Asked for directly, right after the client-side <track> redesign closed
every *text* subtitle case: PGS/VobSub/DVB subtitles (Blu-ray/DVD rips)
are bitmaps, not text - there's nothing for Emby's Stream.vtt conversion
to extract, so a native <track> fundamentally can't render one. Rather
than keep asking Emby's own transcode to burn these in (the exact thing
that kept failing in earlier sessions - missing fontconfig, then an
unrelated "Error starting ffmpeg"), this runs ffmpeg ourselves: a PGS
stream decodes like a second video track, and ffmpeg's `overlay` filter
composites it directly - no text rendering, no libass, no fontconfig
anywhere in this path.
One shared stream per PARTY, not per viewer - explicitly asked for after
the initial plan: every member plugs into the exact same server-emitted
stream, mirroring "host drives, everyone follows" rather than a
per-viewer model. Picking a burn-in subtitle is therefore a host-only,
party-wide choice, like play/pause/next already are.
- server/src/services/TranscodeService.ts (new): one ffmpeg session per
partyId. getOrStartSession negotiates PlaybackInfo (via the new
CatalogService.getMediaSource), converts Emby's absolute
MediaStreams[].Index into ffmpeg's type-relative 0:s:N/0🅰️N
(absoluteToRelativeIndex - pure, unit-tested), and spawns ffmpeg
against Emby's own direct/static file endpoint (TODO(verify) - no
Emby server reachable from this dev environment, see the function's
own comment). Output is real progressive HLS to a temp dir, served by
two new routes that poll briefly for the next file. endSession/
reapIdleSessions handle teardown; PartyService's destroy path and
advanceQueue both end a party's session immediately, the idle sweep
is the backstop.
- server/src/services/PartyService.ts: Party/PartyPublicState gain
burnInSubtitleIndex/burnInAudioIndex (null together = no burn-in);
advanceQueue clears them (a new item's indices mean nothing on the
old one).
- server/src/realtime/SocketGateway.ts: new host-only "setBurnInSubtitle"
handler broadcasting "burnInChanged" - same shape as "next"/
"itemChanged".
- server/src/services/CatalogService.ts: new getMediaSource() (id/
container/streams together - what TranscodeService needs); extended
the local PlaybackInfoResponse type with Container.
- server/src/Logger.ts: new Logger.transcode().
- server/src/index.ts: GET /api/catalog/burn/:partyId/master.m3u8 and
.../:segment (membership-checked, same pattern as the party REST
routes); a dedicated idle-reap interval for TranscodeService.
- server/Dockerfile: `apk add ffmpeg` in the runtime stage - no font
packages needed, unlike Emby's own text-subtitle burn-in.
- client/src/api/party.ts, client/src/api/embyApi.ts: setBurnInSubtitle/
onBurnInChanged on PartyConnection, burnInStreamUrl().
- client/src/views/player/Player.{html,css,ts}: the subtitle picker's
image-track options go from unconditionally disabled to host-only
selectable, labeled to say picking one restarts the stream for
everyone. Every member (host included) only ever reacts to the
resulting "burnInChanged" broadcast - never applies a pick
optimistically, same discipline the rest of the player already uses.
Audio/quality are disabled while a burn-in is active (one fixed
encode); a follower's subtitle select is disabled too (nothing left
for them to meaningfully pick).
- server/test/transcodeService.test.ts (new): absoluteToRelativeIndex,
session start/reuse/replace, endSession, reapIdleSessions -
child_process.spawn mocked via a small explicit test seam
(setSpawnForTesting), never invoking a real ffmpeg binary.
- server/test/socketGateway.test.ts, partyService.test.ts,
catalogService.test.ts: host-only gating + broadcast for
setBurnInSubtitle, advanceQueue's reset, toPublicState exposing the
new fields, getMediaSource.
- docs/architecture.md, README.md: design + an explicit "assumptions to
verify" note (the direct-source URL shape, first and foremost).
Verified: full typecheck+test+build on both projects (56/56 server
tests). No Emby server or ffmpeg binary is reachable from this dev
environment, so the actual command against a real PGS file is
unverified - flagged explicitly in the docs, same "TODO(verify)" spirit
already used elsewhere in this codebase for an Emby response shape that
can't be checked locally.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Six rounds of real-server debugging (see docs/architecture.md's player-
track-selection section) found three different, unrelated reasons a
server-side burn-in could fail - missing fonts, a bitmap format libass
fundamentally can't burn, ffmpeg failing outright on an otherwise
unremarkable file - none of which this app's own request ever caused or
could have fixed, all downstream of the one thing every attempt had in
common: asking Emby for a real-time video re-encode. Not needing that
re-encode at all closes the whole class of failure instead of chasing
each one.
