Open subtitles from URL

[tomaszk8266]

An option to provide an URL to subtitles instead of a vtt file. It would be useful mostly for use with DASH/HLS web streams (currently I have to download it manually which is quite unconvenient).

[Rafostar]

Hi, this use-case seems quite rare.

In cases when:

1. playing local files users have subtitles already downloaded (there is also request for auto-download from opensubtitles)
2. extracted/scrapped network content can also be done together with subtitles
3. HLS/DASH have support for multiple subtitle streams inside single manifest

For these reasons I am not sure if we want to clutter the UI with another option that would (as I assume) not be used by many. Can you elaborate on your use-case? May I ask why are they separate (not in manifest)? Also, if this is specific for your single source you load video from and you request for a copy-paste URI handling, I assume you know/can determine the subtitles URI in advance (some relative path to video perhaps or a mostly the same URI with their filename/ID for each video changed)?

I am just trying to understand your use-case better to try to think of the best/alternative solutions.

[tomaszk8266]

Sorry for delayed reply but I had no access to my PC.

So my case is scrapped Dash/HLS manifests. Despite subtitles may be linked directly there, both services I tested gather subtitles URLs from API. No chance to extract them automatically from the stream URL. Also I don't think integrating service-specific code into the app in any way is a good idea, custom user-made scripts should handle that.

For now I'm using my simple Python CLI utility to extract stream and subtitles URLs, but adding subtitles can't be automated as there is no CLI argument for that.

Also, both sites I tested use subtitle formats that are unsupported by Clapper (XML/TTML - sample and WebVTT - no need for a sample). Because of that I need to convert them to the (only?) supported SRT format. Can you consider adding them?

[Rafostar]

So my case is scrapped Dash/HLS manifests

For this use-case Clapper has Extractable interface.

(...) custom user-made scripts should handle that. For now I'm using my simple Python CLI utility to extract stream and subtitles URLs

I agree and recommend for you to write your own plugin for Clapper that handles extraction of whatever you want to play here. Using programming language of your choice and optionally some 3rd partly libraries that talk with your API (I do not know the details what you currently use here :-)).

From what I understand, you already have Python script that scrapes/gets manifest (without subtitle URL) and then subtitles separately through some API.

What you probably want/should do is take that as a starting point and make a plugin that adds support for your site by getting manifest data, then adds subtitles to that manifest and passing final manifest as Harvest text. Additionally you can also extract video title and fill its TITLE tags so correct title wil be shown in UI.

This should be the best solution here I think. You will be then able to simply copy-paste video URLs to Clapper (add them to playback queue anytime) and it will automatically use your plugin to extract everything and play it. It needs some extra work initially, but later on you will be able to play your URL as ease, so it should be worth the effort 😄 .

adding subtitles can't be automated as there is no CLI argument for that

If you add exactly 2 URLs from command line (1 for media and 1 for supported local subtitles file) app should open this video with these subtitles set.

Also, both sites I tested use subtitle formats that are unsupported by Clapper (XML/TTML - sample and WebVTT - no need for a sample). Because of that I need to convert them to the (only?) supported SRT format. Can you consider adding them?

I will check which are missing and why...