Message to Indian Studios on subs (via Bollywood blu-ray)

[syncguy]

Hi Bollywood blu-ray,

If you have links with Bollywood/Indian studios, please pass this important message to all studios about subtitle positioning.

Correct placement of subtitles is one of the key factors to the success of Bollywood blu-rays and take-up. Since 16:9 wide screen TV sets have black bars for scope movies, manufacturers have started producing and pushing 21:9 super-widescreen-TVs. These will not produce black bars for scope movies. Almost all Bollywood movies are scope and these movies produce blackbars on current 16:9 widescreen sets. Future 21:9 super-wide-TVs would be a perfect fit for the Bollywood movies. The first models will be released in Europe in June by Philips. Check these links:

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/article....&id=1236252154
http://www.grobi.tv/seiten/neuigkeit...ilips21-9.html

(Note that Philips showcased the first 16:9 wide screen TV many years ago.)

If the subtitles are, fully or partially, on the black bars, these super-wide-TVs cannot display the subtitles. This is the case for the currently available scope-projection systems which are gaining popularity – they do not have black bars, so black-bar subtitles cannot be read.

Also wish to note that there are millions of people who hate black bars and they zoom the picture so that scope movies would fill their 16:9 wide screen TVs. While it is arguable whether this practice is right or wrong, it is their choice and that is the way these millions of people would like to watch scope movies on their 16:9 wide screen sets. If the subtitles are on the black bars, these zoomers (potentially 100s of millions) cannot read the subtitles. Therefore placing subtitles on blackbars will certainly alienate these people and would be a problem for wide scale take-up of subtitled foreign movies. The commercial implications of this matter are significant and Bollywood blu-rays could miss out a large market segment if subtitles are placed on the black bars.

The good news So, far Eros and Ayngaran blu-rays have correctly placed the subtitles within the picture frame (no part of the subtitles are on the black bars). I wish to see a continuation of this practice. After all, theatrical releases place subtitles within the picture - no black bars in the theater!

This issue has been widely discussed on this forum as well as other major AV forums in the US and UK. The psychological affects of placing subtitles on black bars and the scientific reasons for millions of people hating horizontal-blackbars are widely discussed - blackbar subtitles will really upset these people as they would be forced to look at the black bars (or the black void) while they are trying to forget about this black void (which shouldn't be there since it is not part of the movie).

Please pass this important message to all Indian studios. They have done well so far - expect to see a continuation of this trend. Just in case, if a studio is wishing to have subtitles on black bars, they can include two subtitle tracks: one on the black bar and the other within the picture frame so that the user can select the preferred subtitle track. This is the most effective and easiest solution available to-date to fix this ugly problem. It takes only few more clicks in the blu-ray authoring program to do this and the effort required is negligible if done at the authoring stage.

There is no technology available to-date, to move or reposition the "raster image" based subs used by all (Bollywood and Hollywood) studios. This is a significant issue in blu-ray specs development. Blu-specs also prohibits player manufacturers to develop a solution by protecting the subtitled video path. There are player-based solutions to move DVD subtitles!