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Judd Eisenhauer
These are all relevant reasons for subtitles, but Netflix has not (yet) implemented a fully working solution for subtitles in its streaming engine. Only a limited selection of movies in the streaming library have closed captioning available within Netflix. And there is no multi-language availability. So if you want to display subtitles in Spanish for one of the Hollywood movies on Netflix, you are out of luck. Or at least so it seems on the surface.
Step 1: Search for an SRT file with subtitles for the movie of your choice from any of the many web sites specializing in subtitles. I personally like to use a web site called PodNapisi. Please note that downloading a file with subtitles is perfectly legal, because the subtitles have been generated by a user (i.e., they are not copyrigthted content). If the web site offers you several choices, download the one that is formatted for a single file and for 25 frames per second (fps).
Step 2: Play the movie in the Netflix player for a little bit and mark the timing (minutes and seconds) for the first few lines of dialogue. This is very important! You will find that many subtitles files that you download from the web are a little off in timing compared to the Netflix movies. This is because the subtitles were meant for a movie that comes from another source (e.g., DVD) and Netflix may have added or deleted a few seconds of video from the beginning of the movie. You will need the information about timing in the next few steps, so make a note of it somewhere.
Step 4: Run Jubler and open the SRT file with the subtitles that you have downloaded. For illustrative purposes in this post, I will be using The Perfect Host movie and Spanish subtitles for that movie, which I found on the PodNapisi web site.
Step 5: A quick look at the first few lines of the subtitles reveals that they are lagging about 1.5 seconds behind the movie as it has been formatted for Netflix. (Remember the timings that I asked you to mark for the first few lines of dialogue in the movie, in Step 2?) You will need to shift the timing a bit. To do that, first select all the lines of the subtitles in Jubler.
Step 9: Jubler does not have DFXP as an option. However, it allows you to export into XML, which is essentially the same as DFXP. From the Format dropdown list, select W3C Timed Text (XML) as your desired output format.
Step 10: Select UTF-8 as the target encoding. This is very important! If you fail to export your subtitles under the UTF-8 encoding, it is highly likely your output file will not be properly read by Netflix.
Note for Mac OS X users: You will have to select Get Info for that file and rename the file from the Get Info window. Simply right-clicking on the file and choosing Rename may not work properly, because that affects only the name of the file, but not the real extension of the file.
Step 13: Now go back to the browser tab where you are running Netflix. Start the movie and pause it when it loads and begins playing. As you are in the Netflix player and the movie is paused, press simultaneously the following combination of keys:
Step 14: Select the second option (Load Custom DFXP File) from the Diagnostics menu. A window will pop up, which will ask you to locate the DFXP file with the subtitles. Go to the location on your hard disk where you saved the DFXP file converted by Jubler (as discussed in Step 11). Select to open that file.
I have been developing custom subtitles for Netflix content for two years. As far as I can tell, support for DFXP custom subs has been disabled by Netflix with the most recent iteration of Silverlight. A lot of work has gone down the drain.
I have enjoyed several movies finally with subtitles thanks to your very detailed instructions. I have not been able to convert subtitles to Friday Night Lights (television series) using the same steps. Though everything looks the same, it does not work. Are television series different?
This may sound like an obvious question, but did you try to fix this problem by logging out of Netflix and restarting the browser? I am asking because I had a similar issue with titles for one movie once. I was tinkering with the titles, trying to sync the copy of the titles I had found on the Web with the actual times on the Netflix version of the movie. Since I had tried loading the dfxp file too many times, at one point I started experiencing exactly the same problems you are describing. I logged out of Netflix, closed the browser (Chrome), then restarted it, logged back into Netflix and the problems had miraculously disappeared.
Thank you so much for your website, helpful information and timely responses. I am a Spanish student that has been looking for a way to get Spanish subtitles on my movies/TV for awhile without having to purchase or rent the DVDs themselves.
Thanks to you, I now can combine entertainment with foreign language learning!
