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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

That is puzzling. I made my test with an Ultra 4800. But I just tried it on my Premiere, and Torchwood S1E2 had captions on it as well. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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Ktryv
Channel Surfer

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

We have been watching Beforeigners, a Norwegian show. Great show but a nightmare to watch on Roku.

We wanted to watch in Norwegian with an English translation in the subtitles. We couldn't get the subtitles to appear consistently (i.e. rarely and when they did appear they disappeared). And when they did appear they were so wildly out of sync with the speakers that we turned them off and turned on the English voice-over. The voice-over does not work that well either.  Most of the show is in Norwegian but many of the characters also speak Old Norse (and sometimes other languages). Listeners get the English voice-over for the Norwegian parts but not the Old Norse. The result is that there are extended exchanges between some of the main characters in Old Norse with no English voice-over and no subtitles. I tried rebooting the Roku device and all the usual stuff but to no avail.

Yesterday, I logged into HBOMax directly on my computer and everything worked as it should: the entire show in Norwegian and Old Norse with properly synced English subtitles on everything. So I'm going to try connecting a laptop to my TV and bypassing Roku completely. Amazed that this thread was started in March 2021, nearly a year ago, and Roku has still not fixed this issue.

denhow
Roku Guru

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

I've had the same experience. I recently started an HBO Max subscription with billing by Roku. When I watch movies or TV shows I usually have captions turned on in the main Roku menu. The first series I watched on HBO Max was a recent one, Mare of Easttown, and captions worked just fine, same as on any other Roku channel. But the second series I watched was an older one, the first season of Snowpiercer, and I could not get the captions to work. It is really surprising that HBO has not fixed this.

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Ktryv
Channel Surfer

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

There are also threads discussing this issue on Reddit.

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wils7501
Reel Rookie

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

We have 3 Roku devices in our house (all different models), each has issues with the HBO Max Captioning. Either there is no captioning, The captioning is inaccurate, or the captioning works for 30 seconds then quits. I have tried all of the uninstalling and restarting, plus turning captions off then back on, and making sure everything is updated. This only seems to be a Roku issue since I have been able to see captions using on other devices. With all the problems I've been having with my Rokus lately it doesn't seem worth it to continue to use them and upgrade. 

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Ktryv
Channel Surfer

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

From my reading of other threads it may be an HBO issue. Roku's response to this issue in other threads:

For more information about that channel's features and functionality, you'll want to contact HBO Max support directly to inquire further. Many channels on Roku are developed and maintained by the channel provider themselves.
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heyerc
Newbie

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

I am having the exact same issue with that show.  Subtitles won't work so I'm watching it with **bleep** English voice-over.  There are entire series of important conversations spoken in various languages I'm missing out on.  Roku sucks. 

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?


@heyerc wrote:

I am having the exact same issue with that show.  Subtitles won't work so I'm watching it with **bleep** English voice-over.  There are entire series of important conversations spoken in various languages I'm missing out on.  Roku sucks. 


Roku has nothing to do with the way HBO Max works on their devices. HBO is responsible for the functionality of their channel, and they have terrible programmers. That said, I have no issues with captions on HBO Max on any of my Roku devices. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee, just another user.
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Ktryv
Channel Surfer

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

HBO is responsible for the app based on Roku support's responses. I had a fairly good exchange with HBO support. Initially, I got a canned response on how to use subtitles and the usual update to the latest version and reboot stuff. After politely pointing out that I'd already done all that stuff and the problem is that their Roku app is a piece of **** and sending  them links to numerous discussion threads on this and other forums over the last year as evidence, they acknowledged the problem and said they'd pass on the information to the powers that be. Maybe someone at HBO will decide to fix the app; maybe not.

I finished watching the show I was watching by hooking my laptop up to my TV and by-passing the Roku app (a PITA but the subtitles work) and then canceled my HBOMax subscription.

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denhow
Roku Guru

Re: Where the subtitles on the HBO max app?

I have the cheapest HBO Max subscription, the one with ads. Over the weekend I watched a movie that was not preceded by an ad and captions worked fine. Then I watched a TV show episode that was preceded by an ad and the captions were way out of sync. It was like the captioning thought that the episode began when I hit play, rather than waiting for the ad to finish.

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