I've been going through my DVD collection and I am finding it rather incredulous that even though a film is close captioned, the extras will more than likely not be encoded as such. Even from the smaller studios the inclusion of close captioning for the feature film is absent. What gives? I find this practice or inconsistencies to be the worst that studios do for the hard of hearing/deaf community. Is this a disc space... money(?) issue?

DVDs don't care about deaf people.

I think Paramount includes captions on extras though...and possibly Universal and Disney. But I am not 100% certain. I do know a couple major studios do caption their extra features. But Warner is definitely not one of them and they even make that clear on the package(ie CC for feature only..not bonus features).


Though when you think about it. If they expect people to pay higher prices for a more elaborate release with possibly an alternate/extended version of a film. The features should be accessible to everyone which includes deaf people. Since otherwise the person is paying more for a certain version of a film....while the extras are useless to them.


And as for smaller companies that put alot of money into a films audio and visual transfer(including wasting thousands on pointless 5.1 DTS remixes of mono films). I think they could easily afford to get CC done for the releases as well. I got an email from a certain company saying captions cost $1000 to get done and they can't afford that. $1000 is nothing,compared to the thousands it costs for film rights,audio and visual transfers. So I'm sure if the companies tried,they could easily fit the caption price into the budget if it is only $1000 dollars.


And this is a pet peeve of mine with Shriek Show/Media Blasters and there many screw up releases. They can 'not afford' to get dvds captioned at all(though they at least offer subtitles for foriegn language films).

And yet their release of Ichi:The Killer has 'captions for children'. It's not listed on the package,but if you have a PC,you can see the caption option and turn it on if you like. Here is what the 'captions' contained.

Whoever was typing the words was just typing random opinions and views on the film as they watch it. Stating stuff like "gee this film is weird huh?" "It makes no sense" and other stupid comments.

If SS could waste all that money it cost to get that shitty 'feature'. They could afford to get real captions done don't you think?

Ever since then and with their careless attitudes towards customers and their releases. I have just decided to boycott them 100% and refuse to buy any of their releases. And I'm doing the same for other companies that don't even caption their feature films.

I support CC and wish that all DVDs have it for not only the features but extras as well. But I don't think it should be mandatory.

I agree with you, 100%. I feel bad for people who are hearing impaired, and are unable to watch a DVD because it doesn't have subtitles. It's bullshit when companies cheap out and don't include them.

thanks for your insightful comments. And I agree with the few Shriek/Media Blaster DVD's I have seen. There are even a few Anchor Bay discs that don't offer close captioning. Not to reiterate what I stated in my original post, but I am quite dumbfounded that studios don't really give the hearing impaired community the benefit of the doubt to appreciate or comprehend the extras they throw on their discs.

I agree, I think all dvd's should have either subtitles or CCs, ideally both, for at least the main feature, ideally everything [though I understand time constraints in some cases--CC'ing all the extras on the LotR EEs, for instance]. But if extras are not CC/Subbed, it needs to be obvious.
I think it should be 'mandatory' as in 'studios should always do it because it's better for more consumers', but not 'mandatory' like 'it's a law'.
I personally prefer subtitles to CCs, and for some reason my TV won't show DVD closed captions through the component video, but I'm also not deaf.

Correct me if I'm wrong, since I haven't seen it, but isn't there something fundamentally wrong with this statement:

"And yet their release of Ichi:The Killer has 'captions for children'."

From what I know of this film, I don't know if *I* want to see it, much less allow a child to do it. But yes, that 'feature' sounds like an MST3K-type inside joke that would be funny for about three minutes...*especially* when "real" captions aren't present.

I would think the cost for captioning would be one of the cheapest things that goes into the manufacture of a dvd, at least, once the captioning hardware [whatever puts the captions into the dvd] is bought. They could hire college temps or work-at-home people to type up the captions when watching the movie for I would think a reasonable fee. Note: I have no idea how this is done, so I could be talking out of my ear.

no pun intended. And if it's true that it's only around a thousand bucks to add this feature to discs as Julie Walker noted - it sure is chincy that studios don't fess up that amount for each title.

It was positively silly what Media Blasters did with the subs on their Invader Zim releases.

which was....

The movie was not 'that' bad in terms of gore and quite 'tame' compared to what it was made out to be. I thought the film was not that good anyway and sold it. Though yes it's not a 'kids' film in anyway!

As for the 'captions' included. If you have dvd drive on your PC. You may be able to access it and see the name of it. At least that is what shows up on Powerdvd which I have on my PC.

I select the 'information' option which shows up a list of fast forward,play and all that. It also lists closed captioning. If that or anything is not shown in bold..the dvd does not contain it(or its not accessible through this menu).

