Hard-of-hearing accessibility features

Is there a way to turn on subtitles on the Roku app? I was on the phone app and turned on subtitles for a vault episode and the subtitles appeared when we switched to the Roku app on our TV, so that appears to be a workaround at the moment.

Also: Is there a way the app developers can adjust the captioning look? It was pretty hard to read as it is now. Perhaps make it larger and in a brighter color?

Thanks!

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Agreed, my family relies on closed captioning so I hope this is just “in progress”.

I will admit I was disappointed there was no closed captioning for the Livestream/Santo, but I was glad to hear Joel say they had to add the CC on to Santo before it went into the vault.

Will future movies have closed captioning on their premiers?

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I would also recommend checking the individual streaming devices for caption formatting and settings. Roku devices have their own settings that can be enforced to override individual app caption settings.

Not every device or app will have their own caption and formatting settings but most do.

For Roku it is under Settings → Accessibilty → Caption Style.

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Is there a way to adjust the audio levels?

The riffs and host segments come through loud, but the movie audio is so low I can’t hear what anyone’s saying.

I had to tap out on the show, in keeping with the wrestling theme.

Closed captions aren’t an option for me because I have the show on while doing everything. Is there a tool or audio setting I’m not aware of.

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I noticed the difference in audio levels between the movie and the riffing/host segments and hopefully they get better levels in the future.

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I really think that captions are essential for them going forward. I have some hearing loss and “turning it up” is really a great option since the sound levels between the riffing and the movie are just too jarring. Without captions, they are making this not accessible for a chunk of the audience. Really hope this gets addressed quickly. Also, with some of the older episodes I LOVE watching them with the sound down in bed to relax.

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Agreed completely in regards to captioning — there were too many parts of livestream that I couldn’t make out the dialog for. I was watching through the iOS app for Apple, and there was no obvious way to turn captioning on. This really needs to be added to new episodes in future events.

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I addition to the current captioning, would it be possible to add options for “riff only captions” and “movie only captions”?

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The final version of the episodes will have close captioning, this has been stated in several places.

This might be more difficult, I don’t think there is a way to differentiate which is which to have a way to turn one side off.

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Yeah, I assume it would require creating two new CC files, so a lot more work.

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That’s fantastic news. When you say “final versions” can you direct me to where they have said this or timeline? The rewatch doesn’t support closed captions. Thanks for answering by the way!

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I wouldn’t think it’d be that much more work, since you have two do both parts any way, though you would end up with three caption options (movie only, mst3k only, both).

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Joel mentioned it in the chat after the premiere. The replay isn’t the final version. The final, prettied up version of the episodes (you noticed this didn’t have end credits either) will be ready by the May world-wide premiere at the latest. Ivan did mention they would be up much sooner than that, but I don’t think he gave a specific date.

Keep in mind, we’re all sort of beta testers at this stage as they work out the last kinks. :slight_smile:

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I desperately hope they will fix the audio levels! I had to keep turning up the volume to try to hear the movie dialog, only to be blasted by the riffs. We kept the remote close to turn the volume down during the skits and back way up for the movie. I know MST3K has had their audio levels worked out great in their past seasons. I have high hopes that this is just a temporary issue, but I feel compelled to add my voice to the chorus to try to emphasize its importance. I am so excited for this season and for MST3K to continue, and I hate to think that something this basic could make it hard for everyone to enjoy the new content they’ve all worked so hard on!

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Right, that is exactly what I was requesting.

If the audio balance issues can’t be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction, this might be a work-around: Set your TV/computer sound so the riff volume is comfortable, and then use the “movie only” CC to help understand the quiet parts.

As it is now, the riffing CC interrupts the movie CC, as it should be, but I think I might prefer having the other options (unrelated to audio issues).

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Poll posted today from Lesley regarding the sound issues. Please take the time to fill it out.

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Thanks for this tip. I had no idea these options even existed. It improved our viewing experience by A LOT!

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This is something I honestly don’t know but are the apps and players they’re using even capable of showing two different sets of captions simultaneously? That’s a feature I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before anywhere so I don’t know how feasible it is.

Solely from my end user perspective what they have seems a lot more basic than that - most subtitles files I’ve seen have timestamps and plain text and it’s a “when you’re reach time X, show this string” kind of setup, and way how overlapping dialogue was just displayed as sequential subtitles on the Roku makes me think it’s probably similar.

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No, not show different sets of CC simultaneously. Rather, have the option of three different CC files, so you can choose which to use depending on how you prefer to watch the episode.

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If you guys need accessibility tagging for language readers, I can show you how to do it for free. Lemme know via message.

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