subtitles are needed more and more because dialog mix is usually kept low to have more dynamic range.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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I used to need subtitles because I'm not a native speaker
I can't not read them. My eyes read the subtitles against my will, and I miss whatever else is going on on the screen. Sometimes I spoil emotional moments because I read them first and miss the actor's delivery.
Other times subtitles are necessary, like if we're watching while the kids are asleep, and we need to keep the volume lower in case there's an action scene. Plus how else would I know if the music is "upbeat" or "somber" or whatever?
There seems to be a trend on YouTube where people ~~hardcore~~ hardcoded subtitles for the whole video
It's fucking infuriating
Fucking hardcore subtitles... and theyll be dead center over the video, and auto-transcribed wrong.
I think it helps avoid copyright though
And a moving highlight like it’s goddam karaoke. Absolute nightmare.
Or, even worse, the video shows them one word at a time.
Another reason not to use TikTok. I don't use it, but I've seen clips from it. I'm not sure what the point is of the subtitles when they zip by, a few words at a time, before you can read them (and I'm a pretty fast reader, so that's saying something.)
To get your attention. I know cause when I find one of these videos the captions feel like a flashing light telling you something important is happening, it's worse than youtube's shitty clickbait because is baked into the video so you can try looking away, but it's so distracting it genuely feels you're fighting the video by ignoring them.
They are also pointless. One word at a time doesn't have any benefit over normal captions, it's just distraction.
They turned an accessibility feature to an inaccessibility one.
I think it's crossed over from the "attention grabbing" subtitles fashion prevalent in short form video... Subtitles are great as an accessibility feature, and I hope everything can have them, but forcing them on and making them flashy and obnoxious sucks.
And they're always AI generated and that fucking thing misinterprets EVERYTHING!
i am too old to understand "hardcore" as a verb in that sentence. what?
typo'd "hardcoded"
I've watched something in English, with German subtitles (because Netflix adds them without asking and I was too lazy to turn them off). I can't not read them, but I can't not listen and compare as well. Those translations sucked so much, I had to turn them off.
I'd rather have no subtitles than subtitles in different languages. I hate watching Amélie on streaming because the subs are always in English
I just can't have it on for comedies. It ruins the timing of jokes and I can't keep myself from not subconsciously reading them. Years of watching fan made anime subs back 20+ years ago coerced me into reading subs really damned quickly.
When i grew up, the movie theaters showed movies in the original tone, but with subtitles in german and french. It was my absolute nightmare. My french wasn't even that good, but i couldn't not read it.
I delay them by at least two seconds to avoid reading stuff ahead of time and to look at them after realising I missed something.
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I worked putting together DCPs for theaters and managing checking the subtitles in the beginning of 2020, and was always impressed with the quality of the timing. If anything ruined a joke (which was pretty rare) I'd take it upon myself to split the line and adjust the timing to work better. I've always wondered why it seems like streaming subs have always been much worse, you'd think they would just use the same ones.
Sure it's whatever works out cheapest for them :-\
The joy of AuDHD oftentimes
Special shout out if you are capable of manifesting both at once.
Similar to how you may bristle at rules and structure, but can't function at all without them.
And doing so while eating chips.
I dont have it but subs are always on. Cannot trust the shitty sound mixing to not make half the dialogue unhearable.
Inb4 "simply apply this technical fix, it can't possibly be bad mixing to require it"
How do couples with both issues handle watching TV, or going to the cinema?
Couples? I have both myself. I only watch the subtitles.
Have you tried books?
Oh would love a book with atmospheric music that changes through the pages and sound effects at the right time.
My wife just doesn't wear her glasses, the subtitles get too blurry to be distracting.
I accept that I’m going to be distracted from the amazing visuals and beautiful cinematography, as well as as have punchlines spoiled by reading ahead. Or worse - the jarring mismatch between the spoken dialogue and the closed captioning.
On the bright side I don’t rewind or miss dialogue as much because of terrible audio any more.
If I have to watch a film with subtitles, I try to position myself such that some object blocks my view of them. If I can't, I will hold a finger horizontally for the entire time.
*yin
I'm so lucky my partner and I both have the auditory issue so subs are always on. They won't even watch stuff without it. I have more tolerance for guessing what those sounds I thought I heard could mean
This is why I watch the dub for anime. And when I say the subtitles are too distracting people always tell me I'm wrong and I'm not a real anime fan. But I guess I never really expected the anime community to be understanding in the first place lmao
My wife puts on the dubs and I put on the subtitles. The dubs bother me because the voice acting is always worse. Because of the audiotory processing, all I get from the voice is the emotion. The actual words come from the subtitles.
Even for shows in English, I use the audio dialogue for emotional cues. Captions better convey the actual words said.
I can process the audio dialogue if I have to, but subtitles require less mental energy.
Which is fair. Personally I think dub quality has gotten substantially better over the past couple decades. The sub will always be better, but the days of god awful translations and dubs is, for the most part, in the past (looking at you, Dragonball Z). Both have their positives and drawbacks for me.
My problem is that I straight up miss half the show if I have subtitles on. When Attack on Titan first came out I watched the sub because it was my only option at the time. When I was later able to watch the dub I found out that while I understood the dialog better with the sub, I missed almost every other scene. Especially when there was dialog in fight sequences where there is a lot happening. When I went back and watched the dub I was legitimately surprised because in my head the fight went completely different because my eyes were glued to the bottom half of the screen.
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I live in an apartment building so for a lot of movies I have to put on the subtitles because it would be rude to turn the volume up enough to hear the dialogue clearly. They always mix the gunshots like 8dB above the dialogue!
I am both at the same time. I hate being like this 😭
Came here to say this.
I can't read while I'm trying to see things. But I also can't hear while I'm trying to see things. So... ... ... ... Crap
My kids struggling to read so I turned on captions to help him out. And for whatever reason, it won't turn them off when it's just me. And it drives me fucking insane. It's like "I recognize your wishes and disrespectfully decline."
I just wish they were cnsistently oneline across the bottom. Not bouncing all ovwr and sometimes over everyone's head at the top of the screen.
Closed captioning exists for this exact reason. Every major video streaming platform has it
Yes, I've met my parents. The latter being deaf didn't sway the former's opinions
Extremely empathetic lol
I take issue with the subtitles going away too early, I usually put a 2 seconds delay to have time to look at the if I don't understand something
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