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I’m in Japan, with an English-language Amazon account, yet Prime insists on displaying Japanese subtitles on absolutely every thing I watch. Doesn’t matter what

I’m in Japan, with an English-language Amazon account, yet Prime insists on displaying Japanese subtitles on absolutely every thing I watch. Doesn’t matter what the original language of the content is, doesn’t provide an option to turn it off. Huge, bright white subtitles - much bigger than what Netflix uses. Been this way for years. Sometimes I have fantasies about sending an email direct to Jeff Bezos just to say: dude, did you know about this? Suffice to say, I don’t watch much Prime.

danielscrubs 6y ago
Seems like all streaming providers have issues with global licensing. Why can’t I pick from all the languages that the provider has available? Why lock it per country Netflix?
ALittleLight 6y ago
May be dumb to say, but have you checked to confirm you don't have subtitles enabled? If you bring up the player controls you notice a little "cc" in the lower right hand corner (at least in the English version as shown on my TV). If you click on the cc you can configure the closed captions, turning them off or on, changing language, or changing color.
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  Prime has burnt in subtitles for approximately 90 % of the content outside the US. Which actually might have something to do with their garbage-tier video quality: unnecessary recodes and burnt in subtitles = multiple copies, so more incentive to use bit rates straight from the shitter.
  - jonplackett 6y ago
    The terrible quality and slowness I think is a remnant from them buying LoveFilm and rebranding it as Prime video all those years back, which was based on that awful Microsoft DRM that I can't remember the name of, was it Silverlight?
    - hef19898 6y ago
      It was silverlight. Might still be installed on my desktop.
- johnwalkr 6y ago
  They are hard coded on Japan prime video (mostly).
jonplackett 6y ago
It's a lot of stuff like this that adds up. Prime and Disney + also seem to completely forget what I'm currently watching all the time - and even if they remember, it will restart a minute or earlier than I left off. Netflix is always bang on the second. Netflix also always has a 'skip recap' and 'skip intro' button. These things don't happen by chance. Someone worked hard for that!
johnwalkr 6y ago
They are not only displayed, they are hard coded and there is usually 2 separate videos (dubbed and subbed) for non-Japanese content. That being said, new content is starting to have multiple audio and subtitle tracks (like Netflix).
Guillaume86 6y ago
In Belgium we have a 60/40 language split between Dutch and French. Amazon Prime insists to promote to me dutch things (with a special section in the home screen), while I live in the french speaking part. No such issue with Netflix of course.

danielscrubs 6y ago

Seems like all streaming providers have issues with global licensing. Why can’t I pick from all the languages that the provider has available? Why lock it per country Netflix?

ALittleLight 6y ago

May be dumb to say, but have you checked to confirm you don't have subtitles enabled? If you bring up the player controls you notice a little "cc" in the lower right hand corner (at least in the English version as shown on my TV). If you click on the cc you can configure the closed captions, turning them off or on, changing language, or changing color.

formerly_proven 6y ago
Prime has burnt in subtitles for approximately 90 % of the content outside the US. Which actually might have something to do with their garbage-tier video quality: unnecessary recodes and burnt in subtitles = multiple copies, so more incentive to use bit rates straight from the shitter.
- jonplackett 6y ago
  The terrible quality and slowness I think is a remnant from them buying LoveFilm and rebranding it as Prime video all those years back, which was based on that awful Microsoft DRM that I can't remember the name of, was it Silverlight?
  - hef19898 6y ago
    It was silverlight. Might still be installed on my desktop.
johnwalkr 6y ago
They are hard coded on Japan prime video (mostly).

jonplackett 6y ago

It's a lot of stuff like this that adds up. Prime and Disney + also seem to completely forget what I'm currently watching all the time - and even if they remember, it will restart a minute or earlier than I left off. Netflix is always bang on the second. Netflix also always has a 'skip recap' and 'skip intro' button. These things don't happen by chance. Someone worked hard for that!

johnwalkr 6y ago

They are not only displayed, they are hard coded and there is usually 2 separate videos (dubbed and subbed) for non-Japanese content. That being said, new content is starting to have multiple audio and subtitle tracks (like Netflix).

Guillaume86 6y ago

In Belgium we have a 60/40 language split between Dutch and French. Amazon Prime insists to promote to me dutch things (with a special section in the home screen), while I live in the french speaking part. No such issue with Netflix of course.