Change tv subtitle in MediaPortal 1.26 (1 Viewer)

Trevc

Portal Member
December 2, 2020
5
0
Home Country
Australia Australia
I've just switched over from windows media centre to MediaPortal (
MediaPortal 1.26). Is there anyway to change the colour of the subtitles used for tv?
I'm in Australia and have dvb-t tv channels set up. I noticed the subtitles colour is white and I want to change the colour.
I can see how to change the size using the configuration app but I can't see anywhere to change the colour.
 

CyberSimian

Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Is there anyway to change the colour of the subtitles used for tv?
    I don't think that this is possible. :(

    I have just been looking at some subtitles for various programmes on DVB-T/T2 in the UK. It is noticeable that the colour of the subtitle text changes as different people speak (this makes sense). This is true for pre-recorded drama and documentaries, and for live news broadcasts (interviews), and for live sport (two commentators alternating).

    In the short time that I looked, all of the following colours were used for the subtitle text:
    white, light turquoise, light green, yellow.​

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    vuego

    Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • August 5, 2006
    1,637
    764
    Göteborg
    Home Country
    Sweden Sweden
    Yes, it's only possible to change the font and color for video subtitles. Not live TV.
     

    CyberSimian

    Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    it's only possible to change the font and color for video subtitles. Not live TV.
    How do you change the colour of subtitles for video?
    I could not find a setting for that in "MP Config". :confused:

    Subtitles for DVB-T/T2 are included in the TS datastream, but separate from the video data (otherwise the subtitles could not be switched on and off). So it is the video player that decides whether to render the subtitles so that they appear superimposed on the video. Hence in principle one could imagine the video player being enhanced to use a "subtitle colour mapping table", whereby the user could specify what colour was to be used for each subtitle colour code contained in the TS datastream.

    So I think that the user's request is possible, but not currently implemented. Will it be implemented in the future? After all these years I hope that I have learned to never, never, never say "never", but I think that implementation is less likely rather than more likely. :(

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    Trevc

    Portal Member
    December 2, 2020
    5
    0
    Home Country
    Australia Australia
    I don't think that this is possible. :(

    In the short time that I looked, all of the following colours were used for the subtitle text:
    white, light turquoise, light green, yellow.​

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK

    Thanks for the reply. I'm only getting white color with the subtitles in mediaportal. I know that I used to get the different colors when using windows media center.

    Does the choice of codecs play any part in rendering the subtitles? Currently I'm using lava for all the codecs
     

    CyberSimian

    Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Does the choice of codecs play any part in rendering the subtitles? Currently I'm using lava for all the codecs
    I am using the LAV codecs too, but I get the different colours for subtitles. :confused:

    There are several different subtitle systems in use around the world. I wonder if WMC in Australia used one of these other systems that happens to contain colour information (e.g. teletext subtitles, perhaps), whereas the current DVB-T/T2 subtitles in Australia don't yet contain the colour information. You will appreciate that this is just guesswork. :eek: :D

    I don't have any experience of other subtitle systems :(. The only suggestion that I can make is to try enabling the other subtitle systems in "TV Server Config" (one at a time, obviously!) to see if (a) any of them work, and (b) use different colours.

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    vuego

    Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • August 5, 2006
    1,637
    764
    Göteborg
    Home Country
    Sweden Sweden
    How do you change the colour of subtitles for video?
    I could not find a setting for that in "MP Config".
    Click the Browse button next to Display font and there you can select font style, size and color.
     

    CyberSimian

    Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Click the Browse button next to Display font and there you can select font style, size and color.
    Thank you -- I never realised that. (y)

    Methinks that the text on the panel in "MP Config" could usefully be amended to make it clear that it is more than just the font that can be selected. Perhaps some day...

    I tried displaying subtitles for recordings in "Recorded TV", and also for recordings that had been moved to "Videos". Interestingly, the multiple subtitle colours that occur for live DVB-T/T2 TV in the UK are also present when playing recordings in either "Recorded TV" or "Videos". So it is not immediately obvious what the colour specified for video subtitles in "MP Config" is used for. Perhaps it sets the default if the subtitle datastream does not specify a colour.

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    vuego

    Documentation Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • August 5, 2006
    1,637
    764
    Göteborg
    Home Country
    Sweden Sweden
    Here's a setting for subtitles in TV and videos: Video Codecs
    I guess you could add external subtitles to TV recordings and then change the color of the font but that might not be what you're looking for :)
     

    Trevc

    Portal Member
    December 2, 2020
    5
    0
    Home Country
    Australia Australia
    Thanks for tbe replies. It looks like Australia might be using closed captions.

    I disabled all the subtitles option and enabled them one by one and only

    the closed caption option seemed to generate the subtitles.


    I've attached a small ts file that i recorded from the live tv from mediaportal.

    This is an example of the subtitles being all one colour (white with no shading behind the text). I would be appreciative if someone can play the file and see if they can see the subtitles in mediaportal and if they are a single colour for you. I'm wondering if it's something on my setup causing this or if it's just what's in the stream.


    I'm finding that the subtitles are hard to read as they are blending into the actual video as they are white with no background behind them. I know if i use windows media centre I can see different colors and the subtitles have a darker background.

    View attachment Nine News Late - Channel 9 Melbourne - 2020-12-06_buffer.zip

    Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom