Been enjoying watching the Chicago Fire TV series. After series 3 the subtitles just stopped. I find that about 90% of times that downloading a TV series made in the twenties, you just click on Subtitles, then a second click just below, if applicable, the subtitles come up.

Once you get the subtitles at the start of a TV series, they stay right to the end, but very occasionally just stop, like in the Chicago Fire series.

Watching old TV series from the fifties and sixties like Wagon Train, and The Bill from the eighties, the sound is very clear there are no Subtitles and no need for them. This is nothing to do with the actual volume, just the clarity. Anyone help?

I think this topic should have been under the audio Visual AV topic, maybe a Mod could move it.

Edited August 1Aug 1 by NoshowJones

7 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Been enjoying watching the Chicago Fire TV series. After series 3 the subtitles just stopped. I find that about 90% of times that downloading a TV series made in the twenties, you just click on Subtitles, then a second click just below, if applicable, the subtitles come up.

Once you get the subtitles at the start of a TV series, they stay right to the end, but very occasionally just stop, like in the Chicago Fire series.

Watching old TV series from the fifties and sixties like Wagon Train, and The Bill from the eighties, the sound is very clear there are no Subtitles and no need for them. This is nothing to do with the actual volume, just the clarity. Anyone help?

I think this topic should have been under the audio Visual AV topic, maybe a Mod could move it.

Are you downloading from Netflix, Amazon, or Apple? Or torr enting? If using some t'rent site, doesn't it depend on the user that uploaded it? Fenix and Elite are two users that always have Eng subs. And Bone for movies.
And Open Subtitles is a website where you can legally - as far as I'm aware - download tv and movie titles.

I am torrenting. But your answers are very interesting. I will look into this Fenix and Elite. I usually download from PB.

If you are using VLC to watch the movies it has a built in subtitle downloader!

Just click "view" & then "VLsub" and click as appropriate.

Also check that subtitles are enabled by clicking on "subtitle".

Edited August 1Aug 1 by scottiejohn

4 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

I am torrenting. But your answers are very interesting. I will look into this Fenix and Elite. I usually download from PB.

Also torrent via PB

I add '720p fenix' to search, as like to use whole monitor when watching.

'FENIX' will usually pull up uploader 'jajaja' or 'Saturn5'

Prefer Saturn5 as listing has info, if subtitles included, although jajaja usually does also, but not consistent.

I usually won't download anything that doesn't have subtitles, especially if Brit or OZ series or movie. If accent is too hard, I won't both watching even if it has subtitles.

4 hours ago, The Oracle said:

Are you downloading from Netflix, Amazon, or Apple? Or torr enting? If using some t'rent site, doesn't it depend on the user that uploaded it? Fenix and Elite are two users that always have Eng subs. And Bone for movies.
And Open Subtitles is a website where you can legally - as far as I'm aware - download tv and movie titles.

Plex has a subtitle chooser.

10 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

If accent is too hard, I won't both watching even if it has subtitles.

555

Edited August 1Aug 1 by VocalNeal

21 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Also torrent via PB

I add '720p fenix' to search, as like to use whole monitor when watching.

'FENIX' will usually pull up uploader 'jajaja' or 'Saturn5'

Prefer Saturn5 as listing has info, if subtitles included, although jajaja usually does also, but not consistent.

I usually won't download anything that doesn't have subtitles, especially if Brit or OZ series or movie. If accent is too hard, I won't both watching even if it has subtitles.

720p? Whole monitor? What kind of monitor is that? I don't accept anything less than Full HD 1080p. 720p is for inexpensive smartphones with low resolution screens.

6 minutes ago, IsmeUno said:

720p? Whole monitor? What kind of monitor is that? I don't accept anything less than Full HD 1080p. 720p is for inexpensive smartphones with low resolution screens.

It has to do with the size of the screen and the viewing distance.

33 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Also torrent via PB

I add '720p fenix' to search, as like to use whole monitor when watching.

'FENIX' will usually pull up uploader 'jajaja' or 'Saturn5'

Prefer Saturn5 as listing has info, if subtitles included, although jajaja usually does also, but not consistent.

I usually won't download anything that doesn't have subtitles, especially if Brit or OZ series or movie. If accent is too hard, I won't both watching even if it has subtitles.

I need subtitles as I'm deaf. Well, mostly deaf. Hearing-aid deaf.
I use a 43" TV outside and with so many shows now airing in surround, often the signal the TV gets is so compressed to two channels that the (C)entre speaker speech channel is subsumed by the ambient noise in the compressed signals for the L/R F&R surround channels.

