Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, Video, Books and Blogs
Closed Captioning not brought to you by Apple
Russell Beattie brings up a very good point in a recent post over at his blog: "...I couldn't share [the shows] with my wife. She has some problems with her hearing, and isn't a native English speaker. So in our house, the subtitles are always on the TV so she doesn't miss anything....The fact that iTunes Video comes without subtitles is disappointing.... Dear Apple: Please fix this. It's a real problem for those people who want to enjoy your service, but need subtitles."I don't know if it would be possible, currently, for the shows to have a closed captioning on and off toggle in iTunes or the new video capable iPod, but it wouldn't be too difficult for the iTMS to offer both captioned and non-captioned versions of all the television shows listed in the iTMS. I hope this is a service that they add in the near future, both for the hearing impaired and for those of us riding the subway who like to be able to listen for our stop and still follow what's going on in the show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Robin said 9:10AM on 10-20-2005
Hate to say it, but does his wife also complain about lyrics not being displayed when the iPod is playing music?
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Balazs Hollos said 9:13AM on 10-20-2005
What is closed captioning? I have been wondering for a while.
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arkowi said 9:23AM on 10-20-2005
While this is unfourtunate for Mrs. Beattie, my only concern would be the readability of sub-titles inserted into a 320-240 video or on the iPods 2.5 inch screen. I see my new iPod 60 GB white is scheduled for delivery today, so I will have the oppourtunity to play with some of these videos. I am pretty sure Handbrake allows you to rip DVDs with the subtitles turned on.
-arkowi
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SR said 9:39AM on 10-20-2005
good point. i think apple and the tv studios are violating the americans with disability act here because of accessibility issues.
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Pedro said 9:54AM on 10-20-2005
i guess you really cant please all of the people all of the time, but there are limitations on the size of the ipod screen. i would imagine the cc text would take up a big portion of that valuable real estate.
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Lola said 10:03AM on 10-20-2005
In case you guys haven't missed the obvious . . . I seem to recall that the video iPod could be hooked up to the tv, which of course provides more real estate (and it sez so at http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html). And, these shows can be played via iTunes right on your laptop or G5 mac hooked up to that 20" monitor.
I think that is what the user had in mind (as do I as I have a severe hearing loss). I'm planning at some point to get that video iPod so that I carry videos around with me and use the tv where I'm at to play these shows.
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Penginkun said 10:18AM on 10-20-2005
I also have hearing issues, and I watch TV and movies with captions on. It is indeed possible to have a container file which has both the video, one or more audio tracks and various subtitle files. The Matroska (http://www.matroska.org/index.html) format offers this, as does OGM (Ogg Vorbis) (http://www.gromkov.com/faq/faq2004-0076.html). Using a free player like VLC it is simple to change between two languages and different subtitles via menu options.
Quicktime could do this easily, but Apple has not decided to implement the ability. Perhaps they don't see a reason why people would care. Now they have a reason. If they're serious about offering these shows, it would behoove them to provide the shows with at least closed captioning. I don't think there's a law mandating this, but it would be swell of them to do it voluntarily.
This could work well to Apple's advantage. You could download an episode or movie with both the regular audio track, and with the director's/cast/crew commentary. It could include a Spanish language track as well. English and Spanish subtitles could also be included. Granted, that would increase the size of the file somewhat, but it would give the files broader appeal.
It could be done, and IMO it should be done.
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Blue Balloon said 10:20AM on 10-20-2005
#4, you may be right but no, there is no such a law that subtitle or closed caption (CC) is required in different media format so far.
http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html
#3 and #5, you should seen PSP with CDM movie, the subtitle show to be clear and crispy enough to read. There is such a possible to get.
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Jeff said 10:38AM on 10-20-2005
For an idea of what CC might look like, check out this video about the new iPod on CNET:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_iPod__60GB__video__black_/4505-6490_7-31556110.html?autoplay=true
Notice in the first few seconds of the video, he has the iPod playing a Lost episode with the 2 Korean (I don't watch it all the time, so I could be wrong on their background) characters speaking. The standard subtitles associated with their conversations are displayed and they look pretty readable to me. Obviously, it's not CC but it gives you an idea of how readable small text would be on a creen that size.
