I have pretty bad adhd and I find watching tv with subtitles on helps me follow the story better. Usually Netflix does a great job with subtitles, but I've just started watching The West Wing and it seems like the subtitles are like 60% accurate at best. They generally give a summary of what is being said instead of an actual transcription of the dialogue. Anyone else notice this?
Posted Sep 4, 2020, 1:25 PM UTC
I don’t know which episode but I think one of them actually has a bunch of Zzzzzzs for the captioning.
Is it the Cuba episode?
Well done. Haha
I’m on maybe my twentieth rewatch, I’ve never seen this and have been super impressed by the captioning. Does it differ by region?
My experience is similar to u/theogpoorsquirrel poster who said they’ve had no accuracy problems. Is it possible that it could be the device you’re using to watch it with? I use Apple TV and watch it with both Netflix and through iTunes now that they finally caught caught up to everyone and play next episodes automatically. I now need the captions due to severe hearing loss on one side and have never noticed an accuracy problem at all.
I'm watching on a Roku in the US. I just finished binging Star Trek DS9 and didn't notice any discrepancies. Maybe I'll send an email.
It might be worth it. I watch in the US too, and because of Aaron’s MasterClass I’ve actually read every screenplay and proper script from the series I can get my hands on too. (It’s basically an assignment from him, to just read as many screenplays and scripts as you can) Which is another reason why I’m pretty confident in the accuracy of the Netflix subtitles when I’ve watched, plus the iTunes subs matching and because of the one sided hearing loss I have now always been re-watching with subtitles on as well, for about 5-6 years.
However, there’s still a possibility I may be missing something perhaps because I’ve read so many screenplays and scripts or watched the show so many times since it’s original airing too. But I’d definitely be curious if others who have similar problems are all maybe watching with the same or various devices and say maybe those who aren’t are similarly to me watching with Apple TV’s or something along those lines.
Either way I’d definitely be frustrated too and I hope it gets addressed.
I’ve noticed that too. The only thing I can think of is that it’s hard to keep up with Sorkin’s fast-paced dialogue, and 100% accurate captions would take up half the screen, so they just paraphrase
I suppose that's true but you definitely lose some of the nuance of the dialogue. Enjoying the show anyway.