Subtitles issue with the Joe Rogan podcast

[Analord]

Hi, so I've experienced this weird issue for a while now but it seemingly became worse recently and is very annoying.

Here's what happens : when I start playing a video from the Joe Rogan podcast the subtitles almost never show up, at this point it's maybe 1 every 20 videos.  Now when the subtitles finally show up they're also available for the other videos, but obviously I don't want to start 20 episodes before I can watch the one I want to watch...

I'm on a windows 10 laptop and the same issue was occuring on my previous windows 7 laptop.

[Analord]

Hey everyone!

Thank you for all your reports 🙌🏼
Please keep in mind that it can take time for subtitles to get uploaded; the creators do it themselves 🙂 

In this case, this is not up to us, as the captions are not Spotify-generated.

Hope this clears things up!

[MafeG]

Hi @Analord,

Thank you for sharing your post on the Community. 

To start, we'd like to have some more information about this issue. Is this happening only on one device or any other you try to use? 

Also, do you have the same issue with any other podcast show?

Lastly, to rule out any issues with your account, can you log in with another account, such as a friend's or a family member's to see if the issue persists? Alternatively, you can create a free account here, just make sure you're logged out of your own account before creating a new one.  

Keep us posted.

[Analord]

- I haven't tried other devices other than my laptop and the previous one.

- I just tried to watch episodes of the Higher Learning podcast and the same issue is occurring.

- I just created a new account and the same issue is occurring.

[Kiril]

Hey @Analord,

Thanks for your reply and info.

We asked you to possibly try a different device (maybe on a friend or relative's mobile) so we're sure this happens for you across all platforms or it's only on the desktop version of the app. In this regard could you also try to see if the issue persist using our web player as well. 

We're grateful for checking out and confirming for us that this happens for you on other shows as well. And if the issue persists on your freshly created account, then this also rules out the possibility that it was something specific to your original account only. 

This really seems like an unexpected behavior, so we'd like to investigate it deeper. Could we ask you for a short screen recording of the situation occurring on your laptop, so we can take a closer look of what happens on your end. Also could you share with us the current Spotify version you have on, as well as your laptop's exact OS version details.

Let us know how things work out, we'll be keeping an eye out for your reply.

[Alex409]

This exact thing happens all the time. Subtitles always stop working (usually when a cracking episode drops) and then reappear much later. I've been checking back ever since the one with Snoop dropped - every single episode including and since that one has no subtitles. It's auto-generated too, which makes it even more annoying, as that should be easy to sort out! 

[Analord]

Sorry for the late reply, I had trouble finding a good screen recorder...

The same issue occurs on the app and the web player, I have the latest version of the app.

As for my "laptop's exact OS version details", I'm not sure but I think you're asking for this (in french) :

Édition Windows 10 Famille
Version 21H1
Installé le ‎01/‎04/‎2021
Build du système d’exploitation 19043.1348
Expérience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0

[Eni]

Hi folks! 

Thanks for your replies. 

@Alex409, could you let us know if this happens across devices or only on a specific one? Additionally, could you let us know the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your device? Lastly, we suggest that you try restarting your router and see if that makes the difference.

@Analord, would you mind checking if the same happens on your phone? Additionally, could you try using a different internet connection to see if the issue persists?

We'll be on the lookout. 

[Analord]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "a different internet connection", but if I'm using a hotspot the same issue occurs.

I don't have access to a smartphone right now, but in any case I want to watch these episodes on my laptop, so...

[MafeG]

Hi @Analord,

Thank you for keeping in touch. 

Using a different internet connection would be connecting to another WIFI, or maybe connect to cellular data as well.

In any case, could you confirm that your Firewall isn't blocking any connection for Spotify? Also, It's worth removing the hosts file from your computer following these steps.

Lastly, in the video you shared with us we noticed your image settings are set to high contrast. Could you turn that setting off and check if that makes a difference with the subtitles?

Keep us posted.

[Analord]

I didn't see anything related to Spotify in the hosts file, and "spotify.exe" isn't blocked by my firewall. The high contrast thing doesn't change anything.

One thing I should note is that it's not totally random, for example if I want the subtitles to be available I use the same episode for at least a month now, i.e. I open the video, the subtitles appear and then they're available for (seemingly) all of the other videos. But eventually it stops working and I have to find another episode to "trigger" the subtitles function... (I hope I'm being clear)

[Eni]

Hey @Analord, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

We can confirm that not all of the podcast episodes have subtitles. You can see that by checking if the icon highlighted in red in the screenshot is visible.

If you've already checked and the episode should have subtitles, would you mind sending us the URI of episode? You can get it by following the steps here.

Also, could you send us a screen recording of that specific episode where we can see that the subtitles don't show up? We'll take a closer look. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[Alex409]

It's a 2014 Mac Pro on Big Sur version 11.5.1

Same problem on the web player, the app on my iPhone and this Mac. 

The iPhone actually specifies captions are "unavailable" on all of the podcasts since roughly Nov 12th. 

All subtitles on these podcasts are automatically generated so surely it's simply a case of activating that function? 

[Analord]

Indeed, subtitles seem to be unavailable for every episode since nov 12th (episode #1733). The "trick" I mentioned above (triggering the subtitles function with another video) doesn't work for these.

I might as well mention another issue I have with these subtitles which is how ridiculously small they are, even a minor form of myopia would probably prevent people from being able to read them...

[Analord]

Subtitles seem to be back, they are still incredibly small but it's better than nothing.

[Analord]

Second time I've created this topic but last time it got deleted and my post was "merged" with another topic about a completely different issue, something about episodes being unavailable or something...

My issue is only with subtitles, the same problem happened about a year ago and as I said in the post that was merged (which only added confusion to the other topic by the way), I hope you can resolve this soon...

[Alex]

Hi there, @Analord,

Thanks for reaching out about this and flagging this issue again.

I found your other thread where you posted about the Lyrics issue last time - here.  

This time, some users are having trouble loading episodes that came out after #1921. This issue is currently being investigated as it affects a large number of users across multiple countries. Most likely you're not seeing the Lyrics for these episodes because of this issue.  

We've passed on your feedback on to the tech teams working on resolving this. We can't say for sure when the Lyrics will be back, but hopefully this should get fixed soon.

Cheers.

[tamkislo]

so as far as i understood the issue has never been solved right? so frustrating (( 

[Badeshafateh2940]

Hey so It worked for me try turning your subtitles on of your TV go to settings >accessibility >subtitles 

I have a LG smart TV

[Alex409]

Same issue has returned - no subtitles on any episode since Jan 5th. Not an internet issue or a problem with my computer 

[justnoww]

same problem here any fix?