Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[Jonalan34]

Originally Posted by Banjo

To Paidgeek or any other Sony insiders,

Right now, digital captioning is incredibly difficult to deal with for many deaf consumers. Therefore, many Blu-ray supporters decided to go with SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) which I really do like. However, I think it would be quite a great thing if people would take advantage of BD-Java by giving people more options on manipulating the look/style of the subtitles to make it more readable. The deaf consumers have different preferences and tastes in how subtitles should look. I noticed that such a feature is available on PS3 but it hasn't been enabled for any of the movies that I know of, so the feature is rendered useless if nobody is taking advantage of it.

You also have to remember that there are many deaf people who are slightly or legally blind but still can watch movies, but they do have a hard time reading the subtitles because some of them lack a solid background, or isn't thick enough, and the colouring of the font also can make a difference. For instance, many legally blind people prefer bright yellow markings on the stairs and yellow fonts on websites. That's why I'm suggesting that people should be able to manipulate the subtitles so they can read it better. Myself, I read them just fine. But I do know some people who find it difficult sometimes especially on smaller TVs.

Hopefully somebody will be able to do something about this. Warner Bros. is the worst when it come to their SDH style. It's the most difficult to read of all since the black stroke is rather thin and the fonts are white. So whenever they're in front of a bright scene, it's hard to read them. Sony and Fox are the best. Sony use a solid black background, while Fox use a strong black stroke (which I prefer to the solid black background).

Thanks for your time.

I m deaf too. I feel same way as you feel abt subtitle.
1+ abt your suggest on caption.

[JohnAlden]

Originally Posted by The Don

I'll just refer to him as Stunt-Man Mike...

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Banjo

One more thing...

Sony, I was incredibly disappointed with the PIP experience on your recent release of the movie, Resident Evil: Extinction. The PIP experience was not subtitled in English and to make matters worse, the whole movie was not subtitled when the PIP was activated. I did turn SDH on (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) but it was disabled when I enabled the PIP experience.

As I already have asked you on numerous occasions to make your Blu-ray releases more accessible to the deaf consumers in the area of special features. As far I am concerned, that expectation has not been met yet. What is really ironic is that some international editions (region-free) were subtitled in English (UK) meaning they subtitled it for the Brits. Like the hearing Brits would have a hard time understanding American English. Sorry for the harsh sarcasm, but you need to understand that it can be frustrating for me as a deaf consumer sometimes.

Fox actually subtitled the PIP experience on Sunshine. I was surprised since they never subtitle the special features. That's one area they still need to improve in but the PIP experience is a good start.

I hope somebody's hearing me out on this because enough is enough. I am sick of asking for the same thing the past 10 years and nothing is still being done about it.

Im with you brother , they need to take care of ALL the Blu-ray lovers

[The Don]

Originally Posted by JohnAlden

ahahaha

[CptGreedle]

He says Paramount might announce as early as tomorrow... which will be at CES.. which would be the better thing to do rather than wait till after CES.
I also think that Uni will change in Feb for sure. However I doubt either will drop HD DVD yet.
On the other hand, I suspect that by Christmas, you will be hard pressed to find any new HD DVD releases.

[gearyt]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I take the name from a brand of motorcycle (which I raced) which was once distributed back in the day by the toughest man I ever knew, bar none (that includes some Seals).
http://www.whitehorsepress.com/produ...oducts_id=3038

With a Penton and the proper resolve – one could win one of these medals (in gold) and display it in one’s home theater to use as a conversational piece among friends while waiting for thee ole display to warm up.

Was that you that ran over me back in the years of Desert and Moto raceing ?? 1965 - 75 ??

[Jonalan34]

Originally Posted by Banjo

One more thing...

Sony, I was incredibly disappointed with the PIP experience on your recent release of the movie, Resident Evil: Extinction. The PIP experience was not subtitled in English and to make matters worse, the whole movie was not subtitled when the PIP was activated. I did turn SDH on (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) but it was disabled when I enabled the PIP experience.

As I already have asked you on numerous occasions to make your Blu-ray releases more accessible to the deaf consumers in the area of special features. As far I am concerned, that expectation has not been met yet. What is really ironic is that some international editions (region-free) were subtitled in English (UK) meaning they subtitled it for the Brits. Like the hearing Brits would have a hard time understanding American English. Sorry for the harsh sarcasm, but you need to understand that it can be frustrating for me as a deaf consumer sometimes.

