Thai Subtitles in Android Box?

scooterboy · August 7, 2016

Hi

Guess this has been asked a few times along the way - though I don't seem to be able to find a solid answer.

I took the good advice of err...who was it now? a while back and finally bought me an Android TV Box - great. I'm learning a few things and it's going quite nicely - when I have the spare time for such things, that is.

I can figure out how to download subtitles for a show or movie - again great.

How do I (or maybe CAN I?) see Thai subtitles as Thai language - not as some weird boxes on the screen?

Any of you guys able to see Thai subtitles properly?

Thanks for any good advice

Cheers

JaiMaai · August 9, 2016

The main problem is that the default fonts included in Kodi don't display Thai fonts properly. You need to either change the skin to one that includes fonts that do or modify a couple of XML files to add your own fonts such as TH Sarabun.

I did get Thai to display in the end but I never found a reliable source for Thai subs. Where did you find them?

johng · August 10, 2016

http://www.thaisubtitle.com/ http://www.opensubtitles.org/

thai font arial.rar

Just make a backup/copy of your original arial font and copy the Thai one into the correct directory no need to fiddle with XML's.

Peterw42 · August 10, 2016

There is a great kodi system services add on called auto subs, it searches for subs every time you play a movie. As others have said, you need to put a thai font into kodi.

scooterboy · August 10, 2016

As stated by johng, I use opensubtitles, which has SOME Thai subtitles. However, there are many websites with Thai subtitles - unfortunately you can't "choose" them via Kodi. as they're not in their list.

I don't know if it's possible to somehow include another website in the list - I rather doubt it. Maybe if you have a Windows Kodi installation, it may be possible to make a work-around, but doing the same thing on an Android Box might not be possible.

Thanks to johng for the rar file. I'll look further into that one when I get my system up and working again. I'm at the moment changing the tv and don't have access to Kodi on the Android Box.

williewolf · August 11, 2016

On 10/08/2016 at 0:47 PM, Peterw42 said:

There is a great kodi system services add on called auto subs, it searches for subs every time you play a movie. As others have said, you need to put a thai font into kodi.

How do you put the thai font into kodi? (Using android box), been struggling with this for ages so thanks for any help you can give.

Peterw42 · August 11, 2016

2 hours ago, williewolf said:

How do you put the thai font into kodi? (Using android box), been struggling with this for ages so thanks for any help you can give.

Happy to help, it was a while ago, but i think I can remember.

First you need a app like es file explorer to go to directories, copy etc. The path is something like sdcard\android\zbmc\files\kodi\media\fonts.

Put the font in there, restart kodi, it will then be available in the system setting, subtitles in kodi. I used Arialuni.tff as it has does lots of languages.

I set it up years ago and promptly forgot, from memory you need to show hidden files and depending on version of kodi, you may have to add the fonts directory.

Let me know how you go

scooterboy · August 12, 2016

Well, I finally got my cables in place (for the moment, at least) and tried out your above suggestion. It seems that in the latest Android TV Box version of Kodi things have maybe changed a whole lot - there is no longer a "fonts directory" (or at least I couldn't find one). Neither was it possible to find arial.ttf or teletext.ttf files anywhere else in the system. However. these DO still figure in the Windows Kodi App (that I also have)!

I haven't quite given up, but obviously Thai subtitles now has a lower priority and I'll look at what I can do, when I have more spare time.

Thanks for your great ideas - which I imagine will work very well on earlier Kodi versions. Thanks too, for taking the time to give a good and detailed description - very useful!

Any other good ideas - then be sure to tell!

Cheers

Peterw42 · August 13, 2016

12 hours ago, scooterboy said:

Well, I finally got my cables in place (for the moment, at least) and tried out your above suggestion. It seems that in the latest Android TV Box version of Kodi things have maybe changed a whole lot - there is no longer a "fonts directory" (or at least I couldn't find one). Neither was it possible to find arial.ttf or teletext.ttf files anywhere else in the system. However. these DO still figure in the Windows Kodi App (that I also have)!

I haven't quite given up, but obviously Thai subtitles now has a lower priority and I'll look at what I can do, when I have more spare time.