Anyway for the CC option on the screen,when I select it so the 'turn on' menu shows up. It said "Captions for Children". And I was confused by what this meant...until I turned it on to view for myself. And the majority of the comments made in the feature were not funny and just lame.

I can just picture the people at SS laughing like Beavis & Butthead as they come up with this 'great funny idea'.

I agree. Especially since most dvds have closed captions as well and you can access it thru the tv remote vs the dvd remote.

Oh, sorry.

Alien language subtitles which were nothing more than English transliterated into strange characters. Funny for about 2 seconds. "Subs on" was, annoyingly, the default setting and it was on every episode. No English subs at all.

four letters: L, A, M, and an E.

thanks

Yeah, that would be a short-lived joke, imho; perhaps better served as a gag extra. Especially to have them default to on. English subs default, sure. Wacky subs, no.
I also think every child's release should have subs or CC on them. Kids nowadays, even those as young as 1 or 2, are spending a lot more time attached to a screen of some sort than they did in even the recent past. At least having subs/CC's would keep them in touch with some sort of reading, and could help little kids learn to read. As long as they're watching tv, it might as well be educational.

Well, now that nearly all DVD releases are included CC, I have noticed steady increasing CC on bonus features. I bought original Toy Story package (with Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in one), the Toy Story came out without CC (feature and bonus) but that shitty subtitle. When they released new version of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, they all included CC in feature and bonuses.

As for me, being hearing impaired, I would like to see all DVD to included CC with bonus features and be able to understand what they said - especially those commentary or delete scene.

But we should encourage all studios to take their time and money to include CC in bonus features.

Deleted scenes are a big one. Commentaries and interviews are usually filmed relatively well, but a lot of deleted scenes don't have the audio or video mastered, so it's hard for anyone to hear the dialog, especially someone hard of hearing. I was watching the Simpsons S5 last night, with deleted scenes on, and I had to crank the volume for the deleted scenes just to hear them. And since the way they did the deleted scenes was in a subtitle track, I lost the subtitles for the actual program [though I could have gone down to AV3, S-video, and viewed the captions].

There is especially no excuse for television series on DVDs since closed captioning should have been created for anything after 1990, no? And yet I think the original South Park DVDs had CC but the season sets did not. WTF is up with that?

/agreed. CC should be mandatory.

Closed Captioning Especially when a subtitle track is not provided on the DVD.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed the Serenity DVD so much was the inclusion of captioning for most of its extras, including the outtakes and deleted scenes. A shame more DVDs don't provide this option.

Is there any way to find out which DVDs DO have captioned extras? Knowing in advance would save me the dilemma of whether to buy the "bare bones" version versus the one loaded with non-captioned extras. (Like Sin City, for instance. The loaded edition may be loaded with extras, but without captions, it's a no-sale for me.)

Anyone willing to start a list of releases that DO have captioned extras? Is there a list available elsewhere?

Universal and Paramount have been including subtitle tracks for movies and bonus features for a while now, which I commend them for every time I review one of their discs at digitallyOBSESSED.com.

I am still mystified when major released don't have English subtitles (Junebug comes to mind, only French subs), but most of those will have traditional TV-accessible captions (though I don't like them because they look so huge on my TV).

The Sin City SE does not have subs or captions on the extra features. I just checked. So it'd be better to get the bare bones release in that case and save alot of money.

And yep Universal and Paramount do contain capions/subs on their features now. I checked out a couple dvds including the Titanic SE.


Oh and I found this website which offers captioning services. And it explains the difference between normal closed captions and 'subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing'(which Universal uses). Personally speaking I prefer closed captions..they look nicer..and are easier to read. But SDH is an ok alternative.

http://www.vicaps.com/index.html


Speaking of captions/subs on extras. Criterion I have to mention don't offer either on their extra features(unless it's another language being spoken). So the fact that they charge high prices for their releases and only use SDH on the feature itself is pretty stupid I think.

Who would want to spend $40 on their release and only be able to view the feature only?

If CC were mandatory then im sure we would get a lot less extras on the DVDs due to studios wanting to keep the costs down.

Every recent Anchor Bay release I've seen has captioning on all the extras, they even caption the trailers. The original South Park discs were labeled as having CC but actually do not, the season sets are captioned though. I'm not hard-of-hearing but I always check out the captions because it's interesting to see how they're done. I wouldn't mind a part-time job doing captions- has anyone ever found any porn with closed captioning?

What's interesting is that from the beginning, they included the ability to have captions in different colors yet it's hardly ever been used. The only thing I've ever seen it used fully on is the John Denver & The Muppets Christmas special, taped off the air in 1982. Whenever Kermit talks the captions are green, and all the other characters get their own color also. The only other time I've seen colors used is on a couple Warner titles where they'll stick a notice in yellow saying "Captioning by Warner Home Video".