Fox actually subtitled the PIP experience on Sunshine. I was surprised since they never subtitle the special features. That's one area they still need to improve in but the PIP experience is a good start.

I hope somebody's hearing me out on this because enough is enough. I am sick of asking for the same thing the past 10 years and nothing is still being done about it.

1+.

[elwaylite]

I dont feel either will DROP HDDVD. Neutral is fine for me, and should be enough to push retailers in the right direction. Id love to see Para make a statement before CES is over.

[Spankey]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

I dont feel either will DROP HDDVD. Neutral is fine for me, and should be enough to push retailers in the right direction. Id love to see Para make a statement before CES is over.

I really think Paramount will drop HD-DVD completely. They dropped Blu-ray, didn't they? The writing is on the wall. Universal will probably just go Blu as well. Is there really any point in continuing to release on HD-DVD?

[Scorxpion]

PARAMOUNT will announce BD support very soon and Universal later this year February.That's it enjoy it till we have something officially

[CptGreedle]

banjo, et al,
I agree. Although I am not deaf myself, I often indulge in foreign language films and my belief is the original language is best. Therefore I prefer subtitles over dub and often find it difficult to read the subtitles when they are not properly presented. (Mainly from anime)
I have had several friends who are either blind or deaf, and I know it can be very frustrating when even something small, like providing captions for a PiP, is overlooked.
I support your efforts to alert studios (and other companies) to keep our hearing and vision impaired friends in mind when making their products.

[Skygod]

Originally Posted by Spankey

I really think Paramount will drop HD-DVD completely. They dropped Blu-ray, didn't they? The writing is on the wall. Universal will probably just go Blu as well. Is there really any point in continuing to release on HD-DVD?

yeah, but they dropped blu-ray completely because they were being paid to do so.

As much as I hope for exclusivity, I'm not sure why they would drop red. That is unless they buy into the message (as I do) that Warner said: the format war is hurting the market, and we need a single format.

But then it gets into like a prisoner's dilemna (if you follow game theory). Let the other studios make the push towards a single format, and take blu revenues there, but continue to milk revenues from the suckers who bought only DUD. (especially since they already have the capability to produce it).

Let's hope they act with integrity and end this war - it's the best for everyone. (well, almost).

[monkyman]

Originally Posted by Spankey

I really think Paramount will drop HD-DVD completely. They dropped Blu-ray, didn't they? The writing is on the wall. Universal will probably just go Blu as well. Is there really any point in continuing to release on HD-DVD?

I agree, with both Uni and Paramount not making ANY announcements for upcoming releases, plus the fact, who would continue to buy HD DVD if they went neutral, I think exclusive is their only way to go. Look how and why Warner wanted to stop being neutral.

[CptGreedle]

I hope Uni announces their plan before February, like WB did. There is nothing in their contract saying they can't prepare the industry for the inevitable change I'm sure. They should announce at CES tomorrow as well as Paramount. I am sure they will both continue to support both formats for a while.. but like I said, this is the last year we will see new HD DVD titles coming out en masse.

[JohnAlden]

Originally Posted by JohnAlden

I want the NC-17 version of Grindhouse on Blu-ray.

[elwaylite]

Im just excited I can hopefully buy Iron Man, the Hulk and Hellboy on BD.

[monkyman]

Retailers pressuring the studios for a single format does not bode well for Uni and Paramount going neutral either. I think it's BD all the way.

[Mystery Clock]

One thing I've found interesting in all this is the eternal optimism of amazon.com -- I pre-ordered Top Gun and Blades of Glory on BD before the betrayal... um... announcement a while back, and they never actually cancelled my order. They just keep pushing back the estimated ship date and asking me to approve it.

Maybe they knew (or know) something? Let's hope so.

-John

[hollywoodguy]

Originally Posted by Mystery Clock

One thing I've found interesting in all this is the eternal optimism of amazon.com -- I pre-ordered Top Gun and Blades of Glory on BD before the betrayal... um... announcement a while back, and they never actually cancelled my order. They just keep pushing back the estimated ship date and asking me to approve it.

Maybe they knew (or know) something? Let's hope so.

-John

I'm telling you, I'm waiting for my Jack Ryan Blu-ray Collection to turn active any minute now! Maybe they'll find the extras they lost on the HD DVDs in time for the Blu-ray release?!

[elwaylite]

You can still buy paramount bd's in best buy. I bought Payback a couple of days ago.