svardfiska
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Jul 1, 2026 1:53 PM
svardfiska
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StrangerRangerDanger
I have to have subtitles to watch anything too British. i had to have them on for Ted Lasso and Dr. Who. Bake off was fine. but for regular English I prefer them off.
IdRatherNotChooseAUserName
unfortunatelynotdeadyet
First watch, no subtitles, I worry about spoilers. Example in infinity war, in the opening, the subtitle states “Thor groaning” before we know it’s Thor or what’s happening. Second viewing, subtitles, to make sure I catch all dialogue.
3rdoption
I've been using subtitles for YEARS. At first I thought it was the acoustics in my living room, so I bought a sound bar. Then I thought I was just getting old and losing my hearing. After years of thinking it's just me, it turns out it's THEM.
Wraid
sometimes it's just too difficult to understand people with their blatantly unintelligible speech smh /s
empressbobobell
I can’t hear without my subtitles.
orp0piru
ydkmy
subtitles on everything! give me subtitles for the real world
EroticZombiePants
I'd much rather watch a dub instead of subtitles. I'm not here to read a show or movie while watching TV. I'm here to partially watch TV while doing other things including maybe reading something on the internet.
eastend666
Imagine being that vapid.
ElbowDeepInABlackhole
I’m gonna be honest, I don’t give a shit about subtitles or not. It’s all the same for me.
lonelyrangerofthedreams
Imagine you fall in love with someone and you find out that is an online hater.
ProfessorHerpDerp
My issue is that unless it's a live broadcast (sports and news) the subtitles/ closed captioning should be exact, and yet it's routinely a mess. Don't give me 5 words on the screen when I can see the person speaking 20+. I'm not talking speed of it here, I'm talking actual words left out.
UmmonPrime
I have to use subtitles because I'm a little hard of hearing and can't hear a lot of dialog. Plus, it's interesting to read the things you may have missed when you didn't use subtitles in the past.
evilspock
I find I read the subtitles rather than watching the actors, which seems a loss.
Oonayah
I have the opposite problem; I read subtitles faster than the actors speak. This leads to them becoming incredibly distracting because my ADHD brain is now screaming "keep up with me!" at the movie and ruins my ability to enjoy it.
katoutwo8
I don't like them because I read really fast and I often get spoilers.
Nopepatrol1
Or ruins the punchline of a joke before the speaker finishes the setup
apairofpetducks
Subtitles are so distracting! Constant unnecessary movement at the bottom of the screen draws my attention and sometimes I miss what's going on in the scene. Also they're wrong too often and then I get hung up on that and miss the next couple lines and have to take it back. Plus every joke is spoiled so comedies are less enjoyable with subtitles.
pomax
Ah yes "we need to make shrmbmlbmumblemumbleEXPLOSIONFUCKYOUREARS" no we're turning those things on for as long as media editors can't mix audio worth shit.
BaconAlmighty
Lots of people do - its been proven - It is harder to hear dialogue on Netflix because of modern audio mixing techniques and streaming defaults.
ToenailClippingsJar
AppleTV actually has audiosettings to enhance speech and normalize anything else. Works well enough to be honest.
Even telesyncs sound better with it.
TheEleventhHand
I watch videos with wired headphones, that I added a little inline volume slider at the left ear. I constantly adjust audio levels on the fly now without even thinking about it. I guess it might look weird, but modern problems etc etc.
KittenInside
Call it shitty mixing, which it is. Someone did not give a fuck when converting formats from multiple speakers to stereo.
MrGhostbuster
I don't understand how it's become so widespread now. It used to be just an occasional problem and now it's a problem with literally everything.
KittenInside
Money. The audio is originally mixed for (home) cinema (e.g. a 7.1 or 5.1 speaker set), and then put through an automatic conversion algorithm. The middle channel (not present in a stereo mix, of course) carries the dialogue. Unless you have actual audio engineers QA the result, which requires listening to everything at least once to adjust the conversion settings, you may be losing dialogue volume. But why have such specialists on the payroll when you can call the default settings good enough.
MrGhostbuster
I shouldn't be surprised, capitalism ruins so many things.
Exyr
I think its because younger millenials and younger grew up with headphones in their ears and just cant hear as well anymore. Listening to loud shit all the time. I can still hear fine on streaming platforms and Netflix audio mixed shows. Its not any harder than it used to be.
ALTEFFFOUR
OK, boomer.
garbuhj
Old movies still exist, and people still watch them today. When you watch new-to-you movies from the 90s and earlier, you can hear the dialog perfectly at all times
Shovi
Imagine trying to bring generation bs into this to try to disprove straight up proven studies.... Shame on you.
gablestout
Well yeah. Because generational blaming is easier than learning!
