Why is BD audio/subtitles like this? - Blu-ray Forum

dbzlotrfan · 11-30-2010, 02:35 AM

Probably seems like a redundant question but I wonder:

Why do some titles (like Dr. Strangelove) have subtitle option of like Arabic or Dutch? Or 2001: A Space Odyssey Blu-ray has audio options for: German & Italian yet subtitle options for: Portuguese, German, Italian, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish.

It seems rather abribtrary to me to have options for subtitles (or audio) for some languages but not the other, Portuguese, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish audio (2001) . . . . . . . . .

Jeff Kleist · 11-30-2010, 09:01 AM

To ship one disc to as many regions as possible. One master, one pressing. If you have worldwide rights then you stuff as many languages as possible on.

Subtitle languages take up virtually zero space and are easily created from existing assetts. Audio tracks take up space and bandwidth. German people as a rule are almost as stubborn as Americans when it comes to insisting things are dubbed, so it often is first up to get audio priority

dbzlotrfan · 11-30-2010, 12:00 PM

Yet why have arabic subtitles for something like Dr. Strangelove. Or cantonese & Korean for 2001?

Carlos2992 · 11-30-2010, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbzlotrfan

Yet why have arabic subtitles for something like Dr. Strangelove. Or cantonese & Korean for 2001?

What I can't understand is why some A region titles don't come with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles for example, but they do have arabic, italian, islandic, hebrew, danish...

Jarfa · 11-30-2010, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlos2992

What I can't understand is why some A region titles don't come with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles for example, but they do have arabic, italian, islandic, hebrew, danish...

Because editors don't know how many people speak, and can do fast reading of those 2 languages in the world

Much cheaper than dubbing audio in a movie, that i don't personnaly listen too, even if it is my own language. I do prefer some subs, just to catch up with some fast talking, even if it is spanish (castillian)

viezure · 11-30-2010, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbzlotrfan

Yet why have arabic subtitles for something like Dr. Strangelove. Or cantonese & Korean for 2001?

I'm missing the point. Why not?

dbzlotrfan · 11-30-2010, 07:52 PM

Would you really want to watch a movie with Arabic subtitles and like English or French audio? Just seems a bit random too me.

Rizor · 11-30-2010, 08:01 PM

As far as I'm concerned, releases should have as many subtitles as possible. They're certainly not hard to include. I don't care much about audio as I'll only ever watch a title in its original language, not to mention they take up more space. But including many subtitles can open a film up to a larger audience. It's something that kinda bugs me about Criterion's titles - they're only produced for English speakers.

Mermen79 · 11-30-2010, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Subtitle languages take up virtually zero space and are easily created from existing assetts. Audio tracks take up space and bandwidth. German people as a rule are almost as stubborn as Americans when it comes to insisting things are dubbed, so it often is first up to get audio priority

OMG I LOVE German dubs! I think that in general they are the highest quality in the world. I've been buying only the German releases of Disney re-releases for this reason (sans Fantasia). I'm bummed out that studios rarely include German audio in NA releases. Most of them own the rights to it anyway. Euro versions of everything is so expensive.

svenge · 11-30-2010, 08:46 PM

Authoring and checking BD discs can be costly and time-consuming. It saves the studios money to do just 1 disc version worldwide when at all possible. However, if they don't have territorial rights in certain places for a given movie then that may not be true. Also, as djepic112 pointed out, if a given studio has a more aggressive regional-pricing policy, then the decision to include/exclude certain langauges from certain releases can be more profitable in the region with higher MSRPs.

GeorgeP12 · 11-30-2010, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Subtitle languages take up virtually zero space and are easily created from existing assetts.

Right! And the question is why the subtitles can't be added online similar to BD-Live feature? Technically it's quit easy. Buy disc anywhere no matter what languages it contains and watch it with subtitles that you can choose from Internet db, what could be easier?

HDMe · 11-30-2010, 11:56 PM

In addition to the regions... it also sometimes depends on who the original producers/investors were.