Thanks for your great ideas - which I imagine will work very well on earlier Kodi versions. Thanks too, for taking the time to give a good and detailed description - very useful!

Any other good ideas - then be sure to tell!

Cheers

I am using the latest Kodi version (not krypton, as its only just out). As I said the fonts directory is either a hidden directory (you need to turn on show hidden files in the file explorer App you are using) or you need to add it using the file explorer app.

The default fonts dont exist as such, i think built into the original code.

I run kodi on a laptop as well, and added the fonts to the windows version as well.

Lots of how to articles if you google "kodi add font etc"

I know you said its a low priority but if you have a Thai GF or wife, its a high priority, lol. I have it set up the other way round as well, if I play a Thai movie, kodi goes and finds the English subs. It doesn't always find one, but when it does, it works well.

scooterboy · August 13, 2016

Heh - yep, priorities......

I'd given today (Saturday) as the last chance (for the moment) to fix this 'small' problem. Yesterday, I finished off my Kodi session by installing the fonts directory in the (hopefully) correct place with 2 new fonts (1 JohnG's, 1 from another site) and leaving things until today.

Still couldn't get anything to work at all today - couldn't even download subtitles from ANY source, though it was possible to CHOOSE a subtitle. Hmmm.....that meant looking at the error log, which is divinely full of very cryptic messages. I could only guess from the log that there was something wrong with the download subtitle path (even though there wasn't one specified) so I reckoned it was necessary to set everything back to default, after taking a backup. Oh - and my file explorer had "View hidden files" turned on (by default), by the way.

That apparently helped, as I was now able to choose JohnG's font under KODI System/Subtitles. After choosing several tv-shows/movies, all with a weird Rick Astley video (just what IS that thing?) I finally managed to choose a movie and download a Thai subtitle - it worked! Thai subtitles displaying, so the wife is very happy. I have to take another backup (just in case) - and to make a full "How-to-do" description - and that's my lot for the next few days (other things call).

Many thanks for your immense help Peterw42 - and to JohnG for his arial file - and to all for your excellent advice and comments. Hope others can succeed in getting their Thai subtitles to work, too.

Cheers - and good viewing.

williewolf · August 14, 2016

On 11/08/2016 at 6:02 PM, Peterw42 said:

Happy to help, it was a while ago, but i think I can remember.

First you need a app like es file explorer to go to directories, copy etc. The path is something like sdcard\android\zbmc\files\kodi\media\fonts.

Put the font in there, restart kodi, it will then be available in the system setting, subtitles in kodi. I used Arialuni.tff as it has does lots of languages.

I set it up years ago and promptly forgot, from memory you need to show hidden files and depending on version of kodi, you may have to add the fonts directory.

Let me know how you go

Well i tried all day yesterday, added fonts to kodi and also to the skin but still no joy. On a plus note i got the subtitle search up at the start of the film and the subtitles are there but still just show as boxes after downloading them. Any more ideas? Totally stumped with this. I think the problem lies with the subtitle settings in the skin as there are only two choices, arial or teletext. I also downloaded and added a set of fonts that are supposed to eliminate any problems reading them but still no joy

Peterw42 · August 14, 2016

There are 2 places you can add fonts, to the system or to the skin addon. As soon as you change skins then the font is not available . The path I quoted is to add to system.

After you add the font, it should be in the drop down menu in System, video, subtitles, font to use for subtitles. (settings level set to expert) Also change System,video, subtitles, Character set to Thai.

That should work, let me know

johng · August 14, 2016

from my notes

Windows
copy airiel.ttf to /usr/share/kodi/addons/skin.confluence/fonts
in system/settings/apearance/skin change to ariel font and it should now display thai
no need to faf around with font.xml

in Raspbian XBMC
/home/pi/.xbmc-current/xbmc-bin/share/xbmc/addons/skin.confluence/fonts

I like to use a program called WinSCP to transfer and edit files on the " android box" in my case its a Raspberry PI

but I used it on a TOT IPTV box too which is much more like the android boxes being used.

williewolf · August 15, 2016

Update. After trying all day yesterday I have finally had a bit of sucsess. My android box was getting rather slow due to putting too many things on so I decided to have a go on my laptop and BINGO! Finally got it to work on the laptop, showing a choice of three fonts now, the original two plus the one I added.