- server/src/services/CatalogService.ts: new proxySubtitle asks Emby to
convert the track to WebVTT (GET /Videos/{id}/{mediaSourceId}/
Subtitles/{index}/Stream.vtt - a real Emby endpoint their own web
client already uses for this) - entirely separate from the video
transcode. applyPlaybackOverrides lost its SubtitleStreamIndex/
SubtitleMethod=Encode branch - the video request no longer needs to
know a subtitle was picked at all.
- server/src/types.ts, client/src/types.ts: PlaybackTrackOption's flag
renamed supportsBurnIn -> isTextBased - same underlying fact (image vs
text codec), but the name shouldn't keep describing a mechanism this
app no longer uses.
- server/src/index.ts: new GET /api/catalog/subtitle/:itemId/:subtitleIndex
route, grouped with the other cookie-authed media-element routes (a
<track> can't send a bearer header either).
- client/src/api/embyApi.ts: new subtitleUrl(); streamUrl no longer
carries SubtitleStreamIndex at all.
- client/src/views/player/Player.ts: the subtitle <select> no longer
reloads the video (reloadWithCurrentOptions, still used for audio/
quality, never touches subtitles now). New applySubtitleTrack()
removes/re-adds a fresh <track> and sets video.textTracks[0].mode =
'showing' synchronously right after appending - deliberately not
waiting on the <track>'s own "load" event, confirmed against a real
browser that it doesn't fire reliably at all (a known cross-browser
quirk), which would have left a subtitle silently never shown - the
exact symptom this whole saga started from. Re-applied on every video
(re)load so an audio/quality change (which does still reload the
video) doesn't drop whatever subtitle was showing.
- server/test/catalogService.test.ts: updated/new cases for
proxySubtitle and the renamed isTextBased flag; removed the test for
the now-deleted subtitle-forcing behavior.
Verified against the real compiled bundle: picking a text track adds one
<track> with the right URL and flips it to showing; "Aucun" removes it;
an image-coded track is listed but disabled; changing audio reloads the
video but the subtitle survives it, same element, still showing.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Two different items both failed the same way when picking a subtitle -
without knowing whether the second one was also a PGS (image/bitmap)
track like the first confirmed one, that result was ambiguous: still the
same known issue, or something new? Rather than keep digging through
server logs per item, this app can just know the answer itself - Emby's
PlaybackInfo response already includes each subtitle stream's Codec.
- server/src/services/CatalogService.ts: getPlaybackOptions reads it and
reports supportsBurnIn: false for image-based subtitle codecs
(hdmv_pgs_subtitle/dvd_subtitle/dvb_subtitle - IMAGE_SUBTITLE_CODECS).
This app forces SubtitleMethod=Encode whenever a subtitle is picked
(applyPlaybackOverrides), asking ffmpeg's `subtitles` filter (libass)
to burn it in - libass renders text via a font, it has no path for
compositing a pre-rendered bitmap at all, confirmed against a real
server (see docs/architecture.md's Round 4/5).
- server/src/types.ts, client/src/types.ts: PlaybackTrackOption gains
supportsBurnIn (subtitle tracks only, undefined for audio).
- client/src/views/player/Player.ts: the subtitle <select> now disables
these options with a "(image, non disponible)" label instead of
letting anyone pick a track that's guaranteed to break playback -
listed so it's clear why, not silently missing.
- server/test/catalogService.test.ts: new case covering subrip/ass
(supportsBurnIn: true) vs hdmv_pgs_subtitle (false) from the same
MediaStreams response.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- server/test/*.test.ts: formalizes this project's many ad-hoc scratchpad
test scripts into a committed suite, one file per service
(musicQueueService, partyService, socketGateway, catalogService), using
Node's built-in node:test + node:assert/strict - zero new dependencies.
Runs straight against TypeScript source via `tsx --test` (npm test), no
compile step.
- server/tsconfig.test.json: extends the base config, overrides rootDir to
"." and adds test/**/*.ts to include, so `npm run typecheck` covers the
test files too without pulling them into dist/ (npm run build still
uses the unmodified base tsconfig, scoped to src/ only).
- server/package.json: typecheck now runs against tsconfig.test.json; new
test script.
- .forgejo/workflows/publish-docker.yml: new `test` job (node:20-alpine
container - the publish job's docker:27-cli has no Node) running server
typecheck+test and client typecheck+build; publish now depends on it via
needs: test. Removed the stale "no test suite yet" comment.
- README.md, docs/architecture.md: documented the test suite, how to run
it locally, and the new CI job/gating.
Verified locally: server typecheck, server test (25/25 passing), server
build, client typecheck, and client build all pass individually - the
same commands the new CI job runs.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
