Every show on my media server gets subtitles automatically now, and I haven't searched for one in months

After a year of self-hosting and trying various media servers like Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby, one feature remained elusive for the author: automatic subtitles. The author, like many others, often broke immersion mid-episode or movie to search for and download subtitles manually. Jellyfin offered a plugin for this, but the author's experience with it was unsatisfactory. Frustrated with manually pausing shows for missing subtitles, the author sought a way to automate the process.

Jellyfin's built-in subtitle downloads were found to be opaque and ineffective at maintaining subtitles across a large library. The author needed a more dependable solution. They discovered Bazarr, which doesn't integrate directly with Jellyfin, but instead relies on Sonarr and Radarr for TV show and movie tracking. Bazarr then finds matching subtitles and downloads them alongside the video. This happens without any plugins, API integrations, or special Jellyfin configuration.

Initially, Bazarr's design was puzzling to the author, but they realized it offered flexibility across different media servers. The catch was that Bazarr requires Sonarr and Radarr to be running, adding complexity but also providing flexibility. The author set up a Docker Compose file to manage all three applications, allowing them to access the same media folders.

Once the setup was complete, Sonarr and Radarr maintained catalogs of TV shows and movies, providing Bazarr with a continuously updated picture of the media library. Bazarr then periodically checks for missing subtitles, downloads them, and keeps them ready for Jellyfin's regular library scans. If initial attempts fail, Bazarr schedules more searches and looks for better matches to replace existing subtitles.

The author acknowledges the initial setup required some effort, but once everything worked together, they never had to worry about subtitle-related tasks again. Every new episode automatically received subtitles, and there was no need to interrupt playback or search for SRT files. However, a limitation of using the free OpenSubtitles.com provider was its daily download limit, which slowed down the initial library backfill.

Despite this limitation, the author found value in relying on dependable services to handle tedious tasks. They appreciated the progress they made in self-hosting their media server, but also understood that some maintenance is inevitable. Overall, the author was pleased with the automation of subtitles, which allowed them to focus on enjoying their media rather than dealing with repetitive, mundane tasks.