So now I still have to tackle the android box or is it possible to back up the laptop to a memory stick and transfer to the android box??

Again any help is extremely gratefull

JaiMaai · August 15, 2016

Take a look at the "Community Portal" at www.noobsandnerds.com. They have an add on installer that also has a useful full back-up utility. Plenty of guides out there. Just Google it

williewolf · August 15, 2016

Ok, backed up my pc instalation on memory stick and transfered it to the android box. Everything is there EXCEPT the bloody font.

Still only two choices. Doing my head in now, any ideas anyone, PLEASE!!,

williewolf · August 15, 2016

On 13/08/2016 at 4:04 PM, scooterboy said:

Heh - yep, priorities......

I'd given today (Saturday) as the last chance (for the moment) to fix this 'small' problem. Yesterday, I finished off my Kodi session by installing the fonts directory in the (hopefully) correct place with 2 new fonts (1 JohnG's, 1 from another site) and leaving things until today.

Still couldn't get anything to work at all today - couldn't even download subtitles from ANY source, though it was possible to CHOOSE a subtitle. Hmmm.....that meant looking at the error log, which is divinely full of very cryptic messages. I could only guess from the log that there was something wrong with the download subtitle path (even though there wasn't one specified) so I reckoned it was necessary to set everything back to default, after taking a backup. Oh - and my file explorer had "View hidden files" turned on (by default), by the way.

That apparently helped, as I was now able to choose JohnG's font under KODI System/Subtitles. After choosing several tv-shows/movies, all with a weird Rick Astley video (just what IS that thing?) I finally managed to choose a movie and download a Thai subtitle - it worked! Thai subtitles displaying, so the wife is very happy. I have to take another backup (just in case) - and to make a full "How-to-do" description - and that's my lot for the next few days (other things call).

Many thanks for your immense help Peterw42 - and to JohnG for his arial file - and to all for your excellent advice and comments. Hope others can succeed in getting their Thai subtitles to work, too.

Cheers - and good viewing.

Where exactly did you put the font on the android box please?

scooterboy · August 16, 2016

Sorry, been away for some time, so haven't followed this thread. OK - here we go :

FIRSTLY. download the (hopefully attached) "fonts" zip file and unzip it. You will need to transfer the unzipped fonts folder to a USB stick or SD-CARD. Make sure the USB/SD is inserted into your Android Box before you switch on.

1. If you're NOT using ES Fi;e Explorer, then install it - so that we're "talking" about the same things. Different explorers do different things in different ways - and tend to screw up any communication. You can uninstall ES later.

2. Start ES and allow ES to use your USB.

On the LEFT ES panel click on USB or SD-CARD1 and find the folder "fonts". Press on

the folder name for a few seconds until the bottom status line changes to COPY....etc.

Click on COPY.

On the LEFT ES panel click on HOME - not the FIRST HOME, but the one underneath. Now you have a list of files and folders on the screen. Click on "Android", then on "data".

3. Look for the folder "org.xbmc.kodi"
Click on this folder, then on "files", then on "kodi", then on "media".
This is where you have to place the "fonts" folder.
Click on the PASTE icon on the bottom status line. The folder will be inserted
so that you can see "fonts", "SKINDEFAULT.jpg" and "SPLASH.jpg"
in the "media" folder on the screen - nothing more.

4. Start KODI and click on SYSTEM, Video, Subtitles - and in "Font to use
for subtitles" you should now be able to choose from the arrow menu.
Choose ARIAL.ttf (YES - with capital letters!) - this is the same font you downloaded.
In "Languages to download subtitles for" choose English, Thai (and any other
languages you need).

5. Now you should be able to see any Thai subtitles.

IF this doesn't work the first time, then try closing down and starting KODI
again.

Hope it all goes off OK.