6 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

It has to do with the size of the screen and the viewing distance.

Thanks, but your graph is not useful in any way, other than to induce a headache.

I have a 4k TV, anything other than 4k media is noticeable.

8 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

It has to do with the size of the screen and the viewing distance.

TV is 55", shy of 4m away, and depending on dimension of file, it won't look stretched out. Watch at 16:9, or default if doesn't look right.

Resolution is always fine enough. If big action or CGI, something that I want to see every detail, like Avatar or something, then I'll go for 2k or larger GB file 1080p

For my photos & vids, size matter, and nothing less if & when cropping, down to 1080p photos. Actually record vids in 4k, and downsize to 1080p.

For vids, drone footage, it's more about flight speed, like looking out window of fast car, anything close is a blur 😂

Edited August 1Aug 1 by KhunLA

16 hours ago, The Oracle said:

Are you downloading from Netflix, Amazon, or Apple? Or torr enting? If using some t'rent site, doesn't it depend on the user that uploaded it? Fenix and Elite are two users that always have Eng subs. And Bone for movies.
And Open Subtitles is a website where you can legally - as far as I'm aware - download tv and movie titles.

I have tried that and I can't do it, but thanks.

16 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

I am torrenting. But your answers are very interesting. I will look into this Fenix and Elite. I usually download from PB.

I tried the Elite and it's the same as Fmovies, starts off OK then just keeps stopping.

12 hours ago, BeastOfBodmin said:

Plex has a subtitle chooser.

Does Plex do TV shows? I only watch old movies mainly westerns and crime, but don't require subtitles as I can make all the actors words quite easily.

16 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

If you are using VLC to watch the movies it has a built in subtitle downloader!

Just click "view" & then "VLsub" and click as appropriate.

Also check that subtitles are enabled by clicking on "subtitle".

I have clicked on view and then "VL sub" but it does not go any rarther than that. Can you help? At which part do you click on "subtitle"?

5 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

I have clicked on view and then "VL sub" but it does not go any rarther than that. Can you help? At which part do you click on "subtitle"?

Open the video you want to watch then press vlsub Top right corner are two boxes "Search by name" (already filled from the loaded film) and "search by hash tag".

6 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

I have tried that and I can't do it, but thanks.

Some VPNs stop pages from opening new tabs and pop-ups so you need to add the website to the VPN's whitelist.

Once selected, I just checked for "The Searchers" (1956) to test, it will then open a page with a huge ad for a streaming service and on the top will be a clock counting down from (usually) ten seconds then the .zip file is downloaded to you default download folder.

If you don't want to change VPN settings, try this:
With all other tabs shut down, try https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-eng,tha for searches - it's a bit dated but its content isn't - and see if you have a more positive experience.

Good luck.

22 hours ago, KhunLA said:

TV is 55", shy of 4m away, and depending on dimension of file, it won't look stretched out. Watch at 16:9, or default if doesn't look right.

Resolution is always fine enough. If big action or CGI, something that I want to see every detail, like Avatar or something, then I'll go for 2k or larger GB file 1080p

For my photos & vids, size matter, and nothing less if & when cropping, down to 1080p photos. Actually record vids in 4k, and downsize to 1080p.

For vids, drone footage, it's more about flight speed, like looking out window of fast car, anything close is a blur 😂

Perhaps hearing and eyesight fades in older people. I cannot listen to MP3 due to it's relatively poor sound quality and only go for 1080p when 4k isn't available. 720p is out. Way too grainy and short on detail.

11 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

Does Plex do TV shows? I only watch old movies mainly westerns and crime, but don't require subtitles as I can make all the actors words quite easily.

Plex is a media organiser which handles movies, TV shows, music & photos. It supports various streaming accounts, etc. so you can use it as a front end to watch stuff.

I suppose the answer is "depends on how you go about watching TV shows".

Plex appears to be undergoing a prolonged process of en<deleted>tification. I understand Jellyfin is a popular alternative.

Go to plex.tv

If you decide to run a local Plex media server, it is quite good at identifying and indexing your media. You can also add friends (and their Plex libraries). I only have one plex friend, who lives in Switzerland, and I can usually get very good throughout running 1080p movies from his plex media instance on my Apple TV in Isaan.

