[Ted L. Nancy]

I have a hearing disability and use subtitles frequently while watching DVDs on my Mac. I would like to be able to turn the subtitles on and off with a keyboard shortcut (something like command-option-s). Is there a way to set this up?

I found some instructions through google, but they seem outdated and don't seem to work. Then again, it involves Applescript stuff, which I'm not at all familiar with, so I could have done something wrong.

I've always been able to do this with the closed captioning, but some discs don't have closed captioning. Also, I am not 100% deaf and thus I prefer the subtitles since they do not tell me things like "robust uplifting musical theme playing," which I find somewhat silly and distracting.

Thank you for any help!

[turtle777]

In SL, you can set your own shortcuts in Preferences - Keyboard - Keyboard Shortcuts.

You need to enter the item's Menu Name exactly as it appears in the menu.

-t

[P]

You don't mention which OS you use, but in Snow Leopard it's like this: Go to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> the Shortcut tab (or whetever the last one is called in English). Under the two lists, there is a + and - button. Push +. In the dialog box that comes up, select DVD-player in the menu (it says "All programs" by default). Enter the text of the exact menu command you use to enable subtitles - don't bother that it's in a submenu - and then the shortcut you'd like for it.

[Ted L. Nancy]

Got it. This is awesome. Thanks!!

[Chuckit]

That existed long before Snow Leopard. It was introduced in either Panther or Tiger — I can't remember which. It's in more or less the same place in every version, too.

[Ted L. Nancy]

Well after setting this up I've been able to test the results on a few different DVDs today. Everything works as it should except it seems different DVDs have different names for their subtitle "tracks." For example, one DVD says "English 1" and another says "English 1 (Captioned)". Since the menu to select your subtitle simply uses the name of the subtitle track from the DVD, I'm trying to anticipate what each DVD may call its English subtitle track.

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you again for the help.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

In SL, you can set your own shortcuts in Preferences - Keyboard - Keyboard Shortcuts.

You need to enter the item's Menu Name exactly as it appears in the menu.

-t

This is actually something I’ve been wondering about. I’ve wanted that functionality for a while, but could never get it to work. I guess my mistake was assuming that I had to include the menu name, too (since sometimes different sub-menu items can have identical names).

[pitosalas]

Specifically in iTunes the Ratings menu under File has graphical 'star' values. Any hope for those, does anyone know?

[Chuckit]

Copy and paste this into the "Menu Title" field the appropriate number of times for each star value: ★

[Ted L. Nancy]

I am experiencing a problem in regards to my original issue. Although I have many shortcuts setup for my subtitle tracks, on many of my DVDs the name of the subtitle matches the name of the audio track. Since the menu name for each is simply the track's title, any attempt to turn on subtitles via my preset keystroke shortcut results only in the English audio track being selected.

This is fine, I suppose, so long as I can get it to select the subtitles as well.

So, when two separate items have the exact menu name within an application, how do I get the Keyboard Shortcuts to differentiate betweent he two or at least select both and not just one of them??

[Ted L. Nancy]

Just a friendly bump to see if anyone has ideas ideas here..

[P]

The best I can do is Applescript, where you can write something like

tell application "System Events"
tell process "DVD player"
click menu item 1 of menu 2 of menu bar item 3 of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell

Or more likely, record yourself doing that. Hooking that script up to a button would then require a thirdparty app.