ChiLLeCheeze
If only the boomers didn't screw educmation for me. I would be learnding more. sadge
FoxyEllie
I can at least provide a data point against this. I'm a millennial, mid 30s, who actually didn't listen to much music at all. Enough that I can still hear those shrill pitch tones that kids will troll the older folk with. However, I always watch shows with subtitles, because if I keep the volume high enough to hear dialogue, the action sequences, music, or anything else that the morons in charge decided should be orders of magnitude louder have made it a painful experience.
imgurmage
No, audio mixing has been verified to be objectively worse in recent years compared to the past. I watch stuff with subtitles because the dialogue is not mixed to be at the forefront of what we hear and it can make it hard to hear what the actors are saying.
marsilies
I don't know about "objectively worse," since the mixers subjectively think it's better, but it's objectively different than it used to be, with the dynamic range of the audio pushed to more extremes. It's like the mixers don't remember that not everyone has a premium multi-speaker home theater setup, or even if they do, they don't want to rattle their windows when an explosion happens in a movie.
HighSorcerer
It's because it's downmixing 5.1 to stereo and the center channel(where all the dialogue is) gets split between the l/r speakers and doesn't sound as loud because the original system -expects- there to be a center speaker that has its own independent volume controls; the front L/R and rear L/R channels are mixed louder because they're expected to be further away. So when they're all pressed into 2 audio channels, the left/right front and rear audio ends up louder than the dialogue.
EggFooYung
I figured that had something to do with it, actually. And it explains why older movies and shows that were originally only stereo recorded are easier to hear dialogue in.
HighSorcerer
This is, in effect, why you have to keep adjusting the volume between dialogue-heavy scenes and action-heavy scenes with explosions and stuff. All the dialogue is mixed to the center channel, all the action stuff is on the left/right front/rear channels. So the action stuff ends up louder when it's downmixed to stereo.
gablestout
Even in theaters, you have the theatrical "loud parts are loud" effect, which follows into the streaming/blu-ray versions. I have an 11.1.4 Atmos system and a lot of action sequences are LOUD when you set volume to a good level for quieter dialogue scenes...I ended up plussing the center channel 5db.
I can only imagine how much washout there must be when that center channel gets pushed into L/R.
KingOfTheImgurians
My daughter, Stormageddon, had colic when she was little, we turned on closed captions and just held her and tried to be as comforting as we could.
historymemesandstuff
Why would reading slow be a problem? If you read slow you just listen to the dialogue like you were already going to do. It's reading fast that's the problem since you get a spoiler for every line and it feels like you're just reading a screenplay instead of watching a movie. Guess they were too busy being condescending they didn't really think it through
uzetaab
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1b2U2bGdtZXV6d3d2a3Y2ZjR4eHF5NTV2dXh5dG1paHRqYmE5YnVicCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/7OaYzPWOW112E/200w.webp
GravyEducation
Subtitles have multiple functions, including for those hard of hearing or trying to play low volume to not wake people up Janet because some people are awake at night and we have the common respect to be quiet when others are sleeping! I can't wear headphones all the time, the best headphones in the world still hurt after long use. Plus they're just better, picks up on extra or muffled dialogue, names characters... I play games with subs. I'm doing complicated stuff and reading too, np
VaultBoy2319
i dont like subtitles because my eyes are drawn to them and i cant focus on the rest of the screen. my wife loves subtitles
BishlamekGurpgork
After a while, you don't really have to watch them to catch the meaning from them. It just takes getting used to.
Sonicschilidogs
Bingo, it ruins the shots
Dysfunkshunill
Exactly this. I may miss a word or thirty, but with subtitles I’m reading everything and not watching the movie
GravyEducation
I play games with subs... they say multitasking doesn't exist its just the ability to switch rapidly between sensory inputs. Some say that's bad. Idk I can read and do a fight at the same time. That's just how I work. I'm 35 it's too late to fix me if I'm broken. Give me the subs and I'll still beat the shit out of random NPCs while reading
FlyingInABlueDream
And they also occasionally ruin a joke or other surprise. If I just can't understand what someone is saying, I'll rewind and turn subtitles on to get what I'm missing, otherwise they stay off
lightfoot2
When you read aloud in your mind, subtitles plus audio can be a bit confusing.
Wasnbo
Maybe it's my years with sub'd anime, but I'm in the habit of "hearing" the English translation with the character's voice at the same time I'm listening to the Japanese sound. Then again, it might be my ADD what makes this kind of acrobatics possible.
UserNamesArentEasy
I always use subtitles because I don't speak Japanese :/
TinaEveFox
The guy in Witch Hat sounds so weird in English.
