You need:
(1) First, make sure you have:
(2) If you use Media Player Classic 6.4.5.7 or later in the VMR-9 mode, you are already ready to play SSA'ed Matroska.
Otherwise:
(3-A) To handle SSA'ed Matroska, you need:
[*1]
Matroska Splitter 1.0.1.2 works fine, though you cannot use Unicode characters in the file path (Recommended)
1.0.1.3 supports Unicode filenames, but can't handle SSA well. (Don't use it)
1.0.1.4 has the same problem. (Don't use it)
1.0.1.5 is still slightly problematic.
1.0.1.6 or newer should be fine.
(3-B) To render subs, you need:
NOTE:
VSFilter is a newer form of Direct VobSub:
If you already have VobSub 2.23, just install VS Filter. You don't have to uninstall VobSub.
If you don't have VobSub, just install VS Filter. You don't have to install VobSub 2.23.
If you have VS Filter 2.26 or older, update it to 2.27 or newer.
(1) If an installer (newer than 0.4.3) is officially provided, you may want to use it. (Note: MatroskaPack v.0.4.3 doesn't support SSA.)
(2) OR: Get our "Matroska Mew Mew Installer" (mewmew_inst.zip), unzip it, and click install.bat. This will install MatroskaSplitter 1.0.1.2 and VSFilter 2.27.
(1) In DirectVobSub, right click the green arrow icon, and you'll get the menu.
(2) In MPC's renderer, go to Play | Subtitles.
(3) In TCMP 4.0 RC3, right click on the screen and switch languages using "Audio Stream" menu.
(4) In Zoom Player 3.10, right click on the screen and use "Language" menu.
It means "softsubbed in SSA," or switchable/customizable "rich subtitles" in SSA format are embedded.
Open the "Options" dialog box, and select "Video Mixing Render 9 (Renderless)" in "Playback | Output | Video." You need DirectX 9.0 or newer, and a hardware accelerated D3D video card.
You are getting subtitles both from MPC itself and from DirectVobSub. Just disable one of the two. If you are going to use MPC only, you may want to uninstall VSFilter, or less radically: Open the DirectVobSub setting dialog box, go to the "misc" tab, and check "Hide Subtitles." Then your DirectVobSub won't show subtitles by default.
(1) If you are using VSFilter (DirectVobSub) to render subtitles, right click the green arrow icon and select "DirectVobSub." You'll get the setting dialog box. Go to the "misc" tab, and uncheck "Pre-buffer subpictures."
(2) If you are using MPC's intrinsic subtitle renderer: Go to View | Options... | Subtitles | Texture Settings and set "Number of subpictures to buffer ahead" = 0. If your CPU is not very fast, you may want to lower "Maximum texture resolution" in the same pane.
These settings are not recommended for general purposes, unless your CPU is very fast.
This happens when VobSub is old. The newest version at gabest.org is 2.23 as of today. But you have to use VSFilter 2.27 or newer. (You don't have to uninstall VobSub to install VSFilter.)
If you have toubles in DirectVobSub, try MPC in the VMR-9 mode instead.
In the language menu, select "Hide subtitles" or uncheck "enable."
The best you can try is, probably to use MPC in the VMR-9 mode, with the least "Maximum texture resolution." (384x298) You may also want to increase the "Number of subpictures to buffer ahead."