To think subtitles on the telly are shite

[KnickerBockerGlooooory]

I'm sat in a hotel just now, watching the BBC sports news on in the background with the subtitles on (as sound is off). It's pretty much gobbledygook, and if I were genuinely hard of hearing and had to put up with that gibberish on every programme, I honestly don't think I'd bother. Lighthearted thread bytheway.

Actually I've now realised the issue is that the subtitles were reporting on Scottish, followed by Irish, comments on the upcoming rugby. Because the English commentators are being scribed much more accurately. That is terrible! Surely the bbc can do better...

It can be worse on live programming such as the news as they sometimes use automated voice recognition software.
You start to get used to it.

Yes they're rubbish on anything live.

They are hugely improved on anything pre recorded, especially on iplayer. Annoyingly not everything on amazon/Netflix is subtitled yet.

What pp said. There is always problem with live TV. But pre recorder is good! I still use them sometimes, but I do make sure they are off on live programmes

But it shouldn't be a light-hearted thread because people who cannot hear properly should be able to have accurate subtitles.

I often have subtitles on and they’re dreadful.

This is why I love amazon. Stuff that is scribed has the option of text size too!

We have to have the subtitles on in my house, we tend to only watch pre recorded programmes as live subtitles like on the news are horrendous.

I have to have subtitles

I’m hard of hearing

I hate it when it’s live as I can’t watch it

Well that's because it's live.. so they either have someone frantically typing or it's just a transcription programme which are notoriously bad

I'm not hard of hearing but I watch everything with subtitles because half the time I can't figure out what anyone's saying. DP says I read TV instead of watching it

I love watching the news channel with subtitles, some of the mistakes are hilariously bad. I agree it's not good if you actually rely on them though.

YANBU.

I find I have to use subtitles more and more.

Not because of my hearing but more so the 'background music' is more like 'BACKGROUND MUSIC' is getting louder and louder, and actors seem to mumble so you can not hear them.

I hate that in this day and age, there are still programs that don’t have subtitles

Even dvds. I have to check before I buy. Most modern releases now are good but there are still some who don’t

I love subtitles - I can watch recorded stupid stuff at ridiculous hours of the night at higher speed with the sound off as DP slumbers!

It also helps where the actors have weird accents, or mumble in the dark. One of these days I'll watch the Godfather again and understand the main actor [name escapes]

Not because of my hearing but more so the 'background music' is more like 'BACKGROUND MUSIC' is getting louder and louder, and actors seem to mumble so you can not hear them.

Sorry, but saying the background music is loud and the actors are mumbling is a sure sign your hearing is going

@Ferretyone marlon brando I think? True this isn't lighthearted for those who rely on subtitles. I just couldn't believe how nonsensical some of the transcribing was! Surely a real live human being with reasonable vocabulary knowledge and typing skills could do better?!

I'm hard of hearing, live subtitles are absolutely terrible. As pp says it is because subtitles arent transcribed, they're spoken (not just live, prerecorded programmes are the same but theres time to correct issues with it).
But sometimes the wrong subtitles are played for the wrong programme or at the wrong speed. Its infuriating.
Dont get me started on the lack of subtitling in cinemas.