Mac OS Tip - Play m4v with an external SRT Subtitle File

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Nasuada
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Mac OS Tip - Play m4v with an external SRT Subtitle File

Post by Nasuada »   1 likes

Never touch a running System... But if there is a huge Update and you want to get some new features, you need to change sometimes.

Here is a tip how to stream a M4V File over Quicktime with an external SRT file to the Apple TV

Over years I using the nice and simple Application "Beamer" to stream different Videofiles simply to my Apple TV on the fly. Sadly the developing is stopped longer time ago, but the App work for me until yesterday and it looks, that the latest Update from the TV OS has broken the AirPlay Support from Beamer App :-(

For some unknown reason Apple never integrate a direct SRT Support, so you will not able to watch a movie and combine it with an external SRT by default.

After a quick search I found a solution, but I'm not sure if that will still work with the latest Mac OS because I'm still running on Mac OS 10.15 "Catalina". Anyway... Here is my tip:

First you need to install an older Plugin named "Perian" (https://www.perian.org) who is (sadly) not longer supported for years, but it still works for Catalina and older. If you have trouble with installing because of a missing signature, make a right click on the "Perian.prefPane" file and select "Open with..." and select the "System Preferences". Now it will be installed and work without any restart of the Mac for Quicktime. With Perian installed you get much more video support in Quicktime (see on the website of Perian) AND it will load from now external SRT Files without any trouble. You are from now able to select it from the Subtitles Menu of Quicktime or over the little Subtitle Icon on the Player Control.
If you don't see the Subtitle, check if the .SRT File have exactly the same title as the movie and booth are in the same folder.
Example:
Movie File: We-ding-deu-re-seu - Wedding Dress (2010).720p.m4v
SRT File: We-ding-deu-re-seu - Wedding Dress (2010).720p.srt

Now you can AirPlay Movies directly from Quicktime to Apple TV with external Subtitles.

Just another Info...
If you don't like to handle external Subtitle Files and don't will work with .mkv Files who you get mostly here, you can give HandBrake a try. It's a free Videoconverter for different Desktop OS Systems and over this Tool you can "burn" the SRT File directly in Quicktime movie files like M4V. There are lot of manuals or videos how to work with HandBrake, if you need some help or feel free to ask here.
Last edited by Nasuada on Thu Sep 15, 2022 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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pillowbaker
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Re: Mac OS Tip - Play m4v with an external SRT Subtitle File

Post by pillowbaker »   0 likes

Hey thank you for the guide for MacOS users, Nasuada. I enjoy seeing guides like this made for enthusiasts such as ourselves. Sadly. it's been a while since I've used MacOS, but I used to use it a lot!
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Nasuada
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Re: Mac OS Tip - Play m4v with an external SRT Subtitle File

Post by Nasuada »   0 likes

Thanks for your feedback :-)
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