Cheers

fonts.zip

johng · August 16, 2016

Good post scooterboy

So for an Android box the path to fonts should be

Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/media/fonts/ the fonts folder might not exist so you need to create it ?

scooterboy · August 16, 2016

Exactly - Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/media/

The fonts folder doesn't exist (unless you've already created a fonts folder, that is). For older KODI versions - I have no idea, of course.....and I've only had my Android Box a couple of weeks, so really don't know too much about it.

To access a font or to add further fonts the path would be -

Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/media/fonts/

Heh - and it was your arial.ttf file that I changed to ARIAL.ttf - just to be able to discern from the built-in KODI arial.ttf name. Thanks.

Cheers

williewolf · August 16, 2016

4 hours ago, scooterboy said:

Sorry, been away for some time, so haven't followed this thread. OK - here we go :

FIRSTLY. download the (hopefully attached) "fonts" zip file and unzip it. You will need to transfer the unzipped fonts folder to a USB stick or SD-CARD. Make sure the USB/SD is inserted into your Android Box before you switch on.

1. If you're NOT using ES Fi;e Explorer, then install it - so that we're "talking" about the same things. Different explorers do different things in different ways - and tend to screw up any communication. You can uninstall ES later.

2. Start ES and allow ES to use your USB.

On the LEFT ES panel click on USB or SD-CARD1 and find the folder "fonts". Press on

the folder name for a few seconds until the bottom status line changes to COPY....etc.

Click on COPY.

On the LEFT ES panel click on HOME - not the FIRST HOME, but the one underneath. Now you have a list of files and folders on the screen. Click on "Android", then on "data".

3. Look for the folder "org.xbmc.kodi"
Click on this folder, then on "files", then on "kodi", then on "media".
This is where you have to place the "fonts" folder.
Click on the PASTE icon on the bottom status line. The folder will be inserted
so that you can see "fonts", "SKINDEFAULT.jpg" and "SPLASH.jpg"
in the "media" folder on the screen - nothing more.

4. Start KODI and click on SYSTEM, Video, Subtitles - and in "Font to use
for subtitles" you should now be able to choose from the arrow menu.
Choose ARIAL.ttf (YES - with capital letters!) - this is the same font you downloaded.
In "Languages to download subtitles for" choose English, Thai (and any other
languages you need).

5. Now you should be able to see any Thai subtitles.

IF this doesn't work the first time, then try closing down and starting KODI
again.

Hope it all goes off OK.

Cheers

fonts.zip

Followed this to the letter, still no joy. When I opened the media folder it was empty so all that is there now is the "ARIAL" font??

scooterboy · August 16, 2016

Hmm...sounds like your KODI has problems. Still - a few questions :

1. Can you see or choose ARIAL.ttf in the System Subtitle screen?

2. Did you put the fonts folder on USB or SD-Card?

2. Did you place the folder "fonts" in the media folder? I ask coz you say

all that is there now is the "ARIAL" font - maybe your answer should've been

all that is there now is the fonts folder.

3. What KODI version are you using?

I also had difficulties in getting things to work, after I'd got the fonts folder in place. I had to return the system subtitle page to default and try again.

1. Start KODI. Click System, Video, Just make a note of what/any information

you need i.e. "Default TV show service" and " "Default movie service" info.

Scroll down to the LAST line "Reset above settings to default" and click.

When the default settings have been cleared, then shut down the Android Box and start up again.

Continue from 4. in my last post to you - you should be able now to choose ARIAL. ttf. Don't forget to also re-assign your "Default TV show service" and " "Default movie service" choices (i.e opensubtitles, subscene). Any other stuff you noted - add later, not now.

Good luck - and you're welcome to describe the details of what you do (or don't do) and what's successful and what's NOT successful. It can be difficult to guess what's happening with just Followed this to the letter, still no joy

williewolf · August 16, 2016

I downloaded your attachment to a usb stick. I then followed your procedure exactly. When I looked in the fonts folder i had pasted all that was there was the ARIAL.TTF font. I am running kodi 16.1

This is so frustrating because as i said i have got it working on my laptop so i have double checked all the settings against that. The only thing different is on my laptop i have three choices of fonts but on my box only two.

Peterw42 · August 16, 2016

Were are you located williewolf ?

williewolf · August 17, 2016

17 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Were are you located williewolf ?

