Arabic subtitles are showing up as symbols no matter what i do

hey, please i need help

i use windows 8, and i am not very good with computers though i know enough to get by and am good at using google, however recently i have come across this problem, ad after trying almost all the methods mentioned in previous similar questions at different sites i am still encountering the same problem.

arabic subtitles always look something like this
Úáì ÈõÚÏ 600 ßíáæ ãÊÑ ÝæÞ ßæßÈ ÇáÃÑÖ¡ ÏÑÌÉ
.ÇáÍÑÇÑÉ ÊÊøÑÇæÍ Èíä +285 æ -148 ÏÑÌÉ ÝåÑäåÇíÊíÉ


i tried first changing the player, (hiplayer, mpcstar, windows media player classic, vlc, windows media player,)

when that didn't work i thought there was a problem with the actual subtitle file, so i downloaded different ones, from different sites, and different extentions (.srt, .sub) but nothing worked

i googled the problem and 90% of people said the problem was that the srt file was saved with a font incompatible with arabic, or that the encoding needs to be changed to UTF-8 , UNICODE, ANSI i changed the font to arabic and in the sample it shows arabic clearly, i tried the sub after saving it as UTF-8, Unicode, and ANSI and everytime i came across the same wierd symbols

my computer supports arabic i think, because it normally allows me to open read and edit documents written in arabic, however when i open the srt file in notepad this is what i see

1
00:00:04,106 --> 00:00:13,775
<font color=#0080ff> ÊÜÜÜÑÌãÉ æ ÊÚÏíá</font>
<font color=#008000>|| ÇáÏßÊæÑ Úáí ØáÇá & ÃäÓ ÇáÌäÇÈíø ||</font>

1
00:00:14,106 --> 00:00:21,775
<font color=#0080ff>Úáì ÈõÚÏ 600 ßíáæ ãÊÑ ÝæÞ ßæßÈ ÇáÃÑÖ¡ ÏÑÌÉ
.ÇáÍÑÇÑÉ ÊÊøÑÇæÍ Èíä +285 æ -148 ÏÑÌÉ ÝåÑäåÇíÊíÉ</font>

2
00:00:23,015 --> 00:00:25,466
<font color=#0080ff>.áÇ íõæÌÏ æÓøíØ áäÞá ÇáÕæÊ</font>



Can someone please please please please help me O_O   

You don't need to modify the subtitles files. The changes you made are also invalid.

Do this:
MPC-HC options > Subtitles > Default Style > click on "DEFAULT (1)" and change it to "ARABIC (178)".
This will change the 'code page' and characters should then be displayed correctly.

first thank you for responding i really apreciate it

second i can't find the item subtitles in the MPC Options, let me describe what i did

1) i opened MPC star,
2) right click, and chose OPTIONS from the menu that appeared
3) i looked for the item subtitles but couldn't find it, this is what it looked like

https://i.servimg.com/u/f56/18/77/94/37/n11.png

if i am doing something wrong can you please tell me what to do?

MPCStar is not in any way related to the codec pack. The player from the codec pack is called "MPC-HC" (also know as Media Player Classic).

hello again,
forst thank you so much for taking the time to help me

second, i regret to inform you that i did as you said exactly and it didn't work    

MPC-HC options > Subtitles > Default Style > click on "DEFAULT (1)" and change it to "ARABIC (178)".
This will change the 'code page' and characters should then be displayed correctly.

still got the gibberish when i actually tried to play the movie

is there something else i can try?

thank you again

If you are using Windows XP then:
Start > Programs > K-Lite Codec Pack > Configuration > DirectVobSub > Main > Text Settings > click on Arial > select "Arabic (178)"

no am using windows 8   

Maybe this helps:
MPC-HC options > Subtitles > Default Style > Arial > change script from "Western" to "Arabic"

I Opened it to turn the script to arabic, found that it already is

Then I don't know what is wrong.

Does the text display correctly when you open the original unmodified file in Notepad?

i thought there was a problem with the actual subtitle file, so i downloaded different ones, from different sites, and different extentions (.srt, .sub) but nothing worked

my computer supports arabic i think, because it normally allows me to open read and edit documents written in arabic, however when i open the srt file in notepad this is what i see

1
00:00:04,106 --> 00:00:13,775
<font color=#0080ff> ÊÜÜÜÑÌãÉ æ ÊÚÏíá</font>
<font color=#008000>|| ÇáÏßÊæÑ Úáí ØáÇá & ÃäÓ ÇáÌäÇÈíø ||</font>

1
00:00:14,106 --> 00:00:21,775
<font color=#0080ff>Úáì ÈõÚÏ 600 ßíáæ ãÊÑ ÝæÞ ßæßÈ ÇáÃÑÖ¡ ÏÑÌÉ
.ÇáÍÑÇÑÉ ÊÊøÑÇæÍ Èíä +285 æ -148 ÏÑÌÉ ÝåÑäåÇíÊíÉ</font>

2
00:00:23,015 --> 00:00:25,466
<font color=#0080ff>.áÇ íõæÌÏ æÓøíØ áäÞá ÇáÕæÊ</font>

Can you give me a link to one of those .srt files? Then I can test it on my own computer.

i was just getting the same problem as you ...

i solve it .. its very simple ..

open the classic media player then go to :

play ---> subtitles ---> styles --->then change it from"DEFAULT (1)" to "ARABIC (178)"

and im sure that it well be solved ..

by the way .. i was looking for an solution so i just registered to tell you the solution

regards

Samars wrote:hello again,
forst thank you so much for taking the time to help me

second, i regret to inform you that i did as you said exactly and it didn't work    

MPC-HC options > Subtitles > Default Style > click on "DEFAULT (1)" and change it to "ARABIC (178)".
This will change the 'code page' and characters should then be displayed correctly.

still got the gibberish when i actually tried to play the movie

is there something else i can try?

thank you again

Kind of a late reply, you may not need an answer any more.
In Media Player Classic, try this:
Options > Playback > DVD/OGM > "Preferred language for DVD Navigator and the external OGM Splitter" > Click on Subtitles > I chose Arabic (Egypt) > Press OK then restart the player.
Hope this works, it worked for me after changing Style to "ARABIC (178)"

Yes, that will work for DVD subtitles.

The other setting is for subtitles for other video types.

Admin wrote:Yes, that will work for DVD subtitles.

The other setting is for subtitles for other video types.

That's what I thought, too, but that's what solved my problem. It actually worked for videos (i don't use dvd's).
Maybe MPC treats some videos as a DVD.

Maybe it uses that for VobSub types subtitles (.idx/.sub) as that is the format used by DVDs. The other setting then works for text-based subtitles like SRT.