AlexSomething
馬鹿野郎 !
tachyx
Baka Baka Baka!
ScottPaul57
And most English dubs suck bigly........
Kemi337
The subtitles are worse than the dubs now. There are actual decent english VAs and companies are now trying to use AI to process the subtitles.
B4r4B4d4B45tu
FUCK AI
Kemi337
Agreed
B4r4B4d4B45tu
English dubs USED to suck, but since 2019, they've improved, since guys don't sound so edgy and girls don't sound like ditzes as much.
B4r4B4d4B45tu
Source: I grew up with dubs made in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Colombia, and I'm picky AF.
AlexSomething
As always: money. Dubs for anime were bad because the audience was limited so they couldn't hire tons of actors and the same (cheap) ones did everything.
Now anime are a lot more mainstream and the quality shot up because there's more money for it.
B4r4B4d4B45tu
I feel it's more a thing about how they're trying to sound more natural and less edgy/vapid/shouty. It just never felt natural to me, and that's what a lot of people who grew up with Latin American dubs feel.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
The BIG name anime and studios will often have decent VAs but... outside that you are better off with the subtitles. Yeah the Japanese voice actors are phoning it in but phoning it in AND having to work with probably subpar translation? Yeah I will take the overly breathy japanese VA over someone who clearly is confused by the word they are saying.
IlluminaBlade
But then they inject Americanisms into the script.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
"Gonna rizz em up sensei?"
stefansd
I always use subtitles because I don't speak, Australian, New Zealandese, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh.
Wraid
UserNamesArentEasy
That too.
Ooftameg
Speech is regularly harder to hear now because it's by choice (which I think is idiotic) or the microphones they use causing the sound to be more muffled. https://nofilmschool.com/dialogue-has-gotten-harder-to-understand
cyno01
Interesting side effect of wider bigger TVs, shots can be more cinematic, nowadays its not uncommon for a sitcom or procedural to have two characters talking from opposite sides of a room, but back in the day when everyone had little 20" TVs the shots would be tighter on the actors so you could see their faces better and you could also park a boom mic RIGHT over their heads just out of shot. And yeah actors who never learned to project cuz schools dont have theater programs anymore. +
cyno01
But mostly peoples shit is set wrong. Saying that makes people get real defensive, but its not your fault Netflix, and a lot of other apps, even smart TV apps built into TVs that just have stereo speakers, will default to 'Surround' over 'Stereo'. Set the app to stereo, set the TV to stereo, set the streaming box/stick to stereo, set the soundbar to stereo. Anything along the chain trying to pass surround to two speakers can wind up mixing it poorly or sometimes just dropping the center channel.
Grumptious
Same thing for people who don't like kinetic captions.
apairofpetducks
What's that?
Grumptious
The "word by word" captions used commonly on TikTok. People on Imgur apparently hate them.
vorodar
I can
vorodar
read fast
vorodar
but
Kotarisu
I. despise. one. word. at. a. time. captions. with. a. fiery. passion. unrivaled. by. the. Sun.
apairofpetducks
Oh yeah, I don't like those. Especially when they're so often wrong.
gablestout
They're popular on TikTok because they've been shown to increase engagement on short form videos. Get outside of that environment and they're generally despised, especially because they distract from what's happening
thisistheusernamethatneverendss
We use them a lot, especially action and thrillers, BUT I need to turn it off for comedies because it ruins the comedic timing to read it first.
IWantedOneOfThoseLongUsernamesTooSoIGotOne
Yes, precisely this.
Neurisko
And Jeopardy spoilers before you can think of the answers (questions.)
Skuggen
I always use subtitles because I don't like to miss out on dialogue because of some random noise.
GravyEducation
Movie theaters need an automatic sensor that if people are being too loud you get an automatic subtitle. They usually try to give the pause for the joke or big moment but.... cmon we've all had that annoying moment where you're watching with a crowd, living room or theater, and people are reacting and then you don't get the next few lines.
RUFingKiddingMe
Doritos.
Neurisko
Bad mixing + we like to eat dinner while watching TV.
Imademyselfsquirtle
Also like bitch I don't understand Korean! I need subs for my kdrama!
nero4ty2
Yep, with 3 kids and their friends constantly running around we constantly miss out on dialogue so subtitles are usually on
jackal12345
There's been several shows/movies in recent years where whoever did the sound mixing needed to be fired. Music should never be louder than dialog.
Grimmrog
this, whats the point of a dialogue when you cannot hear it?
swofromtherock
With very few exceptions (Mad Max) dialog is like...the point of the everything.
marsilies
It's mixed for multi-speaker setups, and the music should be going to the rear speakers, with the dialog more clearly from the front speakers, typically center speaker. When it's downmixed to stereo speakers, there's no spatial separation anymore, and everything's coming out the same speakers. They used to do separate stereo mixes to adjust levels for those setups, but they've dialed that back and made it the end user's problem.
