diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c6985228cf..5d950e94f6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,19 @@
+2007-12-20  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* ext/pango/gsttextoverlay.c: (gst_text_overlay_class_init):
+	* gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.c: (set_subtitles_visible),
+	  (set_active_source):
+	* gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.h:
+	* gst/playback/gstplaybin.c: (gst_play_bin_class_init),
+	  (setup_sinks), (playbin_set_subtitles_visible):
+	  Make switching off of subtitles work. To avoid all kind of
+	  problems with unlinking of the subtitle input, we just keep
+	  the subtitle inputs linked as they are and tell textoverlay
+	  not to render them. Fixes #373011.
+	  Other subtitle switching issues (esp. when there are both
+	  external and in-stream subtitles) remain. They'll be solved
+	  in playbin2.
+
 2007-12-18  Wim Taymans  <wim.taymans@collabora.co.uk>
 
 	* gst/playback/gststreamselector.c: (gst_selector_pad_init):
diff --git a/ext/pango/gsttextoverlay.c b/ext/pango/gsttextoverlay.c
index 804eeae8ec..934f2c78eb 100644
--- a/ext/pango/gsttextoverlay.c
+++ b/ext/pango/gsttextoverlay.c
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ gst_text_overlay_class_init (GstTextOverlayClass * klass)
    *
    * Since: 0.10.15
    **/
+  /* FIXME 0.11: rename to "visible" or "text-visible" or "render-text" */
   g_object_class_install_property (G_OBJECT_CLASS (klass), PROP_SILENT,
       g_param_spec_boolean ("silent", "silent",
           "Whether to render the text string",
diff --git a/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.c b/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.c
index 9e303011f3..150c0c4243 100644
--- a/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.c
+++ b/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.c
@@ -2380,6 +2380,17 @@ muted_group_change_state (GstElement * element,
 }
 #endif
 
+static void
+set_subtitles_visible (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin, gboolean visible)
+{
+  GstPlayBaseBinClass *klass = GST_PLAY_BASE_BIN_GET_CLASS (play_base_bin);
+
+  /* we use a vfunc for this since we don't have a reference to the
+   * textoverlay element, but playbin does */
+  if (klass != NULL && klass->set_subtitles_visible != NULL)
+    klass->set_subtitles_visible (play_base_bin, visible);
+}
+
 /*
  * Caller has group-lock held.
  */
@@ -2403,6 +2414,17 @@ set_active_source (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin,
     return;
   }
 
+  /* HACK: instead of unlinking the subtitle input (= lots of hassle,
+   * especially if subtitles come from an external source), just tell
+   * textoverlay not to render them */
+  if (type == GST_STREAM_TYPE_TEXT) {
+    gboolean visible = (source_num != -1);
+
+    set_subtitles_visible (play_base_bin, visible);
+    if (!visible)
+      return;
+  }
+
   sel = group->type[type - 1].selector;
 
   for (s = group->streaminfo; s; s = s->next) {
diff --git a/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.h b/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.h
index 1a5a864b0b..0767a9ac64 100644
--- a/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.h
+++ b/gst/playback/gstplaybasebin.h
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ struct _GstPlayBaseBinClass {
   /* virtual fuctions */
   gboolean (*setup_output_pads) (GstPlayBaseBin *play_base_bin,
                                  GstPlayBaseGroup *group);
+
+  void     (*set_subtitles_visible) (GstPlayBaseBin *play_base_bin,
+                                     gboolean visible);
 };
 
 GType gst_play_base_bin_get_type (void);
diff --git a/gst/playback/gstplaybin.c b/gst/playback/gstplaybin.c
index e944309031..c5ddf00fed 100644
--- a/gst/playback/gstplaybin.c
+++ b/gst/playback/gstplaybin.c
@@ -324,6 +324,8 @@ static void gst_play_bin_dispose (GObject * object);
 static gboolean setup_sinks (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin,
     GstPlayBaseGroup * group);
 static void remove_sinks (GstPlayBin * play_bin);
+static void playbin_set_subtitles_visible (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin,
+    gboolean visible);
 
 static void gst_play_bin_set_property (GObject * object, guint prop_id,
     const GValue * value, GParamSpec * spec);
@@ -428,6 +430,7 @@ gst_play_bin_class_init (GstPlayBinClass * klass)
       GST_DEBUG_FUNCPTR (gst_play_bin_handle_message);
 
   playbasebin_klass->setup_output_pads = setup_sinks;
+  playbasebin_klass->set_subtitles_visible = playbin_set_subtitles_visible;
 }
 
 static void
@@ -1625,6 +1628,20 @@ setup_sinks (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin, GstPlayBaseGroup * group)
   return res;
 }
 
+static void
+playbin_set_subtitles_visible (GstPlayBaseBin * play_base_bin, gboolean visible)
+{
+  GstPlayBin *playbin = GST_PLAY_BIN (play_base_bin);
+
+  /* we're ignoring the case of someone setting the 'current-text' property
+   * before textoverlay is set up (which is probably okay, since playbasebin
+   * will just select the first subtitle stream as active stream regardless) */
+  if (playbin->textoverlay_element != NULL) {
+    GST_LOG_OBJECT (playbin, "setting subtitle visibility to %d", visible);
+    g_object_set (playbin->textoverlay_element, "silent", !visible, NULL);
+  }
+}
+
 /* Send an event to our sinks until one of them works; don't then send to the
  * remaining sinks (unlike GstBin)
  */