Jeff
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arkowi said 10:38AM on 10-20-2005
Yes, I have a PSP and I have seen the subtitles on there. I am not sure if the PSP overlays the text or if it is part of the encoded video. I am assuming it pulls the text off a container file that syncs it with the audio and overlays it on the video image.
What I am getting it, is that the iPod may not have these capabilities. Possibly, the only way to view sub-titles on an iPod would be to encode them as part of the video. Apple would then have to offer 2 video files, one with subtitles, one without.
The thing is a music (read: audio) player first, as Jobs said. I am not saying its right or wrong, just how it probably is.
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Joe Clark said 10:46AM on 10-20-2005
Whether or not a SMIL or QTtext file could be associated with the video played on an iPod is one question that could be investigated. There would then have to be an interface to turn captions on and off.
However, the better option, as mentioned above, is separate uncaptioned and open-captioned variants. Even if they simply decoded the TV closed captions, they would remain the same relative size on that screen as they do on TV. (Connecting your iPod to a television would change nothing.) It's already been done and the results are adequately readable.
If you're talking about recaptioning from the original television files, that's gonna be harder. And unnecessary, in some respects.
Finally, we're talking about captions, not subtitles.
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arkowi said 10:48AM on 10-20-2005
Blue Balloon,
The UMD movies on the PSP are at a higher resoulution than 320x240, so of the subtitles are encoded with the video they would look better than what they would look like on a PSP
Even if they were not endoded, but overlayed the PSP has a higher resolution screen, this would allow for sharper subtitles.
Text on a 480 x272 pixel screen is going to look better on a 320x240 pixel screen, i am assuming.
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arkowi said 10:56AM on 10-20-2005
Jeff,
Still would have to be encoded in the video. Meaning they are either get the video with subtitiles and they are always on, or you get it without subtitles and they are always off.
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Small Paul said 11:12AM on 10-20-2005
This should be easy. Stick the text right into the file as plaint text, like track information in AAC files. Then let the device/software display it - so on the Mac, you'd get nice Qwartz-y text (preferably with user settings to decide how it looked), and on the iPod you'd get more iPod-style text to keep it readable.
Do it. Do it, do it, do it right now.
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Blue Balloon said 11:16AM on 10-20-2005
I was one of them who gave the feedback to Apple about DVD when it release first time that there was no CC only subtitle. I have know that some DVD doesn't support subtitle but only CC. Later, Apple release DVD player 2.0+ that come with CC. There is possible we will have subtitle in future. Yes, I already left the feedback to Apple on iTunes/iPod on Tv show. Best bet, we will have it by next year... ughhh... long year... *snore*
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Cecil said 11:34AM on 10-20-2005
Um... its primarily an audio device that happens to now play video... What the hell is a deaf person gonna do with an audio device? Why would you even think about CC on this? Whats next? iTunes offering e-books for iPod and people bitching about no braile?
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John Laur said 12:11PM on 10-20-2005
The shows already have a CC track. Apple could fairly easily do something like TiVo and record the CC data 'out of band' and reinsert it into the playback stream. They wouldn't even really have to support displaying the CC data on the iPod itself (though it would not be difficult), but rather just put it back into the video output. The NTSC encoder in the iPod probalby even has this capability (most do).
Deaf people buying iPods, though? I'm just not seeing it happening. There are plenty of other devices that are better suited to the task.
As for that listen for your stop question -- ever think about just using one earphone instead of two?
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adreanaline said 12:24PM on 10-20-2005
Deaf people aren't always completely deaf! I'm deaf and I wouldn't mind the iPod if there were captions with the video.
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adreanaline said 12:26PM on 10-20-2005
Oh yes -- and Deaf people buying iPods, yup it's happening. I know a few who have done so already.
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DaveKCMO said 1:37PM on 10-20-2005
I can see both sides: Apple should have thought to include some solution for the hearing-impaired, but at the same time they reminded everyone that this is still primarily a digital MUSIC device (the video being a "bonus"). If it was a device that primarily existed for video playback, I could see someone being upset.
And no, since Apple is not a government entity and the iPod is not a means to access employment or housing, they are certainly not in violation of the ADA. The same applies to websites that don't provide alt-text on photos to enable text-to-speech for the visually impaired. In fact, there are still a few shows on basic cable that offer no closed captioning.
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