Presets and subtitle options

[kaneelschep]

Hi all!

I always want the eng (SDH if availlable) subtitle set with the DEFAULT option, when converting a file.
But this is not possible to set the default options in the preset options.
So this gets very tedious while handling lot of files. As I have to manually set to default with all files.

I searched and I read this in the docs:
Please note, these rules do not cover all possible use cases. If the behaviours don’t meet your requirements, audio and subtitle tracks will need to be handled manually after you’ve scanned a source before adding it to the queue.

But is there still maybe a workaround someone knows, so I can still add this to a preset? Maybe through editing the JSON manually?

Thanks!

[sknoyon324234234234]

Unfortunately editing the JSON won't get you there. I checked how presets pick subtitles (libhb/preset.c), and there's no preset key for "mark this track default". The Default flag is only set automatically in two cases:

1. Foreign-audio case. Your preferred subtitle language (first entry in SubtitleLanguageList) differs from the first audio track's language and "Add subtitle for foreign audio" (SubtitleAddForeignAudioSubtitle) is on. Then the added subtitle gets marked default.
2. Copied from the source. If the source's own subtitle track was flagged default, that flag carries over.

So for English audio + English subs, neither case kicks in, which is exactly what you're seeing. There's also no way to prefer "SDH" over plain English, since selection only goes by language, not track name.

Workarounds that do scale to lots of files:

• MKV output: run mkvpropedit (from MKVToolNix) after encoding. It edits the flag in place, no remux:

  mkvpropedit "file.mkv" --edit track:s1 --set flag-default=1

  s1 = first subtitle track. Easy to loop over a whole folder.
• MP4 output: ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -disposition:s:0 default out.mp4 (a quick copy, no re-encode).

If you'd like it in HandBrake itself, it's worth a feature request for a "mark first selected subtitle as default" preset option. The code already has the plumbing (make_default), it's just not exposed as a setting.

[kaneelschep]

The MKVtoolnix option seems like a very good workaround! I am definitely going to try that. And it will probably be the best solution for now.
Thanks for this information!