If you're into torrents the various servarr apps are good for tracking movie, music and TV show releases, going so far as to grab them via your favourite torrent client and tell your plex server about fresh downloads. Main drawbacks of using some of the *arr I have found is some of them are based on very obsolete .NET versions and so they don't handle Thailand's time zone settings. This breaks the auto-search and -indexing until you manually intervene and clean up the mSQL DB they use.

Currently I run Plex media server + *arr + Transmission torrent client on macOS and Plex clients on macos, android and Apple TV. I used to use Kodi (with a plex client) on a Raspberry Pi, but I found Kodi to be horrible and annoying to use. I have a NAS that is destined to store all my media files but I'm tied up with other "home lab" projects at the moment.

On 8/2/2026 at 7:40 AM, The Oracle said:

Some VPNs stop pages from opening new tabs and pop-ups so you need to add the website to the VPN's whitelist.

Once selected, I just checked for "The Searchers" (1956) to test, it will then open a page with a huge ad for a streaming service and on the top will be a clock counting down from (usually) ten seconds then the .zip file is downloaded to you default download folder.

If you don't want to change VPN settings, try this:
With all other tabs shut down, try https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-eng,tha for searches - it's a bit dated but its content isn't - and see if you have a more positive experience.

Good luck.

I looked at the link and it is all very complicated, but thanks anyway. I can use ie Fmovies. It is easy to get the subtitles but all you get is buffering. You can't even watch for a minute before the buffering starts.

On 8/2/2026 at 11:51 AM, IsmeUno said:

Perhaps hearing and eyesight fades in older people. I cannot listen to MP3 due to it's relatively poor sound quality and only go for 1080p when 4k isn't available. 720p is out. Way too grainy and short on detail.

Mp3 quality depends on bitrate. I doubt you can tell the difference between 320k mp3 and lossless in a blind test.

4k files are just way to big.

720p by good uploaders is more than good enough even on a 75 inch 4K screen.

If you torrent , you have to upload it too, or you're a selfish pr-ck.

That doubles the size of every file.

On 8/1/2026 at 8:01 AM, NoshowJones said:

I am torrenting. But your answers are very interesting. I will look into this Fenix and Elite. I usually download from PB.

Just Google search for subs of whatever movies\series you like there are many sites from which to download. After downloading you select the file {.srt file)

5 hours ago, FlorC said:

Mp3 quality depends on bitrate. I doubt you can tell the difference between 320k mp3 and lossless in a blind test.

Wrong. I just told you that I can, very easily. Both 320kbps and variable.

5 hours ago, FlorC said:

720p by good uploaders is more than good enough even on a 75 inch 4K screen.

If you torrent , you have to upload it too, or you're a selfish pr-ck.

That doubles the size of every file.

Perhaps good enough for someone with failing eyesight. It's not good enough for me.

Easy to see the difference on even smaller TVs.

What nonsense are you talking with regard to double the size of every file? The file size remains unchanged. You perhaps mean doubling the amount of data. So what? Has anyone stated that they have a data volume limitation or even a speed throughput limitation?

720p is for old laptops and cheap mobile screens. Unless you have a data volume or speed cap, what's the point of that?

What strikes me most about Chicago Fire is that the problem is not the volume, but the clarity of the spoken dialogue. Modern television often gives priority to realism, atmosphere, music, sirens, background noise and overlapping speech. As a result, viewers may need subtitles even though the programme has been professionally produced.

Older series such as Wagon Train are very different. The actors spoke more clearly, dialogue was placed prominently in the sound mix, scenes wepre slower, and there were fewer competing sounds. That makes the programme much easier and more relaxing to follow. There is also the added pleasure of recognising guest actors who later became famous, such as Ronald Reagan, Peter Falk and Jack Lord.

With Chicago Fire, we do not yet know which minor actor, rescued victim or guest character may become a major star 20 or 30 years from now. Unfortunately, many of us on AN may not be around long enough to find out.

Poor dialogue clarity also makes unofficial subtitles harder to produce. Automatic systems and amateur subtitlers can mishear words, omit phrases or create translation mistakes. Official subtitles made from scripts should be better, but downloaded subtitles may still disappear when the video source or release format changes between seasons.

Ironically, real emergency communication can sometimes be clearer than television drama. In genuine action, firefighters, police and paramedics use short, direct commands because misunderstanding can be dangerous. On television, however, dialogue is mixed together with music and dramatic effects to create tension. So although Chicago Fire is technically more sophisticated and nuanced, that sophistication can make the speech less intelligible.

And of course, all those fires were deliberately created for one purpose: to keep Chicago Fire on the air. 😉