Supplementary/Live captioning option for streamed tv?

Hearing Loss Apps
#1

Hope this is the correct sub forum for this!
In Australia we have a requirement for almost all free to air broadcast TV in the evenings to have captions (sub titles / CC) - which I use quite regularly - HOWEVER for the online streaming provided by the TV services this is not a requirement. There are a lot of programs that are streamed ONLY and I am finding many - not all - do not have captioning provided in the stream. I suspect that there are captions for these shows on the web somewhere but getting them displayed in Synch with the programme seems a challenge…Downloading the shows and syncing in captions to a reprocessed file could work but takes away any spontaneity of choice of what to watch :smiley:

Does anyone know of a supplementary or live captioning app/service that I could utilise with streaming TV? I would be happy to have it on my iPad or iPhone at the same time - preferably synced with the TV sound? My Google-fu has failed me in this regard.

Probably a big ask but with the development of live captioning around the place thought it might be a possibility…?

#2

Hi @Oz-Tack, the best “Closed Captioning” service for online streaming that I have encountered is Netflix, it is exceptionally good…… Cheers Kev :wink:

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#3

Thanks Kev :smiley:
Yep. Got Netflix too and as far as I know EVERYTHING is captioned. Sadly a lot of what I want is not on it .

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#4

If you use the Google Chrome browser, you can turn on CC

  1. Click 3 dots @ upper right of screen
  2. Click “Settings”
  3. Scroll to bottom & click “Advanced”
  4. Scroll to “Accessibility” & click “Live Caption” button
    Captions will appear in a black box on bottom of screen. Some words get mangled but it is quite useful.
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#5

Thanks @FredO

THIS I did not know! I’m a veteran firefox user and rarely - if ever - use chrome!..Just looked to see if I could install chrome on my smart TV or apple TV but no go - TV too old and apple too locked down :frowning:

Ideally I would like to see this on the TV not a laptop/ipad as I watch in a communal setting with my wife.

I know that it is now ME who is limiting the options here - Options include:

  1. Buying a new TV (android based OS perhaps allows chrome installation?) .
  2. D/L and code in the subtitles
  3. Just deal with it :smiley:

Thanks for the suggestions.

#6

I have some realtively newish sony with android OS and that chrome is slow like a dead snail, wouldn’t recommend. Proc in TV just isn’t made for that.
Raspberry PI 3 was significantly more powerful and responsive (I tried both, actually used PI as my main computer for a while).

There’s a phone app (android) Live transcribe (google) and heardThat, depending how far away your speakers are, they can catch quite a bit.

For my distance and loudness they couldn’t do with videos, so I’d probably use two phones or computer and phone, like, one phone near the speaker with transcribing app up and running, and another phone/laptop which is connected to the first one through anydesk or similar screen sharing, which I hold in my hand/lap :smiley:

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#7

Thanks @Blacky, interesting setup. I have played with the raspberry Pi but never bothered using it beyond self education.
I have just realised one option for me is to use chrome with CC on a Mac laptop and simply mirror it to my Apple TV. If the laptop is fast enough I think that may be the answer. Happily however, with my current trial of the KS10s I have NOT had to revert to CCs over the last week so :crossed_fingers: fingers crossed.

#8

Apple glasses is going to release their own app for captions so you can still wear hearing aids and read the captions with glasses in any situation such as driving, cinema, watching tv, youtube. Apple Glass frames won’t have a microphone so hearing aids will still be needed. This innovation by Apple should be life changing for many of us HOH.