Subtitles not working in Windows Media Player and PowerDVD!

So, I’m running Windows 7 over here and I am hitting a massive wall—subtitles just won't work in any of the players mentioned above. It's driving me nuts. I tried installing DirectVobSub, but it’s basically useless because it can't handle special characters like č and ć in the subtitles. Does anyone out there know of a program that actually handles everything correctly without throwing a tantrum? I gave FFDShow a shot too, but that thing just refuses to function for me, no matter what I try.

VLC Media Player, BS Player 🙂

As far as I can tell, WMP doesn't even support subtitles. Maybe GOM Player or VLC Media Player would actually show them, I guess.

I’m sticking by my recommendation for VLC, along with everyone else, because the thing is just plain solid—it handles pretty much anything you throw at it. One of the best parts about using VLC Media Player is that it comes packed with all its own codecs right out of the box. You don't have to deal with the headache of hunting down random codec packs online or messing around with endless settings just to get a video to actually play; you just install it and you're ready to go.

Melissa Hall30 said:I'm running Windows 7 and my subtitle tracks aren't working in the players mentioned above. I installed DirectVobSub, but it won't display special characters correctly. Does anyone know of a program where everything just works? I tried FFDShow too, but I can't get it to function at all.

What movie formats were you testing on those two players? If you were using VLC Media Player with an original DVD intended for the US market (those .vob files), it should have displayed the standard American subtitle tracks. 🙂
Regarding DVDs, I guess stick with VLC Media Player; for any other formats, maybe try the players the guys mentioned earlier. 🙂

The movies were in AVI format. But look, they really should be playing—both of them! I used to have these players installed all the time and everything worked just fine, until I had to go through the whole headache of reinstalling Windows again.

Honestly, I can't stand BS Player either—every single time I’ve had it installed on my PC, it’s been nothing but a headache. It’s just not my thing, but if there’s one silver lining, I guess the Subtitle tracks actually work reliably in it.

Look, if you’re really dead set on getting those subtitles to actually work in your media player, just grab the K-Lite codec pack. Don't go messing with any of the settings—just leave everything at the defaults, but make sure you check the box so it supports every video format out there. When the installer gets to the end, it’s gonna ask which player you want to use:
-Media Player Home Cinema (which comes bundled with the codecs) and
-Windows Media Player. Just select both of them, and boom, you'll have your subtitles working in Windows Media Player 🙂