Subtitles in VLC on Android TV [SOLVED]
Until today, I have always had trouble with .SRT subtitles when watching videos on my Android TV device (the awesome NVIDIA Shield TV). The subtitle option was always greyed out and there was no way to load subtitles (even if they had the same filenames etc.) 🙁
The issue appears to be related to watching videos over SAMBA and launching VLC via an app like ES File Explorer. In those instance VLC will not be able to locate the subtitles…. Thankfully, there is a very simple workaround:
- Launch VLC
- Navigate to your SAMBA share within the VLC app
- Load the movie directly with VLC
You should be able to enable* and view subtitles now 🙂
*On the Shield TV you can press the “A” (down) button to access playback options then navigate left (“X” button) to access the subtitle selections.
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Awesome! Thank you, man!
You are very welcome Ahmad 🙂 Have a great day!
-J.D.
Thanks a ton! Was so disappointed that the subtitles weren’t playing.
Hi MG,
Thank you for your kind comment, I am very happy that my page was helpful to you 👍
Have a great weekend!!
-JD
Hi,
I’m currently trying to watch a movie with subtitle file .srt on my Philips that has Android for TV on it. But when i want to select the subtitles in VLC it only gives me the internal memory/storage. Not the one of my local network storage where the subtitles are. You have an idea how i can fix this? Thank you in advance.
Hey Dre, the fix in my post, launching VLC first and navigating to the file from within VLC rather than opening VLC via a file manager, should work for network storage too. In VLC on Android TV, go to Browse > Network (or Local Network), find your NAS share there, and open the video directly from that view. That way VLC can see both the video and the .srt file in the same directory. The key is that VLC needs to be the one navigating to the network path, not an external file manager launching VLC.
Thanks for this solution, been trying to work it out for days
Dear Mr Mixalot,
I am very glad my tip helped you get subtitles working! Enjoy you movies and have a GREAT week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
I have the same problem even I use vlc app and subtitle on the same folder and same name on smb ,, vlc can detect it but it don’t appear even if I choose it from subtitle option