Sony won't Subtitle Movies!!!

[Flamin Skull]

Guys and Girls...

As many of you probably know that I am Deaf (can't understand voices but have SOME lip reading ability)
PSN Movies DOES NOT have SUBTITLES!
I Decided to give them a call, I wanted to know why they aren't subtitling their movies. They basically blamed the movie companies
Things got a bit heated, but I kept things civil... then somehow my internet got DISCONNECTED (strange!!)

below is a copy/paste of my conversation! (I use a online relay service through my gtalk's aim server. every single conversation is archived in my gmail)

So I am thinking of taking some sort of action against them and the movie companies (I don't want $ I want subtitled movies on my PS3!!!!!!!!!)
so let me know what you all think of this?? This is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act...





me: 800-345-7669
SIPRelay: Welcome to SIPRelay. A Communications Assistant will be with you shortly.
This call is not encrypted.
SIPRelay does not accept international calls.
Call start time 12:16:03 PM Mountain Daylight Time calling: +1 (800) 345-7669 welcome to SIPRelay.
I am CA2152(F). Please hold while I connect your call...
[Dialing...]
[Automated Menu]
[Female voice]
(Collecting information... please hold)
Thank you for calling Sony Computer Entertainment America.
For faster service, please visit www. US.PlayStation.com/Support.
You'll find answers to the most frequently asked questions, in addition to self-service exchange and repair options for the PS3 PSP and PS2 slim system.
We also updated our phone menu system, so please listen carefully to the following options.
For the latest PlayStation news and MP maintenance times, press one.
For PS3, press two.
For PSP, press three.
For PS2, press four.
If you have billing or account related questions to the PlayStation network, press five.
me: press two
SIPRelay: (Pressing 2)
(Collecting information... please hold)
[Automated female voice]
For general use questions, press one.
For installation and troubleshooting, press two.
For getting online, press three.
For information about firmware updates, press four.
To repeat these options, press the star key.
me: press 1
SIPRelay: (Pressing 1)
(Collecting information... please hold)
[Automated female voice]
For file transferring, press one.
For PS and account questions, press two.
For information about USB and Bluetooth peripheral, press three.
To repeat these options, press the star key.
me: press 1
SIPRelay: (Pressing 1)
(Collecting information... please hold)
Sent at 11:21 AM on Thursday
SIPRelay: [Automated female voice]
The PS3 system recognizes many common file types.
The most common file types for the PS3 system are JPEG, MP3, WMA, MPEG-2 and AVI
To determine what file type you are transferring to your PS3 system, please check the file type on your computer.
me: ( I need a live person...)
SIPRelay: (Searching for a live representative...one moment please)
[Ringing...1...]
[Male voice]
[Explaining Relay...]
Thank you for holding.
My name is John.
me: Hello, this is Jeff ************
SIPRelay: How may I help you?
(Sounds neutral.)
me: I would like to
speak with someone regarding
movies downloaded from
the playstation network
SIPRelay: I would be happy to help you with that.
me: ok, do you need any of my Information?
my PSN ID is Flaminskull77
SIPRelay: Yes, I would to start by getting you telephone number, last name and first name, to begin with.
me: ok Jeffrey *********, 925 690 ****
SIPRelay: (Typing in background)
One moment.
I need the sign in ID in the form of an e-mail address.
me: OK
****@gmail.com
SIPRelay: (Typing in background)
Thank you.
Okay.
Now which model of the PlayStation 3 do you have?
me: I have the 160 GB
SIPRelay: If you look on the back of the PS3, you will see a white label with a bar code going across the top.
Below the barcode is a serial number.
If you look to the right past the end of the serial number, you will see another number that begins CECH. What comes after the CECH?
me: *********
SIPRelay: Thank you very much.
Okay.
(Talking to self.)
One moment.
I need to organize this information. Please hold.
me: ok no plm
SIPRelay: (Typing in background)
You said you're calling regarding downloading a movie?
Which movie were you trying to download?
me: yes
I am Deaf
I downloaded Deuce Bigalow
but the subtitles
are not
available?
SIPRelay: I see.
me: I would like to know WHY your company didn't think of Deaf people?
SIPRelay: Were you able to download the movie at all?
me: yes i was
SIPRelay: Umm.. I. did you download the high definition or standard definition version of the movie?.
xxx Umm... did
me: standard def
SIPRelay: I'm going to look into this.
May I put you on hold, please?
me: and I spoke with many people on the Playstation forums
SIPRelay: [The call has been placed on hold.]
(Music playing...)
me: and every single person said every single movie have NO SUBTITLES
SIPRelay: (Call is still on hold...)
[Male voice]
Thank you for holding.
(Sounds neutral.)
I was able to find out the issue is based on the individual movie itself.
Sony cannot provide the close captioning.
If the movie comes with it, it will be listed for each individual movie.
But we don't have any way of doing that for a movie unless the moviemaker provides that when they produced the movie.
me: oh really? well every single movie does have subtitles
sony needs to require that the movie makers provide subtitles then
SIPRelay: I appreciate your comment and I will make sure that is added to our customer comment list.
Do you have any additional questions that I can answer for you?
me: this is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities act title 3
I am ready to get a lawyer
SIPRelay: Thank you very much.
me: and this is a direct violation...
SIPRelay: I don't have anything else to say about this.
Would you like to speak with a supervisor?
me: who are the correct person to speak with?
yes please
SIPRelay: Hold on.
[The call has been placed on hold.]
(Music playing...)
Sent at 11:38 AM on Thursday
me: (relay--- if there is a way to record this, PLEASE DO!)
SIPRelay: [I apologize, but I am only able to relay the information in the call. If you would like further information or have additional questions you may contact our customer support department through [email protected]]
(Call is still on hold...)
me: no plm
SIPRelay: [Female voice]
[Explaining Relay...]
Thank you for holding.
This is Christina, Assistant supervisor with PlayStation Tech Support.
me: Hello, may I have your name? This is Jeff *********
SIPRelay: How can I help you today?
(Sounds neutral.)
me: hello
well, I would like
to know why there
are no subtitles offered
on your playstation network movies?
SIPRelay: Unfortunately, we don't have that information.
me: ok, then please give me the correct person to contact
SIPRelay: We license the movies from the companies, such as Fox or Universal Studios, and they are the ones who set any kind of features within the movies.
Unfortunately, I don't have that information.
me: well, You CAN REQUIRE them to provide subtitles
SIPRelay: As far as the direct company goes, I don't believe they take calls.
You can try going to their website.
If you would like subtitles, you can try to set them on your television, to see if they would go through.
Or go rent it from Blockbuster and see if the subtitles are on the DVD.
me: no they don't work at all because I need to access the DVD menu to turn it on
it is REQUIRED BY LAW
see ADA title III
SIPRelay: There is no law that we are aware of asks for subtitles to be placed on them.
me: every single DVD has subtitles
SIPRelay: They are the ones who have the subtitles placed on there and it is at their discretion to have them on there.
me: yes look up American with Disabilities Act Title III
that is the LAW
SIPRelay: DVDs, yes.
me: they already do put subtitles on their DVDs
SIPRelay: But the video download service is a download. It is not an actual disk.
The download is not required to have subtitles.
me: well why can't your company require the movie companies to do this?
SIPRelay: Because once again, it is at their discretion and every company would have different discussions.
It is actually a courtesy that they are giving us the rights to their movies.
me: but you control the network
SIPRelay did not receive your chat.
SIPRelay did not receive your chat.
SIPRelay did not receive your chat.

