List of Streaming Services with CC/Subtitles [Netflix, AppleTV, Vudu, Amazon, etc]

Hello,
Based on my researching about Closed Captioning and Subtitles:
[Info current as of January 3, 2012]

Services supporting CC/Subtitles
- Netflix: Captioning is supported. (now lots of material)
- AppleTV: Captioning is supported. (some material)
- Vudu: Captioning IS NOT supported.
- Amazon: Captioning IS NOT supported.
- BBC iPlayer: Captioning is supported. (most material)
- Hulu: Captioning is supported.

Devices/Apps supporting CC/Subtitles
- Netflix: Captioning supported on: Playstation3, Xbox360, PC, Roku 2, AppleTV (recently enabled in 2011), iPad (recently enabled in 2011), Wii, Android, Kindle Fire, several Blu-Ray players
- iTunes Videos: Captioning supported on AppleTV, Mac, iPad
- BBC iPlayer: Computers, iPad
- Hulu: Roku, Sony Playstation3, Samsung TV's, certain Blu-Ray players (i.e. Samsung).

Sometime in 2012 I'm about to probably make the jump into including streaming services later this year, but I need a streaming services to begin to hit critical mass (i.e. 50% of material captioned) on enough devices (i.e. both home & mobile devices) before I am willing to fork out money to streaming services. I have to make sure captions is enabled on both the material (services) and the viewers (devices) is supported. Eventually, I want to see live streaming (i.e. CBC Canada or PBS or BBC television over Internet) also gain captioning support.

Until a very slow start, especially pre-lawsuit, Netflix seems now leading the pack so far, as one of the only services that has finally hit critical mass in 2012 with exceeding 50% material captioned. Although not enough yet, it seems I will probably eventually reward Netflix for being the leader but I would like to see other services catch up. (TV was not captioned in 1950 or 1960, took decades .... Netflix took only a few years, then took till 2011 before they finally added captioning to most devices, and I'm willing to be patient/forgiving)

Please reply to this thread about your experience about Closed Captioning and Subtitles on other streaming service and streaming devices. (it only works when both the service *AND* device simultaneously supports the captions)

Mark Rejhon said:

Devices/Apps supporting CC/Subtitles
- Netflix: Captioning supported on: Playstation3, Xbox360, PC, Roku 2, AppleTV (recently enabled in 2011), iPad (recently enabled in 2011), Wii, Android, Kindle Fire, several Blu-Ray players

Click to expand...

Several BD players? Can you give us more info like brands and models? Thanks.

I really appreciate it for sharing it with us. Thanks again.

Are you sure the Netflix app for Android supports captioning? It wasn't that long ago I tried to watch a show on my Evo and it wasn't captioned, even though it was on the PS3. The only "captions" I was able to get on that app was for foreign movies.

The Nook Tablet supports captions IF the original material is captioned. In other words, Hulu Plus will show captions from captioned material, but ESPN3 and MLB will not show captions because the original material does not have it.

I don't know why ESPN on TV, or any Major League Baseball game you watch on network or cable TV, will carry captions but ESPN3 and MLB.com for your PC or mobile device do not have it. But it's not the fault of the device; it's because of what is being transmitted.

Netflix on Toshiba HDTVs are still lacking in subtitles support.

CrazyPaul said:

Several BD players? Can you give us more info like brands and models? Thanks.

Click to expand...

Panasonic BMP-BDT110 3D Blu-Ray Players (just added late May 2011)
Sony BluRay Players with Google TV
possibly others, especially those labelled with "Netflix 3.0" which is the software for devices that has ability to show captions. (Example: the Onkyo BD-SP809 3D/Blu-Ray Player says they support Netflix 3.0, but they do not specifically say they support Netflix captions)

Lily7 said:

Are you sure the Netflix app for Android supports captioning? It wasn't that long ago I tried to watch a show on my Evo and it wasn't captioned, even though it was on the PS3. The only "captions" I was able to get on that app was for foreign movies.

Click to expand...

Yes, make sure you have updated your android app and are playing a captioned title. there is a "speech bubble" icon on top right corner, click on that and you can turn on/off captions there.

ncmacasl said:

Panasonic BMP-BDT110 3D Blu-Ray Players (just added late May 2011)

Click to expand...

That model costs about $150 so it's not that bad but how do you know that it will support Netflix subtitles? I looked up Panasonic website for confirmation but to no avail. It's for my friend who looks for a BD player that supports it since his player by LG doesn't.

