Subtitles Burned In on Video Converter

[DVDJunky]

I recently converted some MKV movies to MP4 using Video Converter. For subtitles, I checked English. When I played the movie in Plex, the subtitles showed up in English and I could not turn them off. When I looked at the streams though the Plex menu, it showed subtitles as "None", which is why I could not turn them off.

So, I went back and converted the original MKV again, and I checked English for subtitles, but this time I also checked Forced only. The same thing happened in Plex when I played the converted MP4, where the streams said "None" for subtitles, but the English subtitles were somehow burned into the movie.

Then, I went back and converted the original MKV a third time, but this time I set the subtitles in DVDFab to None. This time there were no subtitles showing in Plex when I played the movie. It seemed like success, but it wasn't what I wanted.

I like to have the English subtitles available when I play a movie because my wife is a little hard of hearing, so I turn the subtitles on when we are watching a movie together. When I watch by myself, I turn the subtitles off. I don't remember this burn-in ever happening before, and I usually keep DVDFab updated.

What are the proper settings in Video Converter so I can turn the English subtitles on and off when I play the movie in Plex?

[Mona]

You can switch the subtitle mode to the one you need in the Advanced Settings window.
1> "Remux into file": you can disable or enable subtitle during playback;
2> "Direct render to video": subtitles cannot be disabled as they are embedded into the video (you can only choose one subtitle stream);
3> "Extract to idx/sub file": you can disable or enable subtitle during playback, however, some players don't support this kind of subtitle files;

[DVDJunky]

Thanks, Mona. What does the program do if I choose "Display only forced subtitle"? Is that the same as choosing "Remux into file" in Advanced Settings?

[DVDJunky]

One other thing. When I switch to "Remux into file", I get another choice if I check "Forced". I can choose "Forced only" or "Normal and forced only". What is the difference?

[Mona]

This "Display only forced subtitle" is especially for the forced subtitle, which is the subtitle appearing on screen when the characters speak a foreign or alien language.
If you tick this option and choose "Forced only", the result file will only retain those subtitles for foreign language; If you choose "Normal and forced only", you will have both forced subtitle and regular subtitle for playback.

[DVDJunky]

I tried that with the movie Nighthawks (1981), which has English and 3 other languages. The subtitles did not show up during the foreign language scenes. Should I try direct render to video with English subtitles checked?

[DVDJunky]

Or should I still use "remux into file" but do not check "Normal and forced only"? Checking "Normal and forced only" with "English" subtitles checked gave me no subtitles at all in the resulting MP4 file. The original MKV did have subtitles during the non-English scenes. I am a little confused as to what to do for movies that have only some scenes in other languages.