Jellyfin addon for Kodi and ISO files

[Norixone]

Hello everyone. 
I am using Jellyfin to cast films and multichannel music to kodi v21.1 installed on an HTPC and everything works brilliantly including multichannel dsd files. The only thing that does not work is casting ISO files. Even though some do start-up, they have several issues such as audio dropouts, audio out of sync or not booting from the menu and just running the FBI and anti piracy warnings without any possibility to access the main menu. All these ISO files run perfectly if launched directly from Kodi using SMB or NFS file system. I have tried installing the Jellyfin plugin (native mode and addon tested) and if I click on the corrisponding poster or file imported from Jellyfin the iso file will behave just like if casted through Jellyfin. The wired thing is that if I do select the iso using the kodi generated poster or file it will play without any issue. Is there any workaround to at least use the Jellyfin addon and being able to play the ISO files within Kodi?

[KodiUser1138]

I don't believe JF is designed to handle ISO files.

[TheDreadPirate]

What KodiUser said. Because ISO support is not something explicitly put into Jellyfin, Jellyfin is dependent on ffmpeg's support of them, we do not explicitly advertise support for ISOs.

SOMETIMES it will work, but most of the time it won't.

[Norixone]

Thanks to both of you. I was hoping that by using Native mode I would get the benefits of both Kodi and Jellyfin.

[KodiUser1138]

Thanks to both of you. I was hoping that by using Native mode I would get the benefits of both Kodi and Jellyfin.

Is there a reason you use ISO vs ripping the discs to MKV, even if you want all the features and such? JF and Kodi work wonderfully in both Native and Add-On mode (for a remote connection) and JF can handle all the extras as well as feed to Kodi through Native (can't remember if remote Add-On works).

Plus you can save some storage space by culling anything unwanted, extra audio streams, unwanted files on the discs and such.

Can't offer any more help on ISOs as I've never used them myself but have been with Kodi for over 12 years and JF as the server now for 3 and loving it. All speed bumps and hiccups aside.

[Norixone]

The reason is that some blurays are difficult to manage in mkv. Such is the case for those with forced subtitles in a foreign language. I had issues with The Greatest Showma. While watching in Italian the subtitles would appear during the entire film and not only during the English musical parts. Disney's Up was another of those I had issues with due to the way the film was split into different files. Although I had reconstructed the correct sequence, the mkv was not playing well. I love the idea of using Jellyfin within Kodi and that is the reason I am getting wride of my bluray player and opted for a HTPC, but somethings still need to be ironed out or I need to find more time to work on the project and find the ways to make things work.

[TheDreadPirate]

You can use ffmpeg to change the disposition of subtitles.

Code:

-disposition:s 0

That ffmpeg option will remove forced and default subtitle dispositions.

As for the issues you've described regarding the correct sequence, a lot of Blurays will have multiple entries with different segments used. FWIW, Disney always uses the "800" track as the properly sequenced movie for their blurays.

And I've yet to encounter a movie, DVD or Bluray, where the movie itself came off the disc as more than one file. Only TV shows.

[KodiUser1138]

For your issue with subtitles look into using MKVToolNIX to edit the headers of the individual streams within the MKV containers. There you can set the defult audio track, default subtitles track and set that to forced as well. Of course you need to know which track you want out of the entire dic so it adds some work in sorting out. The best part though, is outside of some time on your part, its' all free to tinker and experiment.

I have Blu-ray rips of foreign films that contain both the original language audio as well as the English dub, and then subtitles for both. And any films that have subtitiled sections where the subs are forced streams not baked into the video you have to find as well. But the bit of work up front makes the overall experience at the end much more enjoyable. Especially if you want to use JF as yourmedia server and Kodi just at the client, which I have setup and I love.

[Norixone]

Thank you @KodiUser1138 and @TheDreadPirate for your suggestions.
@KodiUser1138 I do use mkvtoolnix, but with the Greatest Showman I was not able to establish a way for the English subtitles to come on only during the English sang sections. Or it is always on or always off. So simply ripped to iso and got on with it :-)

[KodiUser1138]

Thank you @KodiUser1138 and @TheDreadPirate for your suggestions.
@KodiUser1138 I do use mkvtoolnix, but with the Greatest Showman I was not able to establish a way for the English subtitles to come on only during the English sang sections. Or it is always on or always off. So simply ripped to iso and got on with it :-)

It's likely one of the many subtitle tracks that you qould rip into the MKV and then sort which one(s) you want to keep and from there which should be forced.

If the ISO worked for you through JF to Kodi then great. If not then maybe it's worth a bit of time to sort out the MKV so you can have things working.

This whole thing is a full hobby unto itself and the more you put in the more you get out. Some media takes no time at all but some takes more attention. In the end when you sit down to just enjoy, just enjoy is what you get to do!