From Damon Timm:

Hey Everyone,

You may have seen the news recently that Netflix was releasing a $99 set-top box that allows subscribers, at no extra charge, to view on-demand movies on their televisions. However, if you are a Netflix user and interested in watching streaming video on your computer or television you may be dismayed to find that there is no captioning or subtitles available for this service.

As the industry turns towards a more digital-streaming-media approach, we need to speak up and let the industry know that closed captioning and subtitles are important to us, our friends, and family.

Tell Netflix How You Feel

If captions are important to you, make your opinion known. Place a quick call to Roku (the manufacturer of the new set-top box) and Netflix and let them know how you feel.

Call: 888-600-7658 (Roku)
Call: 888-638-3549 (Netflix)

In both cases, you will probably want to have your customer number (found at the bottom of the page) ready. If you are not a customer, you could call and say you WOULD be one if only they offered captions on streaming video.

Netflix Isn’t Alone

Netflix is the not the only company or product ignoring this important feature. Look at your your XBox 360, PlayStation 3, iPhone, and AppleTV to see if captions are supported for all the video offered.  You’ll most likely find it isn’t widely supported.

In addition to streaming video over the internet, basic HD Video is posing another barrier to accessing closed captions: HDMI & Component Video connections won’t transmit closed caption data, so your television can’t convert the signal (it has to be done by the Blu-Ray
Player or HD Cable Box—many of which do not have this feature).

It’s amazing that purchasing the newest technology—that new HD TV or PlayStation 3—takes us back to the dark ages of captioning.  It’s really sad: this is the digital age.

Call and e-mail to make our opinions be heard! Let’s speak up and make a difference.

Damon Timm

More information about the set-top box is at:
http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/
http://www.netflix.com

Information about the lack of CC on HD connections:
http://www.alldeaf.com/captioning-sign-language-interpreter/39116-hdmi-component-hdtv-”>http://www.alldeaf.com/captioning-sign-language-interpreter/39116-hdmi-component-hdtv-not-support-captioning.html”>http://www.alldeaf.com/captioning-sign-language-interpreter/39116-hdmi-component-hdtv- http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=699933not-support-captioning.html

Info about the PS3’s lack of CC support:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=1929162

Contact the FCC with a complain at: fccinfo@fcc.gov or fax: 866-418-0232

This article was posted by Carol in category Hearing Loss/Deafness