[hansolo350]

There is really no reason for them to not have subtitles. I hope you succeed in your endeavor.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

It seems like a pretty lame excuse to say that they're digital download, not DVDs, and so not subject to ADA Title III. Still, I imagine the best case scenario would be having ADAIII amended to include digital downloads.

[KeeperBvK]

May I ask how you called them when you're deaf?
And while I gotta say I hope you'll be able to change something there to finally be able to enjoy the PSN movies, I also gotta say I think it's kinda odd that it would be a law for all movies to provide subtitles. It should be common sense for the movie companies to do this, but a law? Books don't offer those special touchable letters for blinds (they need to buy different releases, pretty much like you would for the movies) for example.
And what about cutscenes in games? Aren't they basically movies as well? They don't always have subtitles.
As I said: I wish you the best in your attempt, though.

[digiki]

That sucks. Good luck with that.

[Flamin Skull]

Originally Posted by KeeperBvK

May I ask how you called them when you're deaf?
.

I use a relay service an example is www.ip-relay.com

[Flamin Skull]

I have come up with my own solution...
I tried this last night and was amazed at how good it worked, I'm gonna do this until I figure out how to burn movies and add subtitles to them and put it on my hard drive.

I realize I may be breaking some copyright laws but I think this case is an exception.
DISCLAIMER:IF THEY REFUSE TO PUT SUBTITLES I MIGHT AS WELL DO IT MYSELF!!

what I am doing is, Play a movie normally on my TV with Closed Captions or subtitles on. (preferrably at night when it's dark)
set up my camera (Olympus 8.0mp) on my coffee table (a HDD video camera has moved up on my to get list) and record in movie mode.

Install XD card intop laptop and copy the file

move it into ps3 or play it via WMC

I did a short test last night, It worked fantasic!!

I just need to figure out what I need to do to record continously for up to 2 hours (gotta check if camera can run off the plug rather than battery and get a 2 gb or more XD card)

If anybody got a better method, some help would be appreciated!

[pdRydia]

I'd consider contacting the ACLU. I've never personally worked with them, but this seems like something they may be interested in. As per http://www.aclu.com/about/index.html : "The ACLU [works] to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. These rights include [...] protection against unlawful discrimination."

Something else to consider is consumer advocate groups, particularly those who specialize in advocacy for the deaf. I nosed around google only a bit, so you may want to do your own sleuthwork, but I found some info on the DHHCAN--The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network--a network of 16 "national consumer and professional organizations that represent the interests of deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind citizens in public policy and legislative issues relating to rights, quality of life, equal access, and self-representation." Quote taken from http://www.coataccess.org/node/21 , which has a list of those 16 organizations.

DHHCAN doesn't appear to have a website, but I did find an email address in a PDF from http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=264081 : [email protected] (Claude Stout, Chair, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network). Also, many of the member organizations have websites. I'm sure at least one of them can direct you to someone who can help you. I haven't read the entirety of ADA, but if it's true that the ADA will need amending to include new formats in the "subtitle these plz" clauses, the DHHCAN seems to have been active in lobbying for legislative change.

[Flamin Skull]

I'm enjoying my "videotaped" subtitled movies via PSP remote play now, the Picture quality is MUCH better on the PSP than on my 40" lcd TV due to the quality loss using my digital camera.
Ill just keep doing this until Sony wises up and start adding the DVD menu so we can select subtitle option to their download able movies...

[Sektor]

Bad news FlaminSkull.
I see you on the PS3 now and then. I thought you were in the Uk anyway. (I hope they bring the video store to the UK)

I did use the video store very briefly when I was in the US. Never downloaded anything however.