ArtisanFartisan
3.1 sound bars should be more common. You don’t NEED the rears, as nice as it is to have. A proper separate center channel is almost required now the way things are mixed.
crazyspelling
"Stereo" needs a systemic upgrade. We have cheap computer chips now, it should be perfectly possible to take surround sound channels, have some settings to reduce the volume of the back speakers and increase the volume of the center speaker, and then flatten it to stereo on the fly during playback.
marsilies
Sure, but that costs money. Why spend money on that when they can instead boast about how thin/light their TV is?
oldguyexlurker
It's not random noise that causes most of my (and others') issues with hearing the dialogue. It's the people in the editing and sound mixing room that fuck it up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I cannot tell you how many 'solutions' my dad tried to isolate and bring forward dialogue unsuccessfully. Surround sound with speakers mixed differently, headphones, a speaker next to his chair, graphic eq, different speaker/stereo sets, one marketed to do just THAT. Nada.
marsilies
Have you tried Dynamic Range Compression? It's sometimes referred to as "night mode" or similar on audio systems. It compresses the dynamic range of the audio, i.e. it makes the quiet parts louder and louder parts quieter. https://avgadgets.com/shhh-people-are-sleeping-dynamic-range-compression-and-your-receiver/
crazyspelling
I've tried it. I swear by it. But it's only a marginal improvement.
marsilies
Does yours only do on/off, or are there different levels you can select?
crazyspelling
There's night mode 1 and night mode 2 on mine.
alt86er
The levels of noise/music and dialogue are just in shitty proportions. I always wonder what the point of it is, that the music or special effects are screaming my ears off, while the people speaking seem to be whispering in comparison. You can try and filter that on-dialogue-frequencies to lower volumes. But then it just sounds shitty for other reasons.
marsilies
They tune it for a movie theater experience with multiple high quality speakers in specific places. They used to remix for home theaters, and even downmix to a stereo mix for basic TV speakers, but they're doing that less and less.
ObjectivePragmatistWithHope
Not just that, many use Dolby Atmos or similar arrangement systems, that have 20-30 different fuckin channels for "immersive," audio surround. While most people, don't even have anywhere near the number of speakers as the number of audible channels, while trying to just "Stereo," or "3-7 channel surround," the shit, usually makes a lot of stuff too loud, and just as much soft too soft. -_-
ObjectivePragmatistWithHope
... much stuff* too soft.
Oops, sorry.
youbetchamom
I try not to because I like to literally watch shows and movies, the sets and special FX, and the subtitles are distracting, but sometimes I have to. The Boys for example. I couldn't understand half of the dialogue.
Vortexhelios320
Subtitles or not, I still need to rewatch everything 3-4 times because I got distracted by the set dressing or fight choreography... and missed something important.
What I really don't like is when I have to pause a show because the subtitles flash by too fast, and the subtitles go away to make room for the UI. *rewind* *catch the 1st three letters* *rewind* *catch 2 more letters* *rewind* *try to figure out where the 6th letter will be when it pops on screen* *miss it*...
*rewind*
Forensickle
Well, you should be doing better these days. Sets are practically naked these days.
Remember when even shitty sitcom houses actually looked like people had a whole life in them?
quaggie
If it's available I use audio description too. Sometimes it's so dark I can barely see what's going on, sometimes it reminds me of who a character from awhile ago is, sometimes it points out a small detail I missed because my brain can't just sit and watch (gotta have little screen game).
Ironblitz
And not just that, there are some streaming devices that, for some reason, don't have the far left channel. If some one says something off screen, their voice doesn't come through at all but the subtitles do.
bakerguy1337
I would just like subtitles to appear as they talk. I can read the entire subtitle in a split second, and it really spoils it sometimes.
wherewehavebeen
Happens to me all the time. Jokes dont land as well, namedrops aren't as shocking or when there's a break in the text so you know an interruption is coming.
Jaqdakloun
This right here
scandelaria
I would rather rewind 30x to catch the missed dialouge than be distracted by the words at the bottom of the screen. subtitles absolutely ruin my viewing experience.
ATLandNerdy
I just wish I could have, like, a led bammer bar separate from the TV, or a smaller second TV to have the words on.
blfpd
Also I'm not fluent in Klingon
MrBurberrySteve
The one drawback to reading fast is that sometimes I’ll read the dialog before it’s delivered and it can get in the way of the actor’s delivery. However, I can snack w/o missing important exposition.