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I paused a show 14 minutes in because the subtitles didn't match the dub, and now I check every disc before I start | Anime Discussions - Vivisector

angela_patel75•3d ago

I paused a show 14 minutes in because the subtitles didn't match the dub, and now I check every disc before I start

I was 14 minutes into a rewatch of a show I love when I noticed the subtitle track said one thing and the English voices said something totally different. This was on a Blu-ray I grabbed from a used bin in Seattle for $12, and the scene was a big argument where the two versions gave opposite meanings. I stopped it right there and went into the setup menu, and sure enough there were 3 subtitle options and I had picked the wrong one. I switched it to the track labeled for the English audio and everything lined up. What I do now is check the language and subtitle combo in the first 2 minutes before I get comfy on the couch, because nothing kills a mood like realizing you missed half the dialogue. Does anyone else have a foolproof way to spot a bad sub track before it ruins a scene?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_martinez3d ago

Skipping to the 3 minute mark seems like way too much work when you can just fix it once and forget it. Here's the thing, that menu trick only helps if the disc even labels stuff right, and half the time the track says "English" with no note about the dub at all. I got a copy of a kung fu movie last month where the sub track matched the dub for the first ten minutes and then drifted off into a totally different translation after the first fight scene, so checking one line early would have fooled me completely. What I do instead is watch the first scene with subs on and just listen for a spot where the mouth flaps and the words don't line up, usually a name or a number. Takes 30 seconds and catches the drift later on. Trusting the menu labels is how you end up 14 minutes in like the original poster.

felixlane3d ago

Oh man I feel this, got burned the same way on a box set last year and now I'm paranoid about it too. Quickest trick I've found is to just skip to like the 3 minute mark and check one line against what you're hearing, if the words don't line up you know right away. Some discs also label the track as "English SDH" or "for the dub" so I scan the menu for that before I even hit play.