PBO playback of .mkv subtitles

[DarknessSavior]

I apparently posted this in the wrong area originally. No one checks the "General Discussion" board. T_T;

I'm very happy to say that I got the PBO in the mail a few days ago. However, I mostly got it to view the anime .mkv files that I've got stored basically anywhere I'd like.

When I tested it out, I noticed two things:

1) The subtitles do not display by default. You have to turn them on manually. Whether the option in the system for "Default Subtitle Switch" is on or not.

2) The PBO does not seem to want to display subtitles in the fancy fonts that fansubs tend to use. It only seems to display in the ugly font that the PBO uses. I had this problem using the PS3 Media Server program, but eventually found an option to force it to display the correct font. I'd like it if the .ass/.ssa fonts and effects actually worked the way they're supposed to.

Anyone know of any fixes to these problems? These are very important to me. I've seen in other threads that I googled on this board that other media boxes support these things out of the box.

Thank you for your help,

~DS

[aasoror]

1) This depends on the firmware you are using, funny thing most of the complaints is subs are always on by default regardless of the setup menu setting. Have you tried latest official P70R2 or latest customs (check the makeover link in my sig below).
2) no and there is no way around it, and there is no other media player based on the same chipset (or even on other chipsets from the same family) that supports fancy sub fonts or sub animations or color coding.

[DarknessSavior]

Can you recommend a media player that can, then? Because that's pretty much a dealbreaker for me.

~DS

[aasoror]

Might want to try a higher end PCH but it cost 4~5x the price of the PBO. And in all honesty at that price I would be better off getting a nvidia ion2 nettop.

[DarknessSavior]

Well, it just so happens there is a Western Digital box on sale right now on Slickdeals for $55 or so. I picked that up, and in the specs it says it supports .ass/.ssa subtitles. Hopefully it's not a disappointment.

[aasoror]

Well, it just so happens there is a Western Digital box on sale right now on Slickdeals for $55 or so. I picked that up, and in the specs it says it supports .ass/.ssa subtitles. Hopefully it's not a disappointment.

Unfortunately most manufacturer thinks "support" means "just works", the PBO claims .ass/.ssa support as well (check page 18 of the manual).

I wouldn't get my hopes high. WDTV (life/life plus) isn't compatible with .ass/.ssa subtitle formating (behaves similarly to the PBO). Its a known issue as well.
Read here.

[kenshin0815]

Hi! I just read your treads and just want to ask did you already download the latest firmware and your still having problem with subtitles? Coz i am also planning on buying this PBO player but i just want to make sure first if they already fix this subtitle issue, anyway one more question i want to ask hows the color of the subtitle it self i mean does the color white is really white or gray? I mean because in my other player its in white color but it showing gray which is pretty stupid coz its very dull color so i just want to make sure that the subtitle color white in PBO is really white not gray so can you tell me? Thanks

[aasoror]

The subs color and size are customizable.
But the font formatting of .ass/.ssa isn't supported.

Hi! I just read your treads and just want to ask did you already download the latest firmware and your still having problem with subtitles? Coz i am also planning on buying this PBO player but i just want to make sure first if they already fix this subtitle issue, anyway one more question i want to ask hows the color of the subtitle it self i mean does the color white is really white or gray? I mean because in my other player its in white color but it showing gray which is pretty stupid coz its very dull color so i just want to make sure that the subtitle color white in PBO is really white not gray so can you tell me? Thanks

[kenshin0815]

The subs color and size are customizable.
But the font formatting of .ass/.ssa isn't supported.

Yes thank you for the respond i already know that the sub color and size are customizable but i just want to know if the white sub color is really white not gray??? Because in my other player its in white sub color but its showing color gray and i hate it because its not very easy to read compare to the white, so thats my question ^_^ is the sub color white is really white? Or white but will show gray color?

[aasoror]

so thats my question ^_^ is the sub color white is really white? Or white but will show gray color?

Just tested it, its grey.
If you want white subs you need to use idx/sub in which you can control the exact color of the sub because the PBO would then display them as images without decoding.
Here is a compatible converter.