Bangkok. I think the problem lies within my box. I deleted everything to do a fresh start but an old version of kodi was still there. I think that this must have come pre loaded on the box and i cannot get rid of it and it is causing a confliction in the program. I am now looking at different ways to back up and transfer from my laptop to the box. Its an old android 4.2 box and when kodi updates to version 17 i think i will have more problems so it may be a case of a new box

johng · August 17, 2016

1 hour ago, williewolf said:

Its an old android 4.2 box and when kodi updates to version 17 i think i will have more problems so it may be a case of a new box

One of the "bad" things about relying on addons is that KODI is ever changing and often these changes break the addons ,

so if you do get things working as you want them try to find out how to disable the auto updates

some addons will eventually break but at least the box will be "usable" in an off line way meaning you can watch stuff from an attached hard drive /flash drive or NAS server.

If you have a folder with say a movie called avatar.mp4 the subtitle needs to be called avatar.srt or avatar.thai.srt

in other words the file names must match including capital letters

http://kodi.wiki/view/subtitles

You have to also watch out for Thai subs that aren't encoded in the correct character set

there are a few sets including

8-bit ASCII (TIS-60)

TIS-620

874 (ANSI/OEM - Thai)

if the font and machine character sets don't match the subtitles will be gibberish.

Berty100 · August 17, 2016

20 hours ago, williewolf said:

I downloaded your attachment to a usb stick. I then followed your procedure exactly. When I looked in the fonts folder i had pasted all that was there was the ARIAL.TTF font. I am running kodi 16.1

This is so frustrating because as i said i have got it working on my laptop so i have double checked all the settings against that. The only thing different is on my laptop i have three choices of fonts but on my box only two.

Arial.ttf is available in the standard Kodi installation and does not support Thai fonts.

The one you need is AD-TT Garuda Regular

Create a folder named Fonts in the Kodi>Media folder, then copy and paste the ttached file into it. Next open Kodi and in System>video> subtitles select AD-TT Garuda reguler.ttf

AD-TT-Garuda-Regular.ttf

williewolf · August 17, 2016

7 hours ago, Berty100 said:

Arial.ttf is available in the standard Kodi installation and does not support Thai fonts.

The one you need is AD-TT Garuda Regular

Create a folder named Fonts in the Kodi>Media folder, then copy and paste the ttached file into it. Next open Kodi and in System>video> subtitles select AD-TT Garuda reguler.ttf

AD-TT-Garuda-Regular.ttf

Thanks for that, but i was replying to the person who posted the font, he had renamed it ARIAL, (note the capital letters to differentiate).

The font i have working on my laptop is arialuni.

I will try your font tommorow, thank you

Berty100 · August 17, 2016

7 minutes ago, williewolf said:

Thanks for that, but i was replying to the person who posted the font, he had renamed it ARIAL, (note the capital letters to differentiate).

The font i have working on my laptop is arialuni.

I will try your font tommorow, thank you

Keep in mind you need to create a folder "Fonts" in the media folder and paste the font in that folder you just created.

I also tried the ArialUni font, and the file I have is much larger actually than the one posted here (23Mb), but it worked only certain Thai subtitles where the AD-TT-Garuda works on all Thai subtitles regardless how they are coded.

williewolf · August 19, 2016

On 17/08/2016 at 8:19 PM, Berty100 said:

Keep in mind you need to create a folder "Fonts" in the media folder and paste the font in that folder you just created.

I also tried the ArialUni font, and the file I have is much larger actually than the one posted here (23Mb), but it worked only certain Thai subtitles where the AD-TT-Garuda works on all Thai subtitles regardless how they are coded.

Thanks. I tried your font on my laptop, works fine and took just a couple of minutes to install and see it working. The android box, well, still no joy. I am going to have one more crack at it today and if its no good b#lls to it, it has started to take over my life lol.

My box is a couple of years old and when the new version of kodi is released i think i may struggle even more.

I even tried editing the xml file but it would not let me , so i think something is rooted to the box. I have tried clearing everything from the box as far as i could but there is an old version of kodi still there

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