Subtitles, Audio Tracks, Sound Balance and 3D

Start a video in the video player and tap Control on the command panel. A compact window opens over the video. Its sections are listed along the side in portrait and along the top in landscape: Speed, Volume, Audio track, Subs, Balance, HUE, Light and, in some editions, 3D.

The window shows only what makes sense for this video. A file with one soundtrack has no Audio track section, a file without subtitles has no Subs. For internet streams the color sections disappear, and for live broadcasts the speed does too, because a live picture cannot be sped up. Tap Done to close the window; Reset returns the section you are in to normal.

Open Audio track. Every soundtrack is listed with its language, its format and the number of channels, for example "English, AC3, 5.1". Tap the one you want; the sound switches at once without restarting the film.

Some formats cannot be played by every phone. Such tracks are marked in the list. If none of the soundtracks can be played, the film plays without sound and the app says so once - "Audio format not supported - playing without sound" - so you know the file is fine and it is the phone that cannot decode that sound. For Blu-ray files the message also names the formats it found.

For streams the app can pick your language by itself: set Audio language for streams in Settings, the Media tab, section Streams. When a stream offers a soundtrack in that language, the player chooses it, and a track you pick for one channel is remembered for that channel.

Open Subs and pick a language, or Off to hide them. If the file has none, the section says "No subtitles available".

Subtitles share their lettering with the text the app recognizes in pictures. To make them bigger or change the typeface, go to Settings, the Media tab, section Translation, digitization (OCR), and set OCR Font Size (from Minimum to Huge) and OCR Font Family (for example Default, Serif or Monospace). The player applies them to every video, whether it plays full screen or with the command panel. Both settings stay available even when OCR is off or your device cannot run it.

Volume sets how loud this player is, separately from the phone volume: Mute, 50% or MAX, or anything in between with the slider.

Balance moves the sound between the left and right ear: 50/50 is even, 30/70 favors the right, 70/30 the left. It helps with one weak earbud or a hearing difference, and it applies everywhere the app plays sound - videos, music and background listening. A file with a single sound channel (mono) plays normally; there is nothing to balance, and the section says "Mono audio - no channels to balance".

Speed has quick buttons 0.5x, 1.5x and 2x, and a slider from 0.1x to 3x, including 0.3x. The player remembers the last speed and uses it for the next video.

HUE turns all the colors of the picture around the color wheel, Light makes the picture brighter or darker. Both change only what you see, never the file, and the player remembers them for next time.

A 3D film stores two pictures, one for each eye, side by side (SBS) or one above the other (OU). On a normal screen that looks like a double image. FastMediaSorter recognizes such films: when the file itself says it is 3D, the player trusts that label; otherwise it guesses from the shape of the picture, and ordinary widescreen films are not mistaken for 3D.

With Show 3D content from one eye turned on (Settings, the Player tab; on by default) a 3D film shows the picture of one eye, filling the screen.

In the VR and noLegal editions, with 3D and VR switched on in the settings, the Control window has a 3D section where you can choose the format yourself: Auto-detect, Side-by-Side (SBS), Over-Under (OU) or Mono (Disabled), plus the 360° and 180° formats. For the full headset experience see spatial 3D and 360 cinema.