It took me a while to try Gelifin, but I absolutely love it. However, hunting for subtitles is a pain and easily breaks the immersion. Unfortunately, I find myself going down that path more often than I’d like to admit, fixing broken download links and subtitles that have gotten out of sync. In fact, for some less popular releases, entire languages may be missing. Jellyfin’s built-in subtitle support is simply insufficient to fix this, especially for non-streaming content.
My final solution is a combination of Bazaar and the Jellyfin Bazaar plugin. The plugin makes the process feel native, while the marketplace actually handles searching, prioritizing, and updating subtitles. By simply pressing play, you now get subtitles that are compatible and usable.
- OS
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Android, iOS/iPadOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Web Browser
- The developer
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Gelifin Community
- Pricing model
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Free (Open Source)
- Early release
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December 8, 2018
Jellyfin is a free and open-source media server system that lets you self-host and stream your movies, music, TV shows, photos, and more to any device without subscriptions or third-party tracking.
Integrating Marketplace with Jellyfin via Plugins
Basics of installation, library monitoring, and external service
It’s important to explain how the marketplace fits into Gelifin’s ecosystem. Bazaar itself is a dedicated subtitle automation service, and you have to treat it to get the best out of it. The marketplace runs independently of Gelifin but monitors the same media folders that your Gelifin server already uses. It indexes your movies and episodes so they’re ready for subtitle searches.
for Jellyfin Bazaar Plugin For this to work, you must first obtain a Bazaar API key. Follow these steps:
Download the marketextract the files, then double-click the .exe to start the installation. The steps will be different on Linux.
Once installed, go to this URL in your browser to start Buzzer Server:
Under this Generalscroll down Security Copy the section and API key.
Next, you will need to install and configure the Gelifin Bazaar plugin. Follow these steps:
Launch Jellyfin in your browser by visiting:
Click your user profile in the upper right, then click Dashboard.
Scroll to the bottom of the left pane and click Plug-in.
click Manage repositoriesthen give your repository a name, paste the link below Repository URL field, and click add.
Add repository:
Now refresh the browser page, click is available To see all plugins, click Marketplace Plugins, then click Install And restart Gelfin.
Once Jellyfin is up and running, go back to the Plugins page, click Marketplace from the list of installed plugins, and click Settings. Paste your API key Marketplace API Key field and click Test connection. If it says “Connected successfully”, click it save upand you are good to go.
How subtitle searches actually work within the Gelifin Bazaar plugin
Activating the marketplace without opening its web interface
After installing the plugin, you see its real value in daily use. For any media with missing subtitles or subtitles in the wrong language, you can edit its subtitles using Gelifin. Edit subtitles Option When you target a search, Jellifin controls the Jellifin Bazaar plugin, which in turn sends the TMDBID of the movie or the TVDBID of the episode to the marketplace.
At this point, Buzzer queries multiple subtitle providers simultaneously, and you’ll usually get a list in less than 25 seconds, although in rare cases it can take 15 minutes. This is the extra step of caching the results for an hour, so if I need to click search again, I get the result immediately.
The main advantage is that I don’t have to constantly think about where to download subtitles, because this setup handles it for me.
Why this approach avoids bad subtitles and sync issues
Let the market choose instead of guessing
Usually, when a subtitle has a problem, it starts with a poor match. One solution I tried in the past was to download the subtitles manually. However, it’s easy for subtitles to sync into a movie in just minutes. Fixes the overflow issue associated with subtitles using market-generated metadata.
Searches use TMDB and TVDBIDs – unique identifiers for movies and TV shows – so results are matched by metadata rather than filename. Having this context makes it possible for the market to reject close results that are not perfect matches. There may be results that technically match the titles even though they’re for a different release – a mistake made when small encoding differences throw off the subtitles.
Bazaar is also correct in that he does not attempt or prioritize magical sync fixes over subtitles. It sticks strictly to choosing the right file for the media.
What happens after downloading subtitles?
Library refreshes, background upgrades, and hands-off maintenance
You don’t need to restart your server or retrieve your media library after selecting a subtitle with Gelifin Bazaar plugin. It automatically writes the subtitle file to the media folder along with the video, then refreshes the specified glyph item.
What makes this plugin even more helpful is that, after you request subtitles, the marketplace continues to monitor your library. If, at a future date, a subtitle with better timing and better translation becomes available, it automatically replaces the current file.
You will probably see the benefits of this automatic update with TV shows. Pick up new episodes as they hit the market and bring subtitles as they become available. It also upgrades previous episodes without manual action.
I didn’t realize that these little moments would make Netflix so good
All it takes is a few small tweaks to boost your Netflix viewing experience in a big way.
Easily subtitles in your library
Ever since I set up the Jellyfin Bazaar plugin, I haven’t really been thinking about subtitles. The plugin uses the marketplace to ensure the existence and update of subtitles, and allows Gelifin to control how they appear.
The best part is that across devices, you get a consistent set of user preferences. The plugin eliminates the need to search manually as it integrates the entire process into a single click. I stick with Jellyfin because it’s a streaming service that allows me to control my data, and it makes the subtitle plugin much easier to use.