ISSUE: Conflict with SponsorBlock - Auto generated subtitles fail to load when SB auto-skips at the start

[chonkey-donkey-bonkey]

Describe the bug

v2.24.1, Edge/chromium
When using both YouTube-No-Translation and SponsorBlock, auto-generated subtitles fail to load entirely if SponsorBlock performs an automatic skip (e.g., skipping a "hook", "intro" or "sponsor") at the very beginning of the video.

If I manually toggle the "Enable auto generated subtitles" switch in the YNT popup after the video has started playing and the skip is done, the subtitles appear correctly.

I noticed it while watching video in one language and another one. I have to manually toggle switch in YNT "Enable auto generated subtitles" when I watch in another language EVERY TIME to trigger the subtitles.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install SponsorBlock and YouTube-No-Translation.
2. In SponsorBlock settings, set categories like hook, intro, or sponsor to "Skip automatically".
3. In YNT, enable "Enable auto generated subtitles".
4. Open a video that has a SponsorBlock segment exactly at the beginning (e.g., from 0:00).
5. SponsorBlock skips the segment immediately on load.
6. Subtitles do not appear at all (sometimes the player shows "Original >> Translated" but fails to render anything).

Root Cause / Debugging info

This appears to be a race condition.
When YNT tries to read the tracklist or apply player.setOption('captions', 'track', ...) upon video initialization, SponsorBlock simultaneously triggers a seekTo() action to skip the initial segment.

This sudden seek interrupts the player's initialization state, causing the subtitle module to either crash or reset, effectively ignoring YNT's command.

Suggested fix

YNT should probably delay applying the subtitle logic if the player is currently seeking, or listen to the seeked event / playing state to ensure no other extensions (like SponsorBlock) are actively scrubbing the timeline during the first seconds of the video.

Workaround

Changing SponsorBlock's behavior for early segments from "Skip automatically" to "Show skip button" prevents the race condition and YNT loads subtitles perfectly. However, it would be great to have them work together with auto-skip enabled.

[YouG-o]

9aff766 should fix this.

Will be available in next update.

[chonkey-donkey-bonkey]

Hey @YouG-o, thanks for the quick update! I tested the latest version containing the seeked event fix (commit 9aff766), but unfortunately, the issue still occurs when SponsorBlock auto-skips at the very beginning of the video (e.g. from 0:00).

I managed to write a temporary userscript in Tampermonkey to fix this for myself, and I noticed something that might help you debug the root cause:

What I observed

It seems that relying strictly on the seeked event triggers the subtitle application too early. When SponsorBlock forces a skip at 0:00, the seeked event fires instantly, but the YouTube player is still buffering or stabilizing.

When your extension calls player.setOption('captions', 'track', ...) at that exact moment, the YouTube subtitle module seems to break. It either renders nothing, or gets stuck in a ghost state (e.g., the menu shows Polish >> English but no subtitles appear on screen).

What worked in my userscript

To fix this locally, I had to delay applying the subtitles until the video actually resumed playing and had enough buffered data.

Instead of firing immediately on skip, I used a small interval to wait for the player to stabilize. Something like this:

const checkStabilized = setInterval(() => {
    // Wait until video is actually playing, not seeking, and has buffered data
    if (!video.paused && !video.seeking && video.readyState >= 3) {
        clearInterval(checkStabilized);
        
        // Add a slight delay just to be safe, then apply settings
        setTimeout(() => {
            applyVideoPlayerSettings();
        }, 500); 
    }
}, 300);

When I implemented this delay in my userscript, the race condition disappeared completely and the subtitles loaded perfectly after SponsorBlock's initial skip.
Could you look into adding a similar stabilization check before triggering the settings application after a seeked event? Thanks again for your hard work!

[YouG-o]

FFFFF...
That was working with my tests..

I'll have a deeper look at it in a few days :)

[chonkey-donkey-bonkey]

No worries, I expect its some edge case. If I can help with providing any logs or any other details, please share with me.
Again, than you for your work!

[chonkey-donkey-bonkey]

@YouG-o I dont experience this issue since I added google API key.

[Tiagoquix]

Hey, I was going to report the same issue.

YT No Translation causes a conflict:

I have auto-skip ON. When I watch a video with CC on, and any segment is skipped (such as a sponsor segment), be it in the start or middle of the video, the CC automatically turns itself off. This issue with SponsorBlock does not happen when this extension is disabled.

I have a Google API Key, and it still happens.