What blows me away is the fact that Netflix software has no established technical standards other than streaming video and audio. What kind of company would make an attempt to go mainstream without establishing any standards first? Apparently Netflix would.

Way to go. Idiots. Their mistakes for jumping the gun is costing more than plenty.

Banjo said:

What blows me away is the fact that Netflix software has no established technical standards other than streaming video and audio. What kind of company would make an attempt to go mainstream without establishing any standards first? Apparently Netflix would.

Way to go. Idiots. Their mistakes for jumping the gun is costing more than plenty.

Click to expand...

Who are you calling idiots? BTW, Netflix is not the only one. There are many others that do the same thing for profit. I refuse to join any of them because of that. ADA and FCC still don't give a shit about our rights. NAD must do something about it. That's what NAD is for.

Over Christmas I had a look at BBC iPlayer - they do well with both stream (live) and downloaded shows. The sub-titles work great

CrazyPaul said:

Who are you calling idiots? BTW, Netflix is not the only one. There are many others that do the same thing for profit. I refuse to join any of them because of that. ADA and FCC still don't give a shit about our rights. NAD must do something about it. That's what NAD is for.

Click to expand...

The people at Netflix. They are the idiots, their mistakes are costing them more in the long run because they have to fix the problems that they neglected in the first place. A lot of corporations are guilty of this, they often are aware of the problems. However, they usually say, "Oh, we'll take care of this later and get this out on the market as soon as possible." This is what Netflix did.

They knew and they didn't want to wait to get their streaming service up and running. Now they are having a great deal of trouble trying to update all of the Netflix softwares on all sorts of devices because they did not carry established technical standards to start with.

Captions on Blu-Ray

ncmacasl said:

Panasonic BMP-BDT110 3D Blu-Ray Players (just added late May 2011)
Sony BluRay Players with Google TV
possibly others, especially those labelled with "Netflix 3.0" which is the software for devices that has ability to show captions. (Example: the Onkyo BD-SP809 3D/Blu-Ray Player says they support Netflix 3.0, but they do not specifically say they support Netflix captions)



Yes, make sure you have updated your android app and are playing a captioned title. there is a "speech bubble" icon on top right corner, click on that and you can turn on/off captions there.

Click to expand...

Hi, new here but I stumbled across this post when I was looking up info on whether or not Amazon has CC/subs (guess not).

Just to clarify: I work for a closed captioning company and can confirm that no Blu Ray player supports closed captioning. It's a technical problem with Blu-Ray that it doesn't support line 21 format at all, so it's either subtitles or nothing.

The author is right about subtitles being available through those different devices, though. I have a PS3 at home that runs Netflix with its subtitles and it always works great!

CrazyPaul said:

Who are you calling idiots? BTW, Netflix is not the only one. There are many others that do the same thing for profit. I refuse to join any of them because of that. ADA and FCC still don't give a shit about our rights. NAD must do something about it. That's what NAD is for.

Click to expand...

I agree that the FCC doesn't give a shit. They are owned by whoever can pay them the most money. The ADA is a law and is capable of neither giving nor withholding shit. However, employers and other businesses are certainly increasingly blatant about violating the ADA.

I agree that that's what the NAD *should* be for. Unfortunately, when they endorsed the Pepsi superbowl ad featuring deaf people, I lost pretty much all respect for them. The ad was horrendous and portrayed deaf people in a very bad way. Not a single one of my immediate circle of friends and family disagreed with this. Seriously? A bunch of people show up at night and wake up the entire neighborhood looking for their friends? If that really happened to me, I might have called the cops.

On the other hand, the NAD has a lawsuit in against Netflix for failing to provide access, which is a good thing. So I'll give them kudos for that.

What I seem to have trouble convincing people of is that they have the power. How many deaf people are there in this country? A million? Two? Three? If only a significant portion of them descended upon Washington, D.C. and refused to leave until appropriate laws were passed and enforced, there would be two ways Washington could respond, and both ways end with Washington losing: either they forcibly remove all the deaf people from the Capitol grounds (and risk starting riots that extend far beyond deaf issues) or they do the right thing and pass some laws.

So... why hasn't this happened? Why are we not standing up for our rights? Why are we not demanding - demanding, not "requesting" or complaining about - equal access? A bunch of students took over Gallaudet in 1988 and persisted until their demands were met (even though they got a board-controlled puppet president). The deaf community proved it can come together to achieve common goals. Now we need to do it again on a bigger scale.

orwellian said:

Just to clarify: I work for a closed captioning company and can confirm that no Blu Ray player supports closed captioning. It's a technical problem with Blu-Ray that it doesn't support line 21 format at all, so it's either subtitles or nothing.

