I'm a relatively new Roku (2) user and I wanted to know if other users have tips and channel recommendations for other deaf users.
I have Netflix, have tried Hulu Plus. Are there other channels that have captioning or subtitles?
TIA!

I have had my Roku over a year and I just purchased the new Roku 2. We have a deaf person in the family and it has been a struggle the whole time. These devices and programing were never geared with the deaf in mind. With that said, the Roku 2 is better than last years model... so they are making improvements. The subtitles on netflix are sketchy at best, but I'm still waiting for the sun to come up.

Thanks for your feedback, Skidder.
I'm hoping that there will be more shared feedback for deaf Roku 2 users in the future.

The kindle is a really good choice.
Mandatory requested edit

I'm sorry to have offended you with these inflammatory words.

That was pretty tasteless, destruk.

+1

not cool

I agree.

My biggest eye opening event in my life was doing user training with a group of blind people in a web application through the internet years ago. I have great hearing but I was never able to follow the pace of a blind person cycling through the tooltips of links through the web interface and make choices.

Just because you have all your senses does not mean that you are faster/smarter in any way...

Unfortunately it seems when this whole streaming media over the web was thought of they didn't think about deaf people until it became popular & people started speaking up about it. So captions became an after thought.

I'm a foodie, so I've found the ROKU ifood.tv channel to be quite good.

For the deaf: Only a few of the recipes are included with text, however after seeing the vids, you can go to the website at ifood.tv and look up the item there (and the video again) and get the full recipe in text in a standard recipe format.
This has been quite useful for the holidays and getting new inspiration for left overs.

Thanks for the feedback here.

Another short update. I took a trial for Fandor channel and I loved it. Not really deaf enabled there per se but there are lots of vintage silent movies and some interesting foreign shows with subtitles. Lots of odds and ends to explore there. I finished my trial and will definitely subscribe at some point in the future when I'm not so busy.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Another option for deaf users is to take a look at foreign movies with subtitles. Korea has been putting out some stellar thrillers; movies such as The Chaser, No Mercy, and The Man From Nowhere - all available on Netflix - are as good as any American made movies I have seen recently. Perhaps a Roku Deaf User Group could establish a review site that identifies foreign movies that others might enjoy.

If you order the excellent Roku application, Instant Watch Browser for Netflix, from TheEndless, one of the genres is for movies and tv shows on Netflix that do have closed captions available. Also, online at Phlixie.com, there is a listing of Netflix programs with captions, and Instantwatcher.com can be set to show only the shows with closed captions. Unfortunately, for the last few days, there has been a recurrence of the problem between Netflix and Roku 2XS with the captions. Captions do not work on all of the programs that have them listed as available, but I am sure that this is a problem that will be solved very soon. I am not deaf, but I do wear hearing aids and haven't watched very much without closed captions for the past ten years.

Good luck and good viewing,

W. A. Robison

The problem with asking for advice on this is perhaps that other people have made a jerk of themselves. I realize the OP doesn't deserve any hostility, I'm just clearing up the air a bit. We've had heated debates on this that need not be repeated.

Back on topic,

Hulu has decent captioning support but seems to actually be dropping off a bit lately with cataloug titles.

Netflix is as other have said, sketchy at best. They seem to be doing the minimum that some bean counter has decided would give them good PR without costing any real money.

Foreign titles are a good idea so I'll add CrunchyRoll to the list. If you can get into anime then you are set as they offer anime almost exclusively with subtitles.

Crackle has subtitled anime as well but doesn't seem to support captions in any english language content.

Thanks everyone. I do love the feedback. As metnioned in my first post, I seek Roku tips and channel suggestions that are at least somewhat deaf-friendly.

jcmolet wrote:

Another option for deaf users is to take a look at foreign movies with subtitles. Korea has been putting out some stellar thrillers; movies such as The Chaser, No Mercy, and The Man From Nowhere - all available on Netflix - are as good as any American made movies I have seen recently. Perhaps a Roku Deaf User Group could establish a review site that identifies foreign movies that others might enjoy.

Foreign titles seem to be key in many cases because their subtitles are usually good quality as they are designed for the English speaking hearing population after all. I really enjoyed the Swedish series (of three movies) which includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and dozens of other foreign titles at Netflix. For my needs, movie reviews are not quite the sharing I'm looking for in a Deaf Users Group (for now anyway) but certainly if one evolved, issues specific to others in the deaf community might include this.

Thank you for the information regarding the Korean titles on Netflix. Actually tangential to your suggestion I've recently tried the Roku channel for Drama Fever (dramafever.com). It isn't deaf specific of course, but there are plenty of English subtitled shows including nonfiction to enjoy.

warobison wrote:

If you order the excellent Roku application, Instant Watch Browser for Netflix, from TheEndless, one of the genres is for movies and tv shows on Netflix that do have closed captions available.

Oh, this is good information directly related to real time Roku use. I'll have to check it out.
Phlixie.com is part of the reason that I subscribe to Netflix. Instantwatcher.com is handy as well!
I think the 'lost again' subtitle problem at Netflix will resolve soon. Being the internet, things tend not to be a stable as analog TV anyway. I think these problems will continue to wax and wane. (alas)

mkiker2089 wrote:

Foreign titles are a good idea so I'll add CrunchyRoll to the list. If you can get into anime then you are set as they offer anime almost exclusively with subtitles.
Crackle has subtitled anime as well but doesn't seem to support captions in any english language content.

Anime certainly seems popular. Thanks for your suggestions! Deaf lurkers that love Anime will probably find varied Anime content on these Roku channels to expand their resources.

I'm a retired scientist and I used to hear, but never really watched TV or went to movies in my working years. So now that I am deaf, retired and I have time for this entertainment and for toying with technology, I'm quite pleased that there are increasing selections in science documentaries, science fiction, modern digital animation and food/cooking channels that I can find while using my Roku 2. Thanks again, all.