losing subtitles when converting format of film

I'm not sure if anyone can help me on this, or even if I can post this type of question on here.
When I download a movie like The Equalizer 3 for example, they are all .MKV.
At the start of The Equalizer 3 the guy speaks in Sicilian or something, the subtitles come up in English so that you can see what he is saying.
My TV, an old Samsung, won't play .MKV formats, only MP4/MOV.
So I have to convert the .MKV to one of these.
When I do, I lose the inbuilt subtitles.
I can load the SRT file when I load it with the movie in serviio, but that only gives me subtitles for the whole movie.
Is there a way to convert the .MKV but still keep the subs intact?
I have tested them on my mac first, before even trying them on Serviio, and I have lost them, so it doesn't matter what I select in Seviio, I have definitely lost them, when converting the movie
Thanks for any replies.

[atc98092]

This really has nothing to do with Serviio, so I'm going to move the thread to the general discussion area.

Unfortunately the issue you are having is completely dependent on the software you're using to convert your MKV files into another container. It sounds like SRT files are your best bet to retain captions if desired. The advantage to SRT files is that almost any player supports them, so your captions will be available on multiple platforms.

Handbrake can burn the subs into the video while it's converting your media into a different container. But with burned ins subs you lose the ability to turn them off if not desired for a specific title.

Cheers Dan.
I realise you have moved my post, not a problem, but could I ask you one question about it?
I have been having a look around the web and came up with the right explanation.
My MKV file/film has forced subtitles (that's the wording I didn't know about) so it shows the part where the foreign language is spoken, except when I stream it to my TV, these do not show.
I'm not sure what you meant in your reply...it was a bit beyond my knowledge.
This is what I found, if this makes more sense....

"What are forced subtitles in MKV?
The “forced” means subtitles only showing when foreign language is spoken indeed but it's mostly a regular file with less content. No direct link with the audio played, just subtitles at the correct timing.


My samsung tv doesn't support MKV, I can only play it if I tick 'enable transoding' in serviio to force it to play, it will play the movie but without the forced subtitles, I think it plays it as MPEG2?
,
Or if you need to move this as well, or indeed add it to my original post, if that helps any.
Thanks.
Steve.

[atc98092]

No problem, your response was correctly added to where I moved the thread. The forum software is smart like that!

Subtitles from ripped discs (DVD and Blu Ray) are almost always image based tracks. On DVDs they are called VobSub and on Blu Ray discs they are PGS. This means that they aren't simply a text stream that is being sent along with the video. Not all players are capable of displaying image based captions, regardless of the container. For example, most TVs cannot display such captions, nor can Roku devices. Some Android based players will display them, while others will not.

Forced subtitles are just as you described: the player sees the Forced tag and displays the captions even if subtitles are not enabled on the player. But again, the player has to support the type of caption to be able to display them. I mentioned Handbrake before. I don't believe Handbrake can be configured to only burn in the forced caption tracks, but it might be worth investigating. I don't have Handbrake installed on the computer I'm currently using, so can't check it right now.

Many thanks Dan.
I'm currently having a play with HandBrake.
I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, to be honest
I've loaded the MKV, and it says it has forced subs (which I know)
I have gone with the preset it has chosen...which is MP4?
Anyway....I have 53 minutes to go, and it's only halfway through converting it!
If I convert it on any of my other software, it only takes a few minutes.....so it must be doing something .....I hope.
I'll let it run and see in the morning , as it's 3.18am if you're in the UK.
Steve.

[atc98092]

Handbrake is slow, no doubt about that. But it's extremely capable and I think you'll find it does what you want.

Handbrake is slow, no doubt about that. But it's extremely capable and I think you'll find it does what you want.

Hi Dan.
Sorry to get back so late.
Yes it worked fine.
I just went with the default settings it came up with, which converted it to MP4 but also subs in I wanted.
So all good!
At least I know if I need to do it again.
Thanks for all your help and recommending handbrake.
Steve.