A more technical question

[Canoman]

I was wondering if any of you guys know if it's possible to get 'foreign' films from netflix without English subtitles automatically on them? It seems every movie filmed in Spanish that I rent automatically has the English subtitles on them, and you cant even go to the DVD menu and try and disable them because they're like a second set of subtitles that it seems netflix puts on them or something. By that I mean you can actually turn on two pairs of subtitles for some of the movies. One set of subtitles from the dvd's menu that you select, and then the other set that it seems is unremoveable. So ya, is there some way to 'rent' 'foreign' language films that don't automatically have permanent english subtitles? thanks

[Mabell3368]

I know that in Instant Watch you have no control over subtitles, but I have not experienced what you are talking about on rented DVDs. I do not speak Spanish (or any foreign language), so I really don't play around with the subtitles much; I need them. But I have had movies that started out without subtitles and had to turn them on. Anybody else have any suggestions or encountered this issue?

And I know how annoying it can be to get subtitles on something you understand. I recently rented a movie that had Spanish and English dialog and I either got subtitles on everything, or none at all. But, in that case I could turn them off. I had to put up with the English subtitles so I could follow the story as it was probably 80% Spanish.

[Knaldskalle]

Sounds to me like you have CC (closed captioning) and subtitles going on at the same time...? To disable CC you need to change a setting on your TV (this can often be done via the remote control). To change/disable subtitles you can usually either do it in the menu and if not there, use the "subtitle" button on the remote control for the DVD player.

On older DVD's they use "hard-subs", which were subtitles "burnt" into the image that you can't remove (as on VHS), just like you describe, but that has fortunately not been the standard for many years now (I'm sure there are idiot companies out there that still do that when authoring a DVD, but they are a small minority).

For obvious reasons many foreign films have English subtitles on as standard (just go over to Netflix and check some reviews of foreign films and you're bound to run into the "didn't have subtitles", "couldn't find subtitles" and so on, even for movies that do have subtitles...), so you should be able to change that to either nothing or Spanish subtitles.

[Canoman]

Its not the CC on my television as there are no subtitles on when i watch TV normally nor on other DVDs; just on the netflix ones.

It seems like they are "hard-subs" cause i can't get rid of them in the menus or on the remote button... Hmm.. no one else has experienced this? Has anyone actually successfully turned off the english subtitles ever?

[Knaldskalle]

Its not the CC on my television as there are no subtitles on when i watch TV normally nor on other DVDs; just on the netflix ones.

That definitely rules out CC.

Has anyone actually successfully turned off the English subtitles ever?

All the time. I usually "browse" through the available subtitles just to see which languages are on offer as the titles roll across the screen. On Region 1 DVD's that's usually "English SDH", Spanish and French plus whatever commentaries are on the disc. On Region 2 discs, however, the selection can be much more eclectic. I've seen movies with Hindi subtitles, absolutely beautiful letters.

Is it mostly "older" DVD's (before '00-'01) you watch?

[Canoman]

The last two I watched were '02 'Whisky' Uruguayan and '04 'Historias Minimas' Argentine. (I might have the dates backwards).

I'll try again in the next non-english movie on my queue. My next two are: 'The Battle of Algiers' (French i think, 1965) and 'Un Dia En El Paraiso' ('03 Spanish)

[Aben Rudy]

I've experienced the "hard-subs," but on very few films. I'm surprised you seem to have them on all yours. Yes, they can be extremely annoying if you don't want them. I activate subtitles on all my films, even those in my native English, so, although they don't trouble me that much, I understand your wanting to get rid of them.

[Aben Rudy]

I watched "The Spirit of the Beehive" last night, thought be some to be the best Spanish film of the 1970s. The English subtitles were not automatic.