Unable to Retrieved Closed captions

General Support / Questions Subtitles / Closed Captions
2

Hi ChopperOllie,

Thanks for reaching out! It’s definitely frustrating when things work for one file but not others.

Based on your description and screenshots, here are a few things we can check:

  1. Check the “Save subtitles” option: Your screenshot shows “Save subtitles” is checked, which is good. Just double-check that it’s consistently checked for all your conversion tasks.
  2. Verify the input video files: Are the videos for which subtitles aren’t being generated definitely known to have closed captions? Sometimes, videos might not have them embedded, even if they appear to. You can use a tool like MediaInfo to check if a video file has a subtitle track.
  3. Look at the MCEBuddy conversion logs: MCEBuddy generates detailed logs for each conversion job. These logs are crucial for troubleshooting as they often contain specific error messages or warnings related to subtitle extraction.
    • On the MCEBuddy main screen, you can click on “Logs” (next to “Help / Support”) to open the log folder.
    • Find the log files corresponding to the videos that failed to generate .srt files and look for any entries related to subtitles, errors, or warnings. You can even copy and paste relevant sections here if you’re unsure what to look for.
  4. Try different profiles: While “MP4 Unprocessed” is a good starting point, sometimes different profiles handle subtitle extraction differently. You could try using a different conversion profile, even temporarily, to see if that makes a difference.
  5. Re-install OCR add-on: If you’re trying to extract subtitles from an image-based format (like VobSub), you might need the OCR add-on. While your screenshot shows the “Install OCR add-on” button, if it’s already installed, sometimes a re-installation can resolve issues.
  6. Update MCEBuddy: Ensure you’re running the latest version of MCEBuddy. While your screenshot shows MCEBuddy 2.6 Release 6, it’s always a good idea to check the MCEBuddy website for the absolute latest release, as updates often include bug fixes and improvements.

To help me narrow down the problem, could you please:

  • Share the relevant sections of your conversion logs for both a successful and an unsuccessful subtitle extraction?
  • Confirm if the videos without .srt files are known to contain closed captions.

We’ll get to the bottom of this!