TV using subtitles?

[Mart]

Being retired I watch quite a bit of tv, mostly movies, I'm wondering how many of you using the subtitling option?.

When I'm watching shows, I don't bother using my hearing aid, just rely on the subtitling which is permanently on, movies, I have my hearing aid in, but even then I struggle at times to hearing the dialogue with all the damn background music & sound effects all movies have lol,

 

[x1heavy]

We use subtitles off the DVD (HD or Blue ray) Problems begin when we use the old VCR Format or broadcast TV. Captioning generally keeps up well enough but not very good because all of the broadcasters constantly use that space for little cartoon advertisements which knock the captioning off totally for a few moments.

We finally dropped the dish satellite when they killed the local services over money. And the technology with them was approaching 20 years old and video etc will freeze on our LED Television etc. Annoying.

These days we get formal movies through You tube when we can, usually translate in the settings from whatever language to english. We do use alot of ad blockers to keep the thing behaving while it plays beginning to end.

Broadcast TV is not that inviting anymore. Generally crap content off one of the tallest antenna systems in the free world (Redfield 2000 feet up) and we are 80 some odd miles give or take from the damn thing so we need bigger antennas than normal to get it. ITS very useful during tornado outbreaks when our weathermen are on storm watch live with us for various tornados coming through town. You generally don't need captioning too much for that. Especially if it is getting violent as they pass by walking the earth.

I have not gone to theaters in so long. The last movie was pretty crappy and not believable. I think something about Die Hard with terrorists trying to kill Blane with wall to wall machine guns blasting the entire floor and generally over the top BS etc.

 

[Mart]

Wow your subtitle options are far more variable than us in the UK who view free tv, being retired I can't actually afford to have Sky or any subscription service, but totally agree that some subtitle services aren't very good & here they shorten so much of the real conversation, which pretty much ruins a good movie.

Thanks for that x1heavy, it's interesting how different it s across the world.

 

[x1heavy]

Wow your subtitle options are far more variable than us in the UK who view free tv, being retired I can't actually afford to have Sky or any subscription service, but totally agree that some subtitle services aren't very good & here they shorten so much of the real conversation, which pretty much ruins a good movie.

Thanks for that x1heavy, it's interesting how different it s across the world.

I have spent a few weeks in the UK back in the 80's near Mildenhall for a relative's wedding. Your television options was what? 4 channels? I did not say that to be mean however it was a challenge. Either it's London calling, the queen at the big hat show or some goings on in Europe or other. Thats it.

Here in America regular TV went to Digital by order of Congress a few years back or a decade or two. And that was pretty inconvenient. long before that we would have the AM Radio tuned to the Baseball Stadium downtown live (Your Rounders maybe?) simulcast with the old color TV in the early 70's which was really expensive for the time.

When we went to digital all of those TV's needed a converter box. Congress provided a coupon for two per home. So we got converted. Then we disposed of the old tv as scrap soon after when the new already converted flatscreens showed up. It was 2007 or so at the time of the great economic crash, so mint 1000 dollar screens were sold in pawn at 200 bucks or so. So we got one.

Just recently one of my friends replaced hers with a flat screen equal to my own in size and able to get from the internet whatever for 100 bucks retail at the store. Although she does not have internet and its a good thing. She does play downloaded you tube videos etc through it. Makes me feel a little outdated. Funny how that works.

The internet is evolved to where you pretty much can get whatever you wanted online at any time now. However with the recent politics here in America sometimes you could not get to the President or any of the Leadership due to censorship which seems to be the rule of the day today.

I don't like to try and pay for TV through the internet yet, our Provider has fiber but only to a neighborhood which is on copper wire. They are upgrading to full fiber to your computer room slowly nationally. I'll have to wait a few more years. Hopefully fiber will arrive pretty cheaply versus 5g which we will never go to.

And TV? just very few programming worth watching, the rest of it? eh... garbage I guess.

I leave you with one question. Are you in UK still on 4 BBC channels? =)

 

[Mart]

up until 2009 we just had 5 channels "bbc1, bbc2, itv, channel 4 & channel 5" then we went digital which was great, except 99% of us have to buy either new digital tv's or a digital converter box, similar to yours I guess, as it obviously meant Cathode ray tube tv's are now redundant.

