Channels & viewing

[Ananisapta]

We recently started watching Shetland, which we think would be interesting if we could understand the dialog. Unfortunately, the only available subtitles are for deaf people, so they litter the screen with messages about background noises, like "Birds chirping... birds still chirping... traffic noise... birds stop chirping..." etc ad nauseam. We'd really like Roku to find some subtitles that are suitable for the 99% who hear OK rather than for the 1% who are totally deaf.

[AvsGunnar]

@Ananisapta 

I watch Shetland on Britbox through Prime Video on my Roku devices.  The subtitles/closed captioning seem to work fine there. (provides both sound descriptions and the spoken speech).

If there a particular episode you have recently seen this on? (I can check for similar behavior).

I am assuming you are probably using Britbox on the Roku Channel since addressed issue attributed to Roku.

[Ananisapta]

So maybe I should be talking to Britbox?

[andyross]

This is normal Closed Captioning. I doubt there is an alternate feed, and it would be confusing if there are multiples listed for a language.

On Max, "Get Millie Black" uses open captioning with just the spoken words due to the Jamaica setting and local accents used.

[Ananisapta · Accepted solution]

Thanks! I went directly to BritBox and they

1. Were much easier to access help than Roku was
2. Politely agreed to pass my feedback to the development team.

I had previously discussed this problem with Amazon Prime Video and I noticed a big improvement soon after.

[JWS9518]

You may be turning on closed captions vs subtitles.  Some apps may have both options or they may have only one of the two depending on the channel.

Closed captions are designed for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, closed captions include the spoken dialogue, as well as other audio elements like background sounds and speaker changes. 

Subtitles are for viewers who can hear the audio but don't understand the language, subtitles translate the spoken dialogue into another language. They don't include non-speech elements like background sounds or speaker changes

[makaiguy]

Wrong language or verbal description of action on screen when watching program
Some programs contain multiple audio tracks that can be selected, such as different languages or verbal action descriptions for the visually impaired.

The Roku default method of accessing your choice of audio track is to press the * key on your Roku remote while viewing the program and examining the options presented.

But more and more channels are not using the Roku default but instead substituting their own method of access -- I'm guessing this is so they will have consistent controls with versions of their app running on platforms other than Roku. Often these options are accessed by pressing the up and/or down cursor control keys while viewing the program to pop the channel's own control options on the screen.