Question / Help Disable VLC Video Source Subtitles.

yupitsjace

New Member
I usually don't post stuff on forums, because I look all over the place for answers, and my last resort is to do so. I have been looking around for a few days on my free time, to figure out how to disable subtitles on VLC videos. I tried changing global settings inside my actual player to see if it effected OBS version of VLC ( It didn't if anyone was curious). I looked around OBS settings for maybe something I had missed, and came up with nothing. The settings for the files just let me change their path, and that's it. So I am now at a loss, I have a feeling I am going to need to go back to capturing the VLC program again, but that requires me having to re set up a virtual sound card for what I use it for. Any help would be appreciated. I just need to know if I should give up and move on with using normal VLC if this is not something I can fix. Thanks in advance!

((I could also go through every file and remove subtitles for the video files that are guilty of this, but that, is a bunch of videos))
 
Last edited:

edfood

New Member
I'm wondering if someone can test this solution to verify it works for them. I've been struggling with this for a few days but I think I've found my way to a fox.

Firstly, the issue described above seems to primarily effect files with a single subtitle track which is on by default. Most Files with multiple tracks can be disabled by selecting a track higher than available (i.e. a file with 4 subtitles tracks, and you select track 6). I think it has something to do with vlc ignoring track selection if only one is available. I've found a way to fix this below that should (hopefully) work for any file where one is struggling to disable subtitles.

The Fix:

0. Make sure both VLC and OBS are closed.
1. In VLC 64-bit (must be the installation used by OBS for vlc video source), Go to Tools > Preferences > Subtitles/OSD.
2. Under "preferred subtitled language" type "none" (without quotations) and save.
1665466025893.png


3. close vlc, then in OBS, go to the properties for your vlc video source and make sure subtitles are ENABLED (counterintuitive, I know).
4. set your subtitles track to a number higher than is in the files you're streaming (I usually do 8 or 9). So of your files has 3 subtitles tracks, set it to at least 4
1665466751345.png

5. After hitting ok, it should now play without subtitles. If not, try closing and reopening OBS to refresh your vlc instance, ensuring your vlc source is setup correctly as above.

Why is this happening / so specific. So I think the vlc plugin is either providing subtrack one (or the default track) when subs are disabled in obs, or vlc uses default subs when it when not given the parameter. Now this is pure speculation on my part, but it seems that by specifying an invalid track number, vlc will fall back to settings or file preferences for the subs. so any file that has a subtitle on by default will show it. By overriding this preference with "none", all files will default to no subs when given an invalid track number.

I hope this helps someone in the meantime, and hopefully they eventually fix the plugin to enforce disabled subtitles properly.
 
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