Now we have over 100 channels, not surprisingly most really crap cheap tv, they went from quality to quantity, I only watch about 20 stations, I often delete some channels because they are so bad & I would never want to watch anything on them, guess I can't complain as they're free.

Subtitling has improved since going digital since the introduction of multi coloured subs, a different colour for each character speaking, which we never had on analogue, it really makes it easier to follow a conversation.

I think the UK is still a bit behind when it comes to good tv, until you subscribe to better services or sign up to Sky, "yeah I'm a cheapass lol".

The one thing we still have to pay for is a BBC tv license "yeah crazy that us UK residence still have to have a damn permit to own & use a tv". at £157.50 per year, it's ridiculous.

 

[x1heavy]

In other words Pay to watch free tv with a license?

Thats alien to me. Pay cable, satellite or whatever is one thing per month, however one of our digital channels focus on satellite premium reruns which are a few years older and treated as new content. We pay the electricty to run it.

Thats a big problem now in Texas today or this week rather. Not enough Natural Gas to go around, windmills frozen and certain pipeline supply plants froze out and were forced to flare while prices go to something like a few hundred dollars a day for a house in gas or 10.00 or more per hour in electric. I am strictly electric on a level plan so whatever the power company gives, I'll take it. Where i am in Arkansas it's a generator state with nuclear and coal mostly. No problems yet until the winds pick up for the storms here.

You tube has free movies now and again, but kind of dated. You could pay a few dollars for newer content but I am not there yet. Call me a luddite.

 

[Hedgehog182]

A lot of progress was made in the US surrounding Closed Captioning. Now there is SDH that adds sound-description in a more thorough way. The internet is where it's totally lacking and it feels like the 70's and 80's again trying to get those online video clips to be captioned. Being total, I gotta have captions!

 

[x1heavy]

In the deaf school long ago there was barely any captioning so I spent some time next to the TV converting Good Morning America speaking english into a form of fast ASL for the dorm. At least they get something. Even then they bought those clunky and horrible captioning machines and frankly it's amazing we did anything with them at all. We collectively agreed that even what they call morning news was just drivel. Not anything to work with. Just bland for lack of a better word. As Paul Harvey said, if you wanted the rest of the story wait a while.

Some of the captioning today in commericals I consider over the top. However it's easier to deal with them than to see your television volume increased by 50% when going commercial.

 

[Hedgehog182]

Geez, I remember those things! Yeah, even with the boxes, so many things didn't carry the caption signal. We have come a long way! Guess I got spoiled with the requirement that TV be captioned. The internet is behind, but it's coming along slowly but surely. (emphasis on "slowly!" )

 

[Mart]

Hey Heavy, Hedgehog, wow I've never heard of any of them systems you talk about, I lost most of my hearing 6 years ago & been an aid wearer for 2 years.

Can I ask how far back are you guys remembering, is this from the 70's & 80's?.

I'm 58 btw, born 1962, didn't lose my hearing till around 2014 so I guess them systems were even before my time lol.

I only use subtitled tv which is pretty much a free service.

To be honest I have very little knowledge about subtitling systems that are available.

 

[x1heavy]

I date my memory to the mid to late 60's The problems is that while I remember all of my visits for hearing doctor from about 1968 onwards to Johns Hopkins as a child I also remember the various efforts by "The State" and also by "Counties" in different ways to fix me. It will involve a book and way beyond this simple post to tell about it. Essentially there was no real organized "Help" for parents with children who lived in parts of the State without having to travel hours to get to a doctor or specialist far away. And only after the specific problem like deafness is identified. Most of the time in those bad old days it's easier to deem the child mental retarded or Deafmute and just stash same in a state institution. So sad so sorry. Schools for the deaf existed but were not exactly evolving until Maryland build Columbia in the early 70's after identifying thousands of new deaf children from the mid 60's outbreak of German Measles that caused thousands of deaf babies. What do we do with all of them? Institutionalize them all? Ya right. No room. Ruebella was the other part of the story among other things.

Not all were just deaf. The new School for the Blind was built about the 50's And then there were more schools built according to Race. The blacks were provided a different education than the whites and the girls treated and taught differently than the boys. Its really hard to sit here and explain what society was like in those days long ago. I would term it over supervised. Micro managed and excessively restrictive. If you by some miracle were in a state school for the deaf back then but kept in the special section (Specials, Trainables, Retarded etc) you had very special rules. AND a Caregiver nurse following you 24/7 in addition to whatever other medical stuff issued to you by the state. What do you learn? nothing very much. Just enough not to be a slob maybe. Does that make sense? No. But it is what was.

