Hi Rob I knew this problem and my workaround is following: change the line at .idx file to OFF and created a *.avi.conf file (in your case District 9.avi.conf) then include the line: forcedsubsonly = 1 It works for me all the time. Here is an example: vo = gl2 ao = alsa channels = 2 #delay = (s) spuaa = 20 spugauss = 1.1 subfont-autoscale = 1 vobsub = /home/rudi/.mplayer/subs/AllthePresidentsMen vobsubid = 0 gruss rudi -- "Das Internet darf sich nicht zu einem rechtsfreien Raum entwickeln" -- Joerg Ziercke