DJariya

Is it due to audio being mixed too low?

Accents?

Hearing impairment?

Difficult dialogue to follow?

Too many distractions in your house that makes it hard to follow.

fujishig

Yes.

Sometimes it's due to noise around the house (because I have kids) sometimes it's because the sound mixing is awful and the dialogue is like barely audible compared to the background music. And sometimes it's because it's easier to keep track of characters who's names I don't know yet. But it's definitely become something I do more often than not.

MLBFan24

I watch all scripted shows and movies with subtitles.

I don’t watch sports with subtitles.

For reality TV, it’s a toss up. I like it for Below Deck, but not for Amazing Race.

For Andor, subtitles are MANDATORY

joeblow69

I do, though I"m usually stoned, so the subtitles help a lot

devilshalo

Too many distractions/need to keep the volume down and the family staying with me is learning English so subtitles help with that. If I'm by myself, I turn it off.

lwhy?

I've been watching with subtitles for probably the last fifteen years. I watch all scripted shows with subtitles. I never watch sports with subtitles though. I sometimes watch it with reality shows, but if the subtitles start covering up the lower third graphics I'll turn them off. I never watch YouTube videos with subtitles either.

fujishig

Yeah live reality shows and live sports don't have great subtitles since they're done in real time, so I usually don't bother with those.

Runaway

I hardly ever watch with subtiles, only if I don't speak the language. I find subtiles to be distracting, especially if they paraphrase the spoken dialogue. In Germany most movies and shows are dubbed in such a professional way, everything looks lip-synched. So I grew up watching everything dubbed. I started watching the original versions when Lost first aired, because it wasn't dubbed and The Shield was cancelled on German TV after season 2 and I had to buy the DVDs.

Dan

Most of the time, yes. I don't need them as much as my wife does, but I don't mind having them on at all. I find it does help with some shows and content.

jpcamb

A lot of British shows help to have subtitles, rare for me to do them for shows made in America but occasionally the odd show or movie will have poorly mixed dialog and I am open to using the subtitles to help with that as well

Count Dooku

I never watch TV with the subtitles on, and just last Saturday night I was at someone else's house and they had the TV with subtitles on, and I found it SO distracting. They were watching SNL and the captions were SO far behind the spoken dialogue, it was crazy.

Before that they were watching Poltergeist and since it wasn't live, the captions were better. I asked why the captions and the mother/grandmother said she could not hear the dialogue. Why not just turn up the volume? Then the music is too loud.

fujishig

You've never watched a movie or show with such poor sound mixing that the music IS too loud compared to the dialogue? Tenet (the movie) is a perfect example of this.

I do admit that part of it is probably because I am getting old, though.

Count Dooku

I recently watched Interstellar, and I know that in the theater, the music and effects were booming compared to the dialogue, but I did not have any trouble with watching it on my TV. I do have the sound settings adjusted to increase the treble and lessen the bass.
But even if it was just for one particular movie, I can't imagine using subtitles for EVERYTHING rather than just turning the volume up and living with it.

Dan

Gee, it's almost like moderate-to-severe hearing loss can affect the frequencies that most speaking voices are at.


Super hilarious, though.

Count Dooku

Then one of her 3 adult children in their 30s and 40s should be recommending that she get a hearing aid, right?
Thanks to Joe Biden and the Dems, they can now be purchased over-the-counter.

OldBoy

Sometimes. The couple British shows I watch. Slow Horses being one. I want to make sure I’m getting everything so if I have no problems with foreign films, why should I care if it’s in English?

OldBoy

I actually think it’s harder to follow when under the influence. I do it, but harder.

DWilson

I'll watch subtitles with any UK show or shows that have complicated dialogue (such as House of the Dragon, with uncommon names and titles and such).

milo bloom

Yes, for all the reasons.
Poor sound mixing is a big one, but also environmental sounds like when we have the windows open in nice weather but it’s out turn for the O’Hare flight rotation.

Definitely accents too, Doctor Who was hit or miss until Jodie Whittaker, who is incomprehensible (though I love her energy).

Xiroteus

Not if it's in english.

rw2516

Never. I know what people mean about British accents sometimes. I may have some trouble understanding for the first episode, but by the second episode I've acclimated to it. No trouble after that.

Hokeyboy

Whenever the fucking White Worm is talking? Absolutely yes.

Mike86

My fiancée pretty much always has them on and I’ve gotten used to them. Truthfully even before her and I were together I would turn them on occasionally though. I can hear fine but I feel like most of the problem comes from dialogue being mixed lower than music/sound effects and not always clearly hearing all dialogue.

fujishig

I did have a question about subtitles.

Sometimes there will be background noise subtitles for dialogue that I can't hear at all. Is that like coming in on some surround sound channel that I haven't set up or something? Doesn't happen that often but I'm sometimes surprised what pops up in subtitles that is otherwise inaudible in my setup.

JeffTheAlpaca

I think movies and TV shows are recorded in a lower volume?

I miss some words so I just use subtitles but I never use them for sports and I can understand almost everything perfectly.

I turn them off for long segments with music and no dialogue.