There are two sayings from that time period that enrages me to this day. A implied loss of personal Freedom as we know it generally as Americans when we become adult age. The first is "You have potential." ya ya ya potentail fine big deal... stop saying that. There is nothing meaningful in it. Primarily because the child being told that has not learned anything useful yet. That is the fault of the educators of the time who really does not expect much of such children.

The second saying is more provoking. "Least Restrictive Environment" or... "Less Structured System" (rules)

Say what? I can play recess only here but not over there with the bigger kids. (Because they play better... if you can stay with them...) Or why cannot I hug my girlfriend and kiss her? Beat it, its what lovers do.

I have a picture somewhere that shows what recess was in columbia back then. A relatively closed outside space where you were only allowed to stay in this space where the teachers can count everyone and see you. (And there isnt very much to do, unless you invented person team based games which was severely discouraged back then. No roughhousing, etc.) what do you do with all that pent up energy? Sit?

I think not.

WOT?" You both are too young... Oh please etc. etc. less restrictive my foot. You could not do anything from waking to sleeping without two staffers watching you.

I have a book from a child assessment center in Harford County dating to about 1968. Assessed on a broad range of skills. You had ties shoes, Pass, Fail or..... "N/E" ie: NOT EXPECTED. (Of child being tested) Or maybe you asked the child to write cursive. I knew how thanks to Grandmother who homeschooled me LONG before they called it that today. It really surprised them when I can not only do cursive but also whip them various problems. But due to the low expectations of the center half the book is marked :Not expected" therefore there is no pass or fail because I did not seem to know to do it. (Tie shoes, tell time, etc) Problems began when staffers demanded common requirements or ordered me to do something that its not allowed. "Take your shoes off" What? There are only two people at home who can let me take shoes off, you go ask them.

WHAT? Dont sass me, take. off. your. shoes.

That day I never forgot. The conflict with a staffer. And that came from a year in a baltimore city school for special children that taught me anything and everything bad. Once the parents realized I learned bad language and used it effectively at 6 years old because of the classmates in there teaching me proper... (So I don't get abused by the bigger boys in the nearby McDougnah School, you were either prey or predator etc)

Believe it or not, that year on Warwick Ave downtown was the very best in education. Learn all the things no one taught you properly. THAT came in VERY handy in extremely dangerous street situations in various cities around the USA. You learned to read paint as in signs for gang territory or perhaps no go areas etc. Or lessons as in not running away from predators who will want to chase you down and hurt you real bad then. (Thats why you don't run from certain animals because it will trigger the same chase to kill instinct) I had some very good teachers among my few classmates. And I never forgot them. Of course my parents were enraged at such innocence destroyed and lost etc. What they don't know wont hurt them none.

I can learn. Thats what they learned about me. Then at that point they started to see if there is a school somewhere that will teach me. Columbia in Maryland was it. I always go back there in my thoughts because that is the difference between a life in a State Insitution not allowed to do anything worth doing and a freedom to live, marry, work and have a home and some lands etc or even children if that is what is in the cards. Two different futures that year back in the 70s.

I can expand on that with the technology. Imagine a harness like that of a team of horses pulling a wagon in the old western show around your chest and neck. In front of your chest were two holders with electronic devices about what I could say is a size of ... one of the smaller today's sony camcorders. Each. Put all that in there. Hang that on the deaf child. Teach same to stop wriggling and pulling so much, That stuff is expensive. Sit still in the class room for a hour at a time. Don't run with it or you break it. Etc. dont this dont that dont anything. BLEAH.

And you wonder why I got so sassy and rebellious.... HA....

(I don't even want to know what it would be cost wise in today's money with a 50 year difference in electronics.)_ the closest comparison I can offer to you is a old early 70's era Texas Instruments Calculator. Retailed for 500 dollars. In those days wtih a minimum wage of 1.50 a hour that 500 dollars is is about the same as 3000 dollars today. Those hearing devices back then with owned by the State because they had no problem buying such very expensive devices for the Deaf and others.

