It could just be in my head but after having subtitles on for the longest time, I noticed I struggled hearing dialogue when I finally did stop using subtitles. Continued to stop using subtitles and my hearing got better. Use it or lose it, I guess.
I never knew those existed! I had to look it up. We’ve had the technology for a while, so it makes sense, but I’m surprised at how widely available it is.
I also saw mention of some theaters projecting captions on their back wall as a solution, then providing cup holder mirrors for whoever requested the accomodation.
Yeah the dubs seem radically changed from the subs. I think they end up changing the dialogue to better fit with a western audience. The changes just never sat well with me so I have always preferred the subs, and now I need them anyway. Except for Ghost Stories. I want to watch the dub with accurate subs, but that’s a big no from Crunchyroll. Subs for Japanese audio only.
The main issue is that most people are trying to play a film mixed for 6 or more speakers on two speakers. Not the movie makers’ faults. This is why DVDs/Blu-rays and streaming platforms often offer multiple audio mixes.
If you don’t have a surround sound system, you should switch the audio to the 2.0 (Stereo) mix, which was actually meant for TV speakers. The surround sound stream is almost always the default, and will often sound terrible when squashed down to two speakers because it wasn’t meant to be heard on two speakers.
Yeah, for a lot of movies. But I have a pretty good 5.1 setup, and with plenty of movies I still need the subtitles to understand what they’re saying. Nolan’s movies come to mind, but they’re not alone.
It’s absolutely the fault of the people who mix the audio. You don’t just mix for the theaters and call that good enough.
Most people aren’t using BluRay/DVD for media anymore, it’s streaming, which often does not come with multiple sound mix options. Quite often even if it does the “stereo mix” is a down mixed 5.1 or 7.1 mix, meaning it’s shit. Even if they ARE using Blu Ray, one shouldn’t need to change the audio from a higher quality mix to stereo, it should default to the one that’s actually used by most people.
It most certainly isn’t the fault of the average end user for using what is most common, as your comment inplies
But like I said, they already did mix the audio for 2 speakers; it’s usually labeled as “2.0 (Stereo)”. You just have to select it with your remote. Again, like I said, surround sound is the default on most streaming platforms.
I like subtitles for everything except comedies because they ruin the delivery and cadence of the joke. I wouldn’t mind dynamic subtitles though, where script is only on screen as it’s delivered
My wife teases me because I watch everything with subtitles on (where possible - boy is YouTube inconsistent) and she says I always laugh before the funny part as a result.
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