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Netflix has announced that subscribers will have more freedom with their subtitles. The new updates allow fans to adjust the size and style of the text.
According to The Verge, Netflix is also offering various options for fans to choose from, saying they will offer Light, Drop Shadow, and Contrast options to make them easier to read.
The goal is to make the viewing experience much more accessible for subscribers. In addition to making the shows easier to follow, Netflix is now offering any viewers watching on TV the opportunity to shift the audio levels, making it easier to customise the experience and improve focus in listeners.
This new extension comes after complaints about the audio quality of some of Netflix’s largest properties, with Jackie Jones of the Formosa Group saying (via AV Club), “It’s awful. There’s been so much time and client money spent on making it sound right. It’s not great to hear. Whether it’s Hulu or HBO or CBS. You have to hit those certain levels for it to be in spec. But it is how it airs, and how it airs is out of our control”.
Fellow sound editor David Bondelvitch has also mentioned the audio fidelity not working, saying, “Everybody’s very unhappy about it. We work very hard in the industry to make every piece of dialogue intelligible. If the audience doesn’t understand the dialogue, they’re not going to follow anything else”.
With these new extensions, Netflix hopes to give their subscribers a more immersive experience, giving them the freedom to customise whatever they want to watch. These updates are still primarily for Netflix TV watchers rather than streaming on laptops. Since Netflix already has an option mark ‘subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing’, this is their next step to accommodate anyone who uses their service.
