with media or offline transcoding (which can be instrumented with software like https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/Tdarr https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/Tdarr). There's nothing "magic" here. Your options regardless of software are inherently: 1. Make sure to only store and stream supported media (as explained above) 2. Do the decoding and playback in a capable client (like mentioned above you can make it fairly seamlessly with the web client together with jellyfin-mpv-shim) 3. Live transcoding (may require tweaking drivers and codecs on your server; significantly increases server hardware requirements and load) More info here: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support
    - counttheforks 4y ago
      How is any of that related to subtitles not working right in the web client? The media I download does not require transcoding.
dhosek 4y ago
I’ve experienced this with some streaming—HBO Max in particular seems to have problems with out of sync CC on some but not all of their programming. Last Week Tonight is usually about a second or so behind with the captions vs the audio, and I think some other original programming has similar issues.

atchoo 4y ago

I don't have any issues watching subtitled material straight through but I think I've seen it after skipping around and the workaround was to close the video and reopen it so it resumes from the right spot - not ideal but not a show-stopper at least.

Avamander 4y ago

You can use an another player such as Infuse to avoid that issue.

layer8 4y ago

What’s currently the best alternative for video with subtitles? Ideally with the ability to control the position (subtitle shift) and timing delay.

TheSpiceIsLife 4y ago
VLC has the features to adjust subtitle timing. I've tried a few other players and media centre type options but always found them a poor dit for the few things I like to fiddle with from time to time.
yamtaddle 4y ago
FWIW I've never had trouble with the subtitles in Jellyfin on the Roku app, or on Infuse (AppleTV client). In fact I've practically never had any kind of trouble at all, aside from my Roku devices not supporting h.265 encoding. Android TV (a Shield, in my case) did have bad audio sync problems with several common audio codecs. My bad for trying to cheap out, should have just gotten the AppleTV to begin with. Bites me in the ass nearly every time I try to save money in that way.
3np 4y ago
Jellyfin with your preferred client - just try them out until you find one that suits your preferences. Also see my cousin comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33365376 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33365376 jellyfin-mpv-shim, kodi, and the offical apps work well IME. https://jellyfin.org/clients/all https://jellyfin.org/clients/all

hcurtiss 4y ago

With apologies for the diversion, may I ask why you like subtitles? I have a neighbor who watches every movie with subtitles. I've never understood it. When I ask him, it's usually something about seeing the words, but he's not hard of hearing, and they listen to their movies outrageously loud anyway. In any event, to me, it detracts from the cinematography, and absent some handicap, I can't understand why you'd want subtitles. But I'm fully aware there's a sizable contingent that prefers watching movies with subtitles. Why is that?

googlryas 4y ago
I put on subtitles so I don't need to constantly adjust volume based on whether it is an action scene or a quiet conversation. But, I agree they are overall distracting - even when I can hear a conversation perfectly, I still find myself staring at the subtitles.
bscphil 4y ago
Plenty of people watch movies in languages that they don't speak. Probably half the movies I see are foreign. Subtitles are obviously necessary in this case, and even if watching foreign films weren't extremely common, working subtitle support would be crucial for accessibility reasons.
BeetleB 4y ago
> With apologies for the diversion, may I ask why you like subtitles? Because I like to watch movies in languages I do not understand.
- hcurtiss 4y ago
  Obviously needed in that scenario. That doesn't explain my neighbor, the Marvel Universe fan, but maybe he's an anomaly. I just had the sense there were a bunch of people out there like him who watched movies with subtitles as a matter of course.
  - joseda-hg 4y ago

3np 4y ago

Not saying this is not an issue but we've easily watched several hundreds of different releases, all with subtitles, never had the out-of-sync problem appear in Jellyfin and not in other players (that is, sometimes subs are just inherently off-sync to the video file if it's from a different release etc). The other subs-related annoyances (takes time to appear; transcoding/DS behave differently) appear in web client only and not when playing trough a "proper" player (mpv-shim/kodi/whathaveyou), which also support convenient timing adjustments. Maybe switching clients is a work-around that works for you. jellyfin-mpv-shim would be the smoothest if you just want to continue issuing local playback ("cast") from the web interface.

counttheforks 4y ago
But I want to use the web client. Why is it inferior?
- 3np 4y ago
  Typically because you are trying to play media with codecs that aren't supported by your browser, and transcoding is either not working or working suboptimally. Native clients (like MPV, VLC, or the desktop app) tend to have better codec support and support decoding the native media stream directly. Some people work around this by making sure they only store supported codecs, either by being selective with media or offline transcoding (which can be instrumented with software like https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/Tdarr https://github.com/HaveAGitGat/Tdarr). There's nothing "magic" here. Your options regardless of software are inherently: 1. Make sure to only store and stream supported media (as explained above) 2. Do the decoding and playback in a capable client (like mentioned above you can make it fairly seamlessly with the web client together with jellyfin-mpv-shim) 3. Live transcoding (may require tweaking drivers and codecs on your server; significantly increases server hardware requirements and load) More info here: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support
  - counttheforks 4y ago
    How is any of that related to subtitles not working right in the web client? The media I download does not require transcoding.

dhosek 4y ago

I’ve experienced this with some streaming—HBO Max in particular seems to have problems with out of sync CC on some but not all of their programming. Last Week Tonight is usually about a second or so behind with the captions vs the audio, and I think some other original programming has similar issues.