Why are streaming applications so difficult to activate legends?

• I prefer to watch television shows and movies with activated legends. The same goes for 63% of Americans under the age of 30.
• But each streaming application has a slightly different way of activating legends, which is confusing.
• There is literally Nothing Otherwise in progress in the world more terrible than that, I am almost sure.

I do not remember exactly when I started watching television and films with activated legends, but it probably started with a program that had British accents that me – as a coarse American – had trouble understanding.

Now, even if I don’t do it need Closed subtitling, I almost always use it. And I am not alone – a recent Yougov survey revealed that 63% of Americans under the age of 30 prefer to watch TV with subtitles light up.

It is great to be able to understand all the clouds and the whispered words, but something grinds my gears like no other: each streaming service seems to have its own way of lighting the legends – and it is difficult to keep them straight.

Inevitably, I will start pressing the buttons or slide my thumb around the Apple TV remote control – trying to find the right menu and the magic combination of gestures. Sometimes it accidentally means my show. Sometimes it means extinguishing it accidentally. Sometimes I manage to get out of the application entirely.

Maybe I should to show how difficult you are to light the subtitles

I should start with a warning: I use a decor of the Apple TV which is connected to my TV. Things can work differently with a Roku or a Google Chromecast. (The use of legends on the mobile and office versions of streaming applications is easier because you do not have to grop with a remote control.)

It may be better if I show you. Let me take you on tour through the boring subtle ways of each streamer differently.

Netflix

To add legends on Netflix, there is a bubble of speeches on the lower right side of the screen that appears when you start a new show. Or you can slide on your remote control to pull it on the screen.

Personally, I find this the simplest and most intuitive way to make legends, but it can be partly because I used Netflix the longest.

Amazon Prime

For Amazon Prime, you sweep up To open the menu, but be careful!

You can easily press the “Play from the start” button, which will restart your episode. (Nooooooo!) The menu is at the bottom left, under “subtitles”.

Click on this, then press “on” or “off”, which is confusing, because it means that you want to activate the legends? Or does this mean that the subtitles are already on? And how do you know how it is changed? Do not slide directly into “Languages”, where you will see “English (CC)” because it is not actually the option of activating or deactivating the subtitles-this is the menu to choose the subtitles in a different language.

Basically, good luck !!

Disney Plus

On Disney Plus, you sweep down On your remote control to access the menu. with info / audio / subtitles.

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Then, you choose from a list of languages ​​that have been formatted in paragraph mode rather than by a drop -down list. From there, you find “ENGISH (CC)”. (Presume that you are looking for English like me.)

Max

For max, you sweep up And draw on the icon of the little bubble of speech at the bottom right.

This will open a menu at the bottom right of the screen.

From there, it’s quite explicit.

Peacock

On Peacock, you slip up And open a menu at the bottom left.

Make sure to skip the prompts “restart” and “following” episode before rushing directly to the “Subtitles and audio” menu.

Apple TV +

On Appletv +, or on movies or emissions from the iTunes Store, the menu is at the bottom and in the list control.

It is almost Identical to Netflix – but with an additional button to minimize the screen at the bottom right.

YouTube TV

Now let’s go to YouTube TV. Listen, I am not a religious person, but I know that hell is real because only Satan himself could have designed the user interface on the YouTube TV application.

First of all, you slide on the remote control – but not Also Quickly, because then it will automatically drop you off in a menu with miniatures for other programs to watch. From this miniature menu, you need to go back slightly, but not too far or you will come back to the show.

This will put you in the most far left option “more to watch”. From there, you must scroll several times to finally reach the CC button, which will open a new menu below. If it seems confusing, this is the case.

Why are legends so difficult?

Another warning! I will be honest: I am only 95% sure that these are the right ways for the legendary parameters of each application. Because even if I tested each application by writing this story, I continued to play and grop – sometimes going up a step or two and becoming more and more angry as you go.

It is quite possible that you must really slip LEFT When I said RIGHTOr up When I said down. But if I had to try these more times, it could have led me to madness. And it’s sort of my point: it shouldn’t be so difficult!

You will have to believe that I am able when it comes to using a remote control. I put the 10,000 hours click around my TV. I know how to deactivate movement smoothing; I programmed a recorder to record. And yet, I always find an incredibly frustrating legendary – and accidentally restart or stop my shows all the time.

Closed legends are a serious question for some

I should say something obvious here, but important: legend is a problem of accessibility. I am a person heard who simply prefers to use legends, but for someone who needs legends, confusion about how to excite them could be a real problem.

Meredith Patterson, who is the president of the National Subtiting Institute, told me that she was supporting what has become the most omnipresent use of legends. “We want closed subtitling to be” the standard “whatever the context and we are committed to making it a reality,” she said.

In recent years, AI technology has made the subtitling easier and better than ever-more things can be subtitled with fewer errors and latency, and finally, Patterson said, this is what matters to people who need it.

How to improve subtitling for everyone

I can imagine why streaming services want to have slightly different features. They want to have their own distinct identities. And they are all obviously determined with subtitling, which is a good thing. Once you understand how to work on each streaming application, they TO DO work. (None responded to my request for comments on this story.)

But legends are so difficult to access! At least for me. And there are certain basic functions that you want to consistent with regard to technology: you expect that the privacy policy of a website is in small impression at the bottom; You expect to find customer service at the top or bottom of a shopping site; You know where to find notifications in a social application.

For a streaming service, activation of legends should be standard and easy.

Do you have a story to share on the use of legends on streaming services? Contact this journalist at knotopoulos@businessinsider.com.