Please could you add external file subtitle support on UPNP?

I'm one of the developers of smewt.com

I'm currently implementing a plugin in order to let it act as a media server.
I'm now trying to add external file subtitle support in the media server.

I know it is not part of the DLNA specification. But several servers and clients implement their own method. Here are a few examples of methods you could implement:

- guess and try the subtitle URL: they just try to http-get a file with the same name as the video but replacing the extension with a subtitle extension.

- pv:subtitleFileType and pv:subtitleFileUri (used in TwonkyMediaServer and Lacie Digital Media Players): add two special attributes pv:subtitleFileType and pv:subtitleFileUri to the DIDL-Lite:res resource element.


- adding multiple subtitles as attachments (used by Coherence's FSStore): adding an extra DIDL-Lite:res resource elements with the attribute
protocolInfo="http-get:*:smi/caption:*"

Personally my favorite method is the last, since it allows to add multiple subtitle files (for multiple languages for example).

Check these links for more info:
forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=21443
tvfreak.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=19617&page=14

Thank you very much, and let me know if I can help in any way.
ricard

The player is just a client

If the server doesn't support it the player will also not play the subs

Yes I know.

I'm asking what method will or does the A.C. Ryan Player support, so that I can implement the support in the server I'm writing (if it is not implemented already).

it supports SRT, SMI, SSA, IDX/SUB, SUB

Ok, I understand ACRyan's media player support several subtitle formats.

My question is: Does the UPNP MediaRenderer support a way to retrieve subtitles from a UPNP MediaServer?

Other UPNP MediaRenderers such as the ones in Lacie or WD mediaboxes and Samsung TVs support one way or another of retrieving subtitles from a UPNP MediaServer. These solutions are not part of the UPNP DLNA standard, but they are better than nothing. Additionally several MediaServers (Twonky, etc...) already support these features and they play well together. This allows users to have subtitles through UPNP.

A solution is not hard to implement if the media player support subtitles already, which is your case! But you still need to tell the MediaRenderer to try to guess the url of the subtitle or consult several fields (resources) of the UPNP Item to find out their url.

It would be great if you support a method for this, and I would be happy to help you out with code, testing or whatever. I will also do my best so that http://www.smewt.com supports whatever method your MediaRenderer implements.

So, did anyone figure out how to play subtitles from DLNA/UPnP streams?
It just doesn't make any sense to configure CIFS/NFS when DLNA is built-in and it is so easy to setup.
This is definitely a must have in any media player.
If I knew that POHD didn't have this feature I would never had bought the device.
Cheers

Any news on this issue?
I can't believe such a small/easy feature could be so hard to implement.
Is there a 'new feature request' mailbox or something?
Cheers

Sorry to say that this feature is cannot be added or supported by the player according to our developers. In my opinion I think this is not the box fault at all.

To be quite honest, I think DLNA is becoming like the dinosaurs, EXTINCT!!!

And rightly so. There were too many shortcomings and this is one of them.

I agree - I've yet to see any 'implementation' of it that does exactly what it is supposed to do - or what you want it to.
Andy