You might find times, for instance, where a wealthy Saudi Oil guy invests in a movie and that affects the subtitles or audio tracks when a release comes out differently than if a guy from another country is a big investor in the production.

Jeff Kleist · 12-01-2010, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Right! And the question is why the subtitles can't be added online similar to BD-Live feature? Technically it's quit easy. Buy disc anywhere no matter what languages it contains and watch it with subtitles that you can choose from Internet db, what could be easier?

If they don't own the rights for a region, they probably can't even contractually provide those subs

dbzlotrfan · 12-01-2010, 10:19 AM

Delete this post, pease mods.

11-30-2010, 02:35 AM	#1
dbzlotrfan Active Member Member since:Aug 2010 Blu-ray collection:28	Why is BD audio/subtitles like this? Probably seems like a redundant question but I wonder: Why do some titles (like Dr. Strangelove) have subtitle option of like Arabic or Dutch? Or 2001: A Space Odyssey Blu-ray has audio options for: German & Italian yet subtitle options for: Portuguese, German, Italian, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish. It seems rather abribtrary to me to have options for subtitles (or audio) for some languages but not the other, Portuguese, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish audio (2001) . . . . . . . . .

12-01-2010, 10:19 AM	#14
dbzlotrfan Active Member Member since:Aug 2010 Blu-ray collection:28	Delete this post, pease mods. Last edited by dbzlotrfan; 12-01-2010 at 10:33 AM.

11-30-2010, 09:01 AM	#2
Jeff Kleist The Digital Bits Member since:Jul 2008 Trading Score:1	To ship one disc to as many regions as possible. One master, one pressing. If you have worldwide rights then you stuff as many languages as possible on. Subtitle languages take up virtually zero space and are easily created from existing assetts. Audio tracks take up space and bandwidth. German people as a rule are almost as stubborn as Americans when it comes to insisting things are dubbed, so it often is first up to get audio priority

11-30-2010, 12:00 PM	#3
dbzlotrfan Active Member Member since:Aug 2010 Blu-ray collection:28	Yet why have arabic subtitles for something like Dr. Strangelove. Or cantonese & Korean for 2001?

11-30-2010, 07:52 PM	#7
dbzlotrfan Active Member Member since:Aug 2010 Blu-ray collection:28	Would you really want to watch a movie with Arabic subtitles and like English or French audio? Just seems a bit random too me.

11-30-2010, 08:01 PM	#8
Rizor Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Jun 2008 Location:NJ, USA 4K collection:1602 Blu-ray collection:6185 DVD collection:192 MA collection:73 Digital collection:51 iTunes collection:29 Prime collection:7 Blu-ray reviews: 32 Trading Score:159	As far as I'm concerned, releases should have as many subtitles as possible. They're certainly not hard to include. I don't care much about audio as I'll only ever watch a title in its original language, not to mention they take up more space. But including many subtitles can open a film up to a larger audience. It's something that kinda bugs me about Criterion's titles - they're only produced for English speakers.

11-30-2010, 08:46 PM	#10
svenge Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Nov 2009 Location:Washington State 4K collection:17 Blu-ray collection:474 DVD collection:157 Blu-ray reviews: 5 Trading Score:67	Authoring and checking BD discs can be costly and time-consuming. It saves the studios money to do just 1 disc version worldwide when at all possible. However, if they don't have territorial rights in certain places for a given movie then that may not be true. Also, as djepic112 pointed out, if a given studio has a more aggressive regional-pricing policy, then the decision to include/exclude certain langauges from certain releases can be more profitable in the region with higher MSRPs.

11-30-2010, 11:56 PM	#12
HDMe Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Jan 2010 Location:North Augusta, SC	In addition to the regions... it also sometimes depends on who the original producers/investors were. You might find times, for instance, where a wealthy Saudi Oil guy invests in a movie and that affects the subtitles or audio tracks when a release comes out differently than if a guy from another country is a big investor in the production.

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