Netflix Subtitles No Longer Work on Roku 2

[knighthood]

I too just brought ROKU 2 for the sole purpose of watching Netflix with subtitle. It is not working for me either and those list that supposedly work doesn't for me. Dr. No does work for me though. So now I am waiting to see if Netflix is going to fix ROKU 2 problems in time before my last return date of Oct 24th for ROKU 2. Actually I will cancel Netflix streaming on Oct 22nd for that is when my monthly renewal date is until Netflix fix it on their dime. Not mine. It does me no good to cancel it now either for they will not refund part of the month.

So my question to ROKU is this - subtitle was working fine until they made a firmware update in August and after that it went all downhill. Have you tried to roll back the firmware to see if the subtitle is working ok ? If so, why don't you offer that option for us deaf and hard of hearing people ? For all we care about is the subtitle to be working and good picture.

I check this daily hoping for the good news.

Thanks !!

[cnecker71]

Adding observations of sampling of Netflix streaming videos that have option to turn subtitles on/off.....

Titles that did NOT have subtitles displayed.....

Cherry
Paper Moon
An Affair To Remember
Lethal Weapon
The River Wild

Titles that DID have subtitles displayed.....

All Good Things
Airplane!


....these observations using a Roku 2 XS

All efforts to fix the problem are appreciated.

[Sakkasie]

If this has been an ongoing problem since August how can Roku, in good conscience, continue to advertise on their website that the Roku 2 supports Netflix subtitles?

I'm just sayin'.

[Gilgamesh]

If this has been an ongoing problem since August how can Roku, in good conscience, continue to advertise on their website that the Roku 2 supports Netflix subtitles?

I'm just sayin'.

Because they do! Mine work fine on the rare occasions I turn them on to check.

It is NetFlix that screws up from time to time and then they are slow to fix it. And before anyone says, "The subtitles work on my PC so the should work on my Roku" they should realize that the PC and most other devices use different streams so a test on the PC means less for operation on the Roku than the words, "Yes, I will still respect you in the morning" means on a date.

[kc8pql]

Because they do! Mine work fine on the rare occasions I turn them on to check.

Same here, but those having problems should note that Netflix has servers all over the country. It's quite possible for my closest server to work just fine while the one closest to someone else is having problems.

[warobison]

Titles that did NOT have subtitles displayed.....

Cherry
Paper Moon
An Affair To Remember
Lethal Weapon
The River Wild

Titles that DID have subtitles displayed.....

All Good Things
Airplane!

I got the same results with those titles.

Here is the latest list of Netflix choices with subtitles that worked for me: The Last Emperor, The Island on Bird Street, The Grapes of Wrath, The Four Seasons, The Botany of Desire, The American President, The Hustler (1961), Everyman's War, The Virgin Suicides, Special, Speed, Big, Sometimes a Great Notion, Sleeping with the Enemy, Sling Blade, Skin Game, Santa Claus: The Movie, Roast of William Shatner, Revenge of the Nerds, Radio Flyer, Precious, Patton, Passenger 57. Also, Superman: The Movie has working subtitles, but in Superman II, the subtitles are not in sync with the audio track. Problem Child 2 had working subtitles, but Problem Child did not. Also, the subtitles worked with all the episodes of the new streaming series The Borgias that I checked, but after a random check of Law and Order and Frasier episodes that are listed with subtitles, I couldn't find any that worked.

I still have faith that the subtitle issue will be eventually solved, but in the meantime, I hope that some of you will find a few of these that work for you-- and are choices you'd like to see.

Good luck, W. A. Robison

[Sakkasie]

Thank you, WA! Got my weekend viewing line up.

[nora batty]

I am another annoyed person who bought a Roku2 and Netflix because I need closed captioning.
Subtitles work with no problems on the computer but not on the TV. Menu option to use them shows up on TV but enabling subtitles doe not mean they actually appear!
Will this problem be resolved anytime soon? I want to relax on the sofa and watch TV not sit in a small home office and watch the computer!
I canceled satellite TV thinking I had found a less expensive viable substitute and am now left with just 5 OTA channels on TV.

[Sakkasie]

The subtitles on "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" aren't working!!!

Wait.

Maybe that's a good thing.

[eds75]

When I questioned Roku support on why some Netflix titles listed as having closed captions (subtitles) work and some don't, I got the following e-mail from Roku support on 10/09/2010.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
I would like to inform you that Roku is aware of this issue and our technical department is working hard to resolve it as soon as possible.
Please feel free to email us for further queries.
Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to assist you and thank you for choosing Roku.
Best Regards,
Susan
Roku Customer Service."


When I check the ones that don't work by calling them up on the Netflix app on my iPad, they have captions, so it is some kind of a Roku problem.... SO, how do we know when it is fixed???

[mikebdoss]

When I questioned Roku support on why some Netflix titles listed as having closed captions (subtitles) work and some don't, I got the following e-mail from Roku support on 10/09/2010.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
I would like to inform you that Roku is aware of this issue and our technical department is working hard to resolve it as soon as possible.
Please feel free to email us for further queries.
Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to assist you and thank you for choosing Roku.
Best Regards,
Susan
Roku Customer Service."


When I check the ones that don't work by calling them up on the Netflix app on my iPad, they have captions, so it is some kind of a Roku problem.... SO, how do we know when it is fixed???

It's actually a problem on a couple devices, including the Roku and the Wii. It's a Netflix issue that Roku's trying to work around (either directly with Netflix, or on their own, I have no idea).

You'll know it's fixed when you get an software update, then the subtitles reappear.

[mkiker2089]

As was said before I still think it's a problem with the interface actually turning them on and off. Why, because on the PS3 you have a "subtitle" button and it seems to get them to work.

Maybe it's related to
- Recently watched not being there
- recently watched icons and description not matching the details (i.e. you click Star Trek and get Cheers because Cheers is one down or up on the list)
- ratings being inconsistent between your rating, user average, and best guess for you (noticed by the ratings changing as you select something)

And a few others I can't think of now. It seems like Netflix is having some server issues and is compensating by dropping unessentials rather than increasing infrastructure. I'm guessing however and it could be something else, like the programming is overloaded, different servers for account data that are overloaded, etc..

[Sakkasie]

So in tonight's email advertisement from Roku was the following:

Netflix gets better with Roku 2

Roku 2 supports English subtitles, so you won't miss a word of your favorite Netflix movie. You can also crank up the surround sound with Dolby Digital Plus, passed through via HDMI. Tired of TV elbow? The Roku 2 XS comes with an enhanced Bluetooth remote, for a stress-free night of movies.

Hello? False advertising much?

[michaelnel]

Roku tech support is aware of the issue, and Roku sales is working hard to sell more of these boxes that don't deliver what they promise.

[eds75]

It's totally unacceptable that this problem has gone on as long as it has, and has not been resolved. My suspicions are that someone at Netflix, or Roku, or both, doesn't give a crap.... It would seem to be a software problem, and certainly one or both of these companies employ some coder who could solve it. It is time to take it to the CEO of the companies, The Consumerist, or the ADA...