Yo friends. I'm using bsplayer 2.56, build 1043 and i had the same problem (i wanted for the subs to be below the picture) and i think i've solved the problem using your tips.
This is what i've done:
1) Options>Preferences>Subtitles - i disabled "Draw Subtitles to overlay"
2) Options>Preferences>Video>Video rendering - Set rendering to EVR (it enabled me to have picture with sound in win 7 :P)
I didn't mess with extended picture because i've noticed that subs in that case leave trace from rendering in the black area and i don't want that!
Allso, i left the old subtite engine ("use new subtitle parser/rendered" unchecked)!
So, basically, i only disabled "Draw Subtitles to overlay" and everything was as it should be (or as i'm used to :P). I think this will help others with the same issue.
Cheers
