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Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

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Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I'm in the minority here, but let me explain why it's not terrible audio mixes or bad actors. The overall trend in TV and movies has been towards greater realism in all aspects. Less stage-audience sitcoms, more single-cam. Less "look at this actor" and more "look at this real person". Actors aren't mumbling, they're speaking how real people speak. Trust me, screen actors have more stage training than ever --…

I don't watch a movie to get confused as I may in real life. The director is confused if they don't understand the fundamental rules of cinema - speak clearly and face the camera. No matter the size of the screen, bad acting is bad.

...fundamental rules of cinema...

This is a matter of taste. Does anyone really expect to enjoy every movie?

I love subtitles, but I accept that not everyone is comfortable using them.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#602
post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SUBTITLES: The film industry makes high art as well as common fare. The high art is what the artists want to make and enjoy but it has a very small market. The common fare is what pays the bills, because it sells like 100x more tickets than high art. High art = caviar, Shakespeare "caviar for the general" whereas common fare is hamburgers, flipping burgers, which is a real business, many more servings of hamburgers t…

Thank you.

You're welcome elteto, all the way.

I have little idea when I cannot be understood, and it helps me to know when I do in fact communicate plainly.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons why I bought an Apple TV was the ability to pair it with my airpods. Makes is super convenient to hear everything if you live in an apartment, also some shows take advantage of the spatial audio which is neat if you don't have a proper sound setup. I still turn on subtitles tho. On that front I've been noticing some subtitles will not match the english dialogue at all. This is noticeable on the Net…

Roku has that feature; you can enable remote listening via the app and pipe sound to your earphones.

There are also separate devices that take an audio feed from the TV/monitor and feed it to (multiple) bluetooth earbuds. Very nice for viewing after the rest of the family has gone to bed.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#604
post #54

The other trend I notice is not caring much at all about video quality. If there’s social interaction, young people I know are happy with a low bitrate 720p streamed over discord in a small window. Maybe this is an artifact of videos on phones?

This trend is as old as filesharing, probably much older

There have always been people who don’t care,

I’m saying that the demographic corresponding with tech enthusiasts who were excited about DTS, THX, 4k, Blu-Ray, or complained about 240p video on YouTube seem to care much less now.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#605

One more vote for terrible audio mixes and one for actors who mumble their dialog. Whenever I watch movies with my wife, we constantly have to fiddle with the remote control. The loud parts (including explosions and music) are too loud for her, so we have to turn the volume down during those parts, but the dialog is too quiet and mumbly for me to hear, so we turn the volume up during those parts. We now just keep the…

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Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#606
I think part of this is the relatively new diversity of media. People are getting used to subtitles because of foreign languages, and like being able to make out every word. Likewise for shows that have very thick accents; there are a few accents that become utterly undecipherable to me if they're thick enough, especially with the crap speakers built into TV's.

Once I got used to having them on for stuff I needed them for, I tend to leave them on unless I'm watching carefully and it bugs me that they block part of the screen.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't watch a movie to get confused as I may in real life. The director is confused if they don't understand the fundamental rules of cinema - speak clearly and face the camera. No matter the size of the screen, bad acting is bad.

...fundamental rules of cinema... This is a matter of taste. Does anyone really expect to enjoy every movie? I love subtitles, but I accept that not everyone is comfortable using them.

The subject was about how it's all going to the dogs. So no, not every movie. But some movies

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#608
post #60
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This trend is as old as filesharing, probably much older

Yep, the 12-14" CRT was a fixture in basically every kids bedroom in my childhood and a decade later it was flip top portable dvd players with built in screen. Absolutely garbage picture quality even by the standards of the day, pretty popular because it gave them control and could be shared with friends

I have never seen someone of big-screen means choose to watch a flip top dvd player outside of a portable environment or the kitchen or something. There are people with 4k TVs viewable from their desk who primarily watch movies in a small Discord window because of the social element.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#609

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little off topic but it’s really surprising how so few of the shows and movies these days give off any vibe of sincerity. From the acting to the writing to the CGI, everything seems to be winking at the audience and trying to tell them that they are all actors and its all make believe. The perfect example is Lord of the Rings vs The Rings of Power. I had no problems believing that Aragorn really lived in Middle Ear…

The majority of Netflix series produced in Europe are actually a pleasant surprise in that regard. When to comes to writing and acting as well as production, and yes, sound mixing. I consider myself a fantasy and sci-fi nerd, binge read the Lord of The Rings, starting with the Hobbit, between Christmas Eve and when the first movie came out. Read the Simarilion. Loved the LotR triology. Like the Hobbit, ehich already…

> between Christmas Eve and when the first movie came out

That potentially gives you _decades_ to binge-read the books... how many depends on what do you consider "the first movie". :-)

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#610
post #438
post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

X.Y (e.g. 5.1) means X wide range speakers and Y subwoofers. You also sometimes see it like S/T.Y where S+T = X, and it refers to front/surround speakers. There are standard values and configurations, such as 2.0 (aka stereo) both at the front, 2.1, 3.1 adds a centre channel mostly for on-screen dialogue positioned close to screen, 5.1 (3/2.1) adds a second stereo pair behind you, 7.1 - adds an extra surround stereo…

For real enthusiasts, also X.Y.Z, adding ceiling/bounce speakers for vertical spatial audio. The real "stuck so far behind" that I don't get is why we use speaker arrays at all -- instead of binaural stereo tech. That virtual haircut demo, apparently from the 90s,[0] sounds incredible on my cheap headphones, yet the technology seems to have gone nowhere since. Is there even spatial audio in VR setups? If the difficul…

I don't much about audio, but wouldn't binaural stereo only work if the two speakers are to the sides of you, like with headphones? Would this work from a TV that's an ambiguous distance in front of you?

As a side note, Windows (and Xbox) support Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos for Headphones, and DTS:X, all of which simulate spatial audio for headphones. It'll simulate a 5.1 (and 7.1?) setup through the headphones. Some games have spatial audio simulation built-in as well, such as Elite Dangerous. I believe UE5 also has a spatial audio engine. Finally, I believe PlayStation emphasized spatial audio for the PS5, but I don't really know the details of that.

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