Click to expand...

Holy shit. There's no lawsuit about this, yet?

audiodef said:

How many deaf people are there in this country? A million? Two? Three?

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Approximately 30 million, but it's possible that there are more. Apparently 1 in 5 suffer from hearing loss. They vary though, but it's enough to make a strong case for accessibility.

audiodef said:

Holy shit. There's no lawsuit about this, yet?

Click to expand...

I don't think there is one, at least not one that I have heard of. But yes, I am surprised that nothing has been about it so far.

Banjo said:

The people at Netflix. They are the idiots, their mistakes are costing them more in the long run because they have to fix the problems that they neglected in the first place. A lot of corporations are guilty of this, they often are aware of the problems. However, they usually say, "Oh, we'll take care of this later and get this out on the market as soon as possible." This is what Netflix did.

They knew and they didn't want to wait to get their streaming service up and running. Now they are having a great deal of trouble trying to update all of the Netflix softwares on all sorts of devices because they did not carry established technical standards to start with.

Click to expand...

This kind of shoddy work is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. I lost most of my jobs because of inane bullshit of various sorts, and I remain officially unemployed to this day - not for lack of trying to be otherwise.

Employers have generally always wanted the cheapest options. It was just a matter of how much they could get away with. In an extremist capitalist economy such as ours, they can get away with ever more, and everything and everyone suffers for it. Not a day goes by when I look on the net - or shit, just look out the window - and say "I could do this fifty million times better than you, you fucking moron, so why do YOU have this job and I don't?"

The answer is, of course, because the moron is willing to accept 5 cents an hour for doing whatever he is told to do, not because he's a competent employee. And that's what our failing garbage "ecomony" is based on - puppets rather than competent employees.

audiodef said:

This kind of shoddy work is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. I lost most of my jobs because of inane bullshit of various sorts, and I remained officially unemployed to this day - not for lack of trying to be otherwise.

Employers have generally always wanted the cheapest options. It was just a matter of how much they could get away with. In an extremist capitalist economy such as ours, they can get away with ever more, and everything and everyone suffers for it. Not a day goes by when I look on the net - or shit, just look out the window - and say "I could do this fifty million times better than you, you fucking moron, so why do YOU have this job and I don't?"

The answer is, of course, because the moron is willing to accept 5 cents an hour for doing whatever he is told to do, not because he's a competent employee. And that's what our failing garbage "ecomony" is based on - puppets rather than competent employees.

Click to expand...

You know, I read the book, "Steve Jobs". I found a lot of information in the book to be of interest. For instance, Steve Jobs was the kind of person who was obsessed with the quality of a product and that he would not compromise. So if it meant delaying a product for months or years at a time, so be it. However, the board of directors at Apple did not like this and they basically pushed him out of the company for it. Although his temper and outrageous behaviour contributed to the ousting as well, but still.

I am a graphic designer, and I can relate to Steve Jobs on this and to you too as well. It is a major pet peeve of mine, I often find that the clients are not thinking ahead of time and of the consequences their choices make result in. They often have little regards for their customers. Corporations are even worse, at least in most cases. I understand where you are coming from. Completely.

Banjo said:

I understand where you are coming from. Completely.

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It's good to know I'm not alone. It seems harder every day to find people who would rather have quality than quantity. Or speed. Or size. Or the cheapest damn widget possible. Seriously, if that's your goal, why are you here?

I know that if out of the raw blue someone said they want to hire me, I'd have to give him or her "the talk", which would consist of informing him or her in no uncertain terms that I will do my job and that I must be given the leeway to do it, or I will walk. Because at some point, you start saying "I'm just too old for this".

audiodef said:

I agree that the FCC doesn't give a shit. They are owned by whoever can pay them the most money. The ADA is a law and is capable of neither giving nor withholding shit. However, employers and other businesses are certainly increasingly blatant about violating the ADA.

Click to expand...

I think that FCC doesn't do anything since ADA hasn't included captioning requirement for all streaming video as well as online video for deaf people. If it does, then FCC would order all internet businesses (Netflix, Amazon, CNN.com, etc) to include captions on their video at all times. That's the problem with ADA. NAD should make a proposal to Congress to add that requirement to ADA laws. I hope NAD has done that or will do it ASAP. I remember Marlee Matlin was involved with NAD to speak out but I don't know what happened after that.