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Comment by ecshafer | Hacker News Reader

I started using captions as a teen because of watching anime, and then I started doing it with normal tv. I am not in my 20s but I think a big part of it is that most tv shows and movies have become absolutely impossible to hear what they are saying. I think speakers on TVs have gotten really bad with the transition to flat screen, and even with a sound system the mixing of audio has gotten really bad. Music and sound effects go over the dialogue too much. Movie theaters its fine, so I am not sure what they are doing differently.

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And the volume levels vary so much. If you don’t want hearing loss or angry housemates you turn it down and then can’t hear the normal dialog. If I am watching very closely I will incessantly fiddle with the volume, but otherwise then captions are nice. I agree tho I miss visual side of the film while reading the captions. But I also tend to watch stuff I really like more than once so I get the body language second run thru.

Buy a sound system. I now have a 3.1 setup and can hear the dialogue. A dedicated center channel makes a huge difference. Its amazing.

Many AVRs can also adjust it so the dialogue is louder, but I haven't found a need.

Why would I buy something from people in the same industry to fix a problem that they caused? I'll just take subtitles. Especially when all the suggestions for 3.1 systems cost 500+. That's just ridiculous when all I want is a system to make the audio not terrible (loud sounds don't blow out my ears yet voices are clear and understandable).

$500 doesnt go far with audio. For that amount it would be better to get a soundbar.

And a soundbar is still way better than TV speakers.

It's definitely better but I still find mixing inconsistent enough that I have to cycle through profiles on my AVR(denon)/system(performa3) to find a mixing that works. Mostly seems to be an issue with stuff in the last couple of decades.

I just leave it (Onkyo) on DTS:Neuralx. It's good enough for most of my wants.

With the heavy accents I can barely understand every other word in shows like Brassic or sometimes an English word that means one thing for Americans but with a period/place specific meaning so I am not sure what I just heard like in Derry Girls (1980's Northern Ireland) without captioning.

I remember when "The Wire" came out, I started turning on captions because the Baltimore vernacular was so thick. And the Caucasian and African-American characters spoke separate dialects of it. Especially the constant use of "a'ight" as a contraction for "all right".

Derry Girls is interesting in that the actresses sound mostly like trained Brits doing an Irish accent. I've never been to Ulster, I don't know how people actually talk there, maybe the Irish have a softer brogue from having to interact with the British/Protestant people they share the region with.

Peaky Blinders and Letterkenny, for me.

Maybe spatially separating where sound is coming from helps? Or perhaps not having to overlay multiple audio tracks on a single speaker output allows for higher fidelity due to better dynamic range.

In any case I think my anime watching has resulted in a slight dislike for CC if only because I find it all too easy to accidentally only read, and actually the action going on. I only realized this when I go back and rewatched some old youtube clips and found myself not remembering the actual animation and physical comedy.

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