I am about to subscribe to netflix and want to add subtitiles in spanish using this method.Could I download an older version of netflix without the new silverlight update,or has this problem been resolved
Thanks for the kind words and sharing your experience. I completely understand your issues with DVDs not equipped with subtitles. I think the Netflix option may work well for you since you can add custom subtitles at your own decision.
Good luck and let me know how your experience goes.
Emil
Hello Emil,
I just subscribed to Netflix with the 30 day trial, I have yet to try your instructions but prior to doing it I wanted to know if there was a way to set it up for playing the movies on my PlayStation 3. Thanks.
Joel
I have a PS3 and I signed up for Netflix through my PS3. Regarding subtitles; I download my subtitles on my computer (following above instructions) and then attach a HDMI cable from my computer to my TV. You can then watch whatever is on your computer on your TV. Remember to change your TV input to the HDMI setting.
Hi Emil
How do I connect my laptop to my T.V. I have a toshiba satellite L655 which only has a VGA out,I bought a VGA to HDMI and I have a audio cord also because from what I understand the VGA only carries video.I plugged them in but nothing,maybee the settings on my computer or something,Seems like it should be simple but so far I am unsuccessful.Any help would be great.
hey emil
when i press the hotkey and f5 the screen on the laptop goes black and then returns,but nothing changes with the television.
Do I need a converter box.I just have a cord with vga on one end and hdmi on the other so I just ran it from the laptop directly to the tv, not sure if I need some kind of converter or what,
1) With some laptop configurations, you need to press the hotkey and f5 several times to get to the right setting. And pause for a second between each press to see if anything changes on your screens.
Just recently my Netflix software has been updated, despite the fact that I have purposely avoided downloading anything new. Now I am unable to put subtitles on my Netflix. Have you had the same problem? If so, do you know of any resolution or new method of inputing subtitles on to Netflix movies?
There is no Diagnostic Menu on my netflix.When I pause the movie and than CTRL-OPTION-SHIFT-M(nothing happen)But the other hiddens menu short cuts is working..Let say CTRL-OPTION-SHİFT-L or D..Please Help!!
Thanks for your Help
Gozi
Hi, thanks a lot for the turorial, and could work for me. however, I am trying to set this up for my elder parents. I wonder if there is a way to create a macro or something. looks like lots of manual work, prone to errors. anybody gave it a try?.. I will try but I am not to comp knowledgeable.
Mikki, good question. I recommend 25 fps because that works for me on Netflix. I know most BR/DVD subs are 23.976 fps, so this could be a pain. You may try with 23.976 fps subs and apply a time correction using one of the subs editors out there. It should work. Let me know.
Heres my two cents when im asked to locate the DFXP file. Though its on the desktop i do not see it in the window. in that case what you have to do is simply drag and drop it and it will appear. i hope this helps.
I was wondering how to add subtitles in Netflix, and I finally found a more simple solution : SUBTITLE VIEWERS. Those are programs that play the subtitles in a box that you can put over any video. I use strViewer on mac, but there are many of those subtitle viewers on PC too.
Thanks for your advice. I suspected that fps is the issue. When I did the maths, 23.975 (fps per dvd) out of 25 (fps per Netflix) is 0.959. When I checked how long the Netflix version was vs where the subtitle file ended, the subtitle file ended pretty much where I would expect it if it was playing on a 23.975 fps video file. I believe this means a DVD file may be 95.9% as long as its 25 fps Netflix counterpart.
Is there a way to compress or expand the timings of all subtitles by a certain factor (e.g. 0.959) rather than just linearly shifting timings forwards or backwards or just manually computing and adjusting each individual subtitle?
Thanks guys i did figure it out at the end by FF few seconds. my other question is when i reduce the SRTviewer window the subtitles disappear too. i kinda have to leave on the main screen. are you facing the same issue as well?
Hello Thanks for your post I was wondering how to add subtitles in Netflix, and I finally found a more simple solution!.
I have a website with subtitles for Netflix you can find it on is very easy only download the DFXP and view your movie ?
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Thanks a lot!