The quality? Its crap now. Today's hearing aids were so good I can hear a cat scratching it's ear across the house. Still pretty pricey but relatively affordable. Cochlears used to run 110,000 dollars back then. Might as well be a million dollars for most. I understand that they are much smaller and less invasive and so on and better in quality they say. Technology is a double edge sword.

 

[Mart]

Hey Heavy, reading your story very similar to the research I did online & with a few deaf friends into the 60's to the 80's, whereby deaf & hoh children were sent to specials school, some called them either, schools for slow learners or backward schools, some kind of reference that these children were dumb of course that was complete untrue.

These schools were good, but they were more defined for children who actually did have learning difficulties, so deaf children were sent there automatically, whether these schools actually helped these kids I couldn't find out any good feedback from those day, my guess is that they were just taught the most basic education & very little about their hearing loss issues.

I'm thinking back in them days disabilities were kind of swept under the carpet as it were, pretty much ignored, through teachers not having the right training to help these children, it's really sad to think how hard it must have been for these children, just not getting the right help & support.

It's upsets me to see so many children when I go to my regular audiologist clinic for the checkups & hearing services, my last visit which was some time ago due to the Covid-19. I counted 5 children from about 6 yo upwards although they were happy & jumping about happily, you got to admire these young ones how they cope with such an issue, it does upset me when I see young children having to wear hearing aids, sorry going off topic slightly here.

Glad to say we've com along way from the dark days of the 60's to 80's, where us deaf & hoh are finally recognized to being able to do anything hearing people can do, thanks for the story Heavy, interesting & a nice insight to how it was.

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

Being retired I watch quite a bit of tv, mostly movies, I'm wondering how many of you using the subtitling option?.

When I'm watching shows, I don't bother using my hearing aid, just rely on the subtitling which is permanently on, movies, I have my hearing aid in, but even then I struggle at times to hearing the dialogue with all the damn background music & sound effects all movies have lol,

I have close caption on permanently too. I don’t go to theaters hardly ever because of all the background noise (music, sound effects) it’s ridiculous for me to pay to see something that’s a new release when I can’t understand it. But I occasionally go anyway because my friends are willing to watch movies at my house with the cc turned on. (They say it distracts them)

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

Wow your subtitle options are far more variable than us in the UK who view free tv, being retired I can't actually afford to have Sky or any subscription service, but totally agree that some subtitle services aren't very good & here they shorten so much of the real conversation, which pretty much ruins a good movie.

Thanks for that x1heavy, it's interesting how different it s across the world.

They shorten a lot of the conversation here too (USA)

 

[Mart]

They shorten a lot of the conversation here too (USA)

Shortening conversations is bad enough, some channels here I even get out of sequence subs, like the texting is lagging, enough to driving you insane trying to keep up.


I do occasionally try with my aid in, but with background sound & effects I find it impossible.

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

Shortening conversations is bad enough, some channels here I even get out of sequence subs, like the texting is lagging, enough to driving you insane trying to keep up.


I do occasionally try with my aid in, but with background sound & effects I find it impossible.

I understand It’s definitely can be frustrated or sometimes the captions even skip a complete sentence

 

[Mart]

I understand It’s definitely can be frustrated or sometimes the captions even skip a complete sentence

Do you get the multicoloured subs, a different colour each character on screen, such blue, red, yellow, white & black, in the US?.

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

Do you get the multicoloured subs, a different colour each character on screen, such blue, red, yellow, white & black, in the US?.

I’m not sure how it works throughout the US as a whole, but I know my TV in particular- it’s a black bar with white lettering- and when someone else is talking they will use either a hyphen or an asterisk (to show its a different speaker.)

 

[Mart]

I’m not sure how it works throughout the US as a whole, but I know my TV in particular- it’s a black bar with white lettering- and when someone else is talking they will use either a hyphen or an asterisk (to show its a different speaker.)

That sounds like the old system we had in the UK, I think somewhere from the 90's, but that is actually still used here on some channels, because different channels use different subs providers, but coloured makes conversations a whole lot easier to follow.

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

That sounds like the old system we had in the UK, I think somewhere from the 90's, but that is actually still used here on some channels, because different channels use different subs providers, but coloured makes conversations a whole lot easier to follow.

That sounds like it’d be easier to follow.