# HLS Subtitles Not Working

**URL:** <https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265>\
**Category:** Archived\
**Tags:** roku-developer-program\
**Created:** [June 12, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265 "2015-06-12T19:54:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![edskitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@edskitter](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/edskitter)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265/1 "2015-06-12T19:54:43Z")

</div>

Hello,

I am trying to get subtitles working with the following stream. I am unable to get subtitles to show.  
I have used the below stream, [http://playertest.longtailvideo.com/ada … ylist.m3u8](http://playertest.longtailvideo.com/adaptive/captions/playlist.m3u8) to test. In VLC, the steam works fine for subtitles. I have also used our own streams which I will be happy to PM if you need to further debug. I just can’t get this to work with HLS streaming at all on Roku 3.  
Sub Main()  
print "Displaying video: "  
p = CreateObject(“roMessagePort”)  
video = CreateObject(“roVideoScreen”)  
video.setMessagePort(p)

videoclip = CreateObject(“roAssociativeArray”)  
videoclip.StreamBitrates = [0]

videoclip.StreamUrls = [“[http://playertest.longtailvideo.com/adaptive/captions/playlist.m3u8](http://playertest.longtailvideo.com/adaptive/captions/playlist.m3u8)”]

di = CreateObject(“roDeviceInfo”)  
if di.GetDisplayType() = “HDTV” then  
videoclip.streamqualities=[“HD”]  
else  
videoclip.streamqualities=[“SD”]  
end if

subtitle\_config = {  
TrackName: “eia608/1”  
}

videoclip.StreamFormat = “hls”  
videoclip.Title = “Title of channel”  
videoclip.SubtitleUrl = “”  
videoclip.switchingstrategy=“full-adaptation”  
videoclip.SubTitleConfig = subtitle\_config

video.SetContent(videoclip)  
video.show()

while true  
msg = wait(0, video.GetMessagePort())  
if type(msg) = “roVideoScreenEvent”  
if msg.isScreenClosed() then 'ScreenClosed event  
print “Closing video screen”  
return  
exit while  
else if msg.isPlaybackPosition() then  
nowpos = msg.GetIndex()  
if nowpos \> 10000

end if  
if nowpos \> 0  
if abs(nowpos - lastSavedPos) \> statusInterval  
lastSavedPos = nowpos  
end if  
end if  
else if msg.isRequestFailed()  
print "play failed: "; msg.GetMessage()  
else  
print "Unknown event: "; msg.GetType(); " msg: "; msg.GetMessage()  
endif  
end if  
end while  
end Sub

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![destruk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@destruk](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/destruk)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265/2 "2015-06-12T20:21:45Z")

</div>

It might be nothing, but did you go into the roku settings screen and enable captions?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![edskitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@edskitter](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/edskitter)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265/3 "2015-06-12T22:19:23Z")

</div>

I have and when I click on the asterisk, I receive “Caption not available” and “audio selection not available”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheEndless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@TheEndless](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/TheEndless)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/hls-subtitles-not-working/6265/4 "2015-06-12T22:29:21Z")

</div>

You’re explicitly setting the SubtitleUrl to an empty string. I wonder if that’s overriding the SubtitleConfig. Try commenting out that line and see if it makes a difference. Alternatively, you could comment out the SubtitleConfig and just set the SubtitleUrl to “eia608/1” which is what I tend to do if there’s only one subtitle option.
