English Subtitles VS English SDH - Blu-ray Forum

cnowels · 11-13-2008, 01:51 PM

As a person with a hearing impairment, I normally watch my BD's with the subtitles on. I'm just curious about one thing. Some movies have BOTH an English Subtitle option AND an English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired).

What's the difference?

kpkelley · 11-13-2008, 02:01 PM

The SDH version includes sound effects in the subtitles, i.e. (music playing),(dog barks),(baby farts), etc.

mikejet · 11-13-2008, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpkelley

The SDH version includes sound effects in the subtitles, i.e. (music playing),(dog barks),(baby farts), etc.

What movie was that in?

kpkelley · 11-13-2008, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikejet

What movie was that in?

I was being sarcastic, but probably in almost every episode of Family Guy

cnowels · 11-13-2008, 02:11 PM

I kind of figured it was along those lines. Thanks for the confirmation.

And I am SO grateful for those studios who include SDH tracks so that I WON'T miss any baby farts.

dixonhill · 11-13-2008, 02:21 PM

Sadly there are only very rare but excellent examples of what blu-ray is capable of in these particular matters:
Subtitles with different colours per speaker!
Know what I mean?
Person A "speaks" in red letters, person B answers in blue etc...
And furthermore these subtitles are shown at different places on the screen depending
on whether the actor is standing on the left or right or whatsoever.
This is what I'd call a perfect utilisation of blu-rays capabilities!

Unfortunately I don't remember the title(s) right now....

Banjo · 11-13-2008, 05:35 PM

Honestly, I'll rather just have one colour for the subtitles. I'm deaf and I've watched TV programs where they assign colours to identify the speaker. I don't care for it. I remember watching Life on Mars, the original BBC program on a Canadian channel. They did something like that.

I can follow a movie just fine with a single-coloured SDH track. Plus, not all colours are equally readable. For instance, dark blue and red requires more focus to read compared to yellow and white.

Besides, one of my pet peeves is that they sometimes leave out the lyrics in the SDH track. I know some people claimed it's due to the copyright issues, but that's not true. When you caption a movie, you are supposed to include all of the information including the lyrics. Anybody who caption movies for a living would tell you that.

gambitz · 03-06-2011, 08:16 PM

I agree. I dont like colour subtitles. It's common in Europe and I assume they are accustomed to it.

North America arent accustomed to it.

I am grateful for CC style SDHs from Sony and Paramount. However, we need to continue our fight for other companies to include positioning with SDHs..

Having all text in the middle can confuse the viewer on who is speaking if two person are speaking rapidly back and forth. Who said what?

This is one of my biggest pet peeve, for this reason, I typically stick with CC if SDH is in the middle, then I use 480i. If SDH is CC style then I use 1080p. It sucks and movie makers please stop making deaf and hard of hearing population suffer and lag behind the general population.

(PS yes I realize this is old post, but I want to put my 2 cents in).

parallax911 · 04-18-2011, 02:38 PM

I am hearing impaired myself (not deaf), and I use plain english subtitles 99% of the time. SDH tracks are fine, but I also think they should be in one color only - and if they are placed according to the speaker, all subtitles should be at the same height and at the bottom of the screen.

The MOST annoying thing I have experienced in relating to SDH subtitles is if they are jumping all over the screen and if they are the only option for subtitles (no plain english and no nothing else).

This has happened on a few blurays which are very important to me: alien anthology (all movies), and Inception. Immensely annoying! Just because the technical possibility is there, does not mean you should use it like a 5-year old kid.

11-13-2008, 01:51 PM	#1
cnowels Active Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Chesapeake, VA Blu-ray collection:90	English Subtitles VS English SDH As a person with a hearing impairment, I normally watch my BD's with the subtitles on. I'm just curious about one thing. Some movies have BOTH an English Subtitle option AND an English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired). What's the difference? Sony BDP-S570 Panasonic TH-50PZ77U Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K Harmony One

11-13-2008, 02:01 PM	#2
kpkelley Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Framingham, MA Blu-ray collection:1135 PS3 collection:17 Blu-ray reviews: 146	The SDH version includes sound effects in the subtitles, i.e. (music playing),(dog barks),(baby farts), etc. Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-1150HD Sony PS3 640GB Oppo BDP-83

11-13-2008, 02:11 PM	#5
cnowels Active Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Chesapeake, VA Blu-ray collection:90	I kind of figured it was along those lines. Thanks for the confirmation. And I am SO grateful for those studios who include SDH tracks so that I WON'T miss any baby farts. Sony BDP-S570 Panasonic TH-50PZ77U Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K Harmony One

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11-13-2008, 02:21 PM	#6
dixonhill Active Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Germany Blu-ray reviews:3	Sadly there are only very rare but excellent examples of what blu-ray is capable of in these particular matters: Subtitles with different colours per speaker! Know what I mean? Person A "speaks" in red letters, person B answers in blue etc... And furthermore these subtitles are shown at different places on the screen depending on whether the actor is standing on the left or right or whatsoever. This is what I'd call a perfect utilisation of blu-rays capabilities! Unfortunately I don't remember the title(s) right now....

11-13-2008, 05:35 PM	#7
Banjo Blu-ray Guru Member since:Dec 2006 Location:Ontario, Canada Blu-ray collection:143	Honestly, I'll rather just have one colour for the subtitles. I'm deaf and I've watched TV programs where they assign colours to identify the speaker. I don't care for it. I remember watching Life on Mars, the original BBC program on a Canadian channel. They did something like that. I can follow a movie just fine with a single-coloured SDH track. Plus, not all colours are equally readable. For instance, dark blue and red requires more focus to read compared to yellow and white. Besides, one of my pet peeves is that they sometimes leave out the lyrics in the SDH track. I know some people claimed it's due to the copyright issues, but that's not true. When you caption a movie, you are supposed to include all of the information including the lyrics. Anybody who caption movies for a living would tell you that.

03-06-2011, 08:16 PM	#8
gambitz New Member Member since:Aug 2010 Location:Ontario	I agree. I dont like colour subtitles. It's common in Europe and I assume they are accustomed to it. North America arent accustomed to it. I am grateful for CC style SDHs from Sony and Paramount. However, we need to continue our fight for other companies to include positioning with SDHs.. Having all text in the middle can confuse the viewer on who is speaking if two person are speaking rapidly back and forth. Who said what? This is one of my biggest pet peeve, for this reason, I typically stick with CC if SDH is in the middle, then I use 480i. If SDH is CC style then I use 1080p. It sucks and movie makers please stop making deaf and hard of hearing population suffer and lag behind the general population. (PS yes I realize this is old post, but I want to put my 2 cents in).

04-18-2011, 02:38 PM	#9
parallax911 New Member Member since:Apr 2011	I am hearing impaired myself (not deaf), and I use plain english subtitles 99% of the time. SDH tracks are fine, but I also think they should be in one color only - and if they are placed according to the speaker, all subtitles should be at the same height and at the bottom of the screen. The MOST annoying thing I have experienced in relating to SDH subtitles is if they are jumping all over the screen and if they are the only option for subtitles (no plain english and no nothing else). This has happened on a few blurays which are very important to me: alien anthology (all movies), and Inception. Immensely annoying! Just because the technical possibility is there, does not mean you should use it like a 5-year old kid.