Why is Amazon so reluctant to support closed captioning for Unbox?

At present time Amazon does not support closed captioning on their movies. Even though the DVD's come with options for either closed captioning or subtitles. After a number of e-mails, no one has been willing to commit to investigating this issue at Amazon.

Is Amazon listening?...er...reading? Asked by skeltonh 27 months ago Similar questions: Amazon reluctant support closed captioning Unbox Entertainment > Movies.

Similar questions: Amazon reluctant support closed captioning Unbox.

Signs of the changing times A Bachelor's programme in sign language has been introduced by Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou). A four-year programme, it entailsa one year foundation course that imparts English language and sign language skills. Students who have completed class X are eligible for the programme."As far as learning needs of the hearing impaired are concerned, there is a lack of awareness.

This is reflected in the dearth of quality course materials and infrastructural paucity in our country," says PR Ramanujam, director, Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE), Ignou. "Even policy statements of the government regarding education for the hearing impaired fall short of addressing their 'specific' needs. However, the foremost challenge is the lack of trained teachers.

"The first graduate programme for the hearing impaired in India, it also hopes to address the challenge of unemployment. According to a recent estimate, only 5% of the hearing impaired children attend schools in India."This course has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the UK. This partnership will help us leverage their relatively more sophisticated teaching methodologies and course materials for the benefit of our students through exchange programs.

We are being able to understand how specific technologies can assist and augment learning for hearing impaired students. This understanding is also useful for developing new learning assistive technologies and replenishing our computer labs for the benefit of students," he explains. Ram Das, a history student from St Stephen's College, who is visually impaired, used around 150 audio-cassettes in class X and 250 in class XII for his studies.

But then, he points out that it was cumbersome when it came to searching subjects and chapters. But now, with the 'Audio Book Reader' (ABR) recently launched by Samadrishti, Kshamata Vikas Evam Anusandhan Mandal (Saksham), an NGO, things are likely to be better. The ABR is a pocket size device that reads the audio tracks stored in a Multimedia Memory Card (MMC) with random access to any subject, book or chapter.

With a storage capacity of 60 hours in 2 GB capacity memory card, it provides the facility of putting the entire curriculum in a pocket, in a specified language, as per the need.It can be operated through a voice menu and embossed buttons and has a rechargeable battery backup of eight hours. Another advantage is that ABR can also be used as a group-hearing device by attachment of external amplispeakers or audio distributor. As a pilot project launched earlier this year in Nagpur, the device is being used by over 70 visually impaired people, in the first phase.

The ABR comes at a price. It costs Rs 4,000 for individual use and Rs 5,000 for a classroom setup. For a library setup, with 10 headphones and audio distributor, it costs Rs 6,000.

Shirish Darwhekar, special project director, Saksham, says: "In the absence of Braille, visually impaired students are forced to depend on either e-books or audiocassettes and CDs. This means that someone reads out the content of the books and records their voice in a cassette or a CD, which is a tedious process. Thus, we are trying to offer a customized product, which would be based on specific needs of students."

He added: "We are trying to involve sponsors to make it cost-effective for underprivileged children. " Sources: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/education/Signs-of-the-changing-times-/articleshow/5009216.cms .

Amazon Video on Demand Amazon Video On Demand (VOD) is an Internet video on demand service, only available in the United States, offered by Amazon. Com which offers television shows and films for rental and purchase. The service became available on September 7, 2006 as Amazon Unbox.1 On September 4, 2008, the service was rebranded as "Amazon Video on Demand."

The Unbox name still refers to the locally-installed player, which is now optionalCompatibilityBy default, VOD programs play in Flash Video in all web browsers with the Adobe Flash plugin installed. This feature was launched in public beta July 17, 20083 and was released September 4, 2008.2Customers may also download videos to TiVo Series 2 and Series 3 DVRs, except those made for use with DirecTV (DirecTiVo). Sony BRAVIA TVs equipped with an Internet Video Link device can also use Amazon VOD directly through the TV's menu system.

The optional Amazon Unbox player lets users download higher-quality copies of videos. The Unbox player is compatible only with the Windows XP family of operating systems and Windows Vista. Downloaded films include a full-resolution video file and a lower-resolution copy for portable devices.

The content can be viewed using the Amazon Unbox Video Player, Windows Media Player, a Windows Media Center Extender such as an Xbox 360, a PlaysForSure portable device. Downloaded videos may be burned to a DVD for storage purposes, but the resulting DVD will not play on a DVD player. Video qualityAmazon.Com describes the content as "DVD quality".

The average video bit-rate of an Amazon Unbox download equals 2500 kbit/s; this means that a two hour movie consumes roughly two gigabytes (2 GB) of storage space. In comparison, a typical DVD averages 5600 kbit/s, which makes a 2-hour movie about 4.7 GB. However, Amazon uses the VC1 codec, a more modern codec than MPEG-2, which is used on DVDs.

VC1 achieves a higher quality picture at a smaller file size. The quality for the TiVo files is advertised as being 2800 kbit/s and as being "of equal or better quality than videos recorded at the Best Quality setting on a TiVo Series2 DVR." 4 Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Video_on_Demand .

Amazon tech support The Netflix Player by Roku is now availableThis new device gives you movies and TV episodes in your living room, instantly. It’s just $99.99 and it works with any Netflix plan that includes unlimited instant watching. The player is extremely easy to set up and use.

Just plug it into your TV, connect it to a broadband Internet connection (wireless or wired), activate the device with your Netflix account and you’re away. The player automatically picks up the instant Queue from your Netflix account giving you a list of movies and TV episodes to watch instantly on your TV. We’re very excited about the simplicity and cost of this device.It lets you use the full power of the Netflix website to find movies for your instant Queue, then quickly and easily choose from those movies on the player.

We think that’s a major improvement over the clutter of trying to choose from 10,000 titles on the TV. Get yours now at http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer Sources: http://blog.netflix.com/2008/05/netflix-player-by-roku-is-now-available.html .

Crafting Jen hit the nail on the head with her comments about closed captioning. ... Chris Pew of webtvhub. Com has posted an interesting poll in which he asks the question: “What do you dislike about Amazon Unbox On TiVo?”.

Chris has also posted another poll on TiVoCommunity in which he found out that ~44% of the respondents where unhappy with Amazon Unbox on TiVo. Personally, I’m rather happy with Unbox on my TiVo. I watched a show the other night and the quality was pretty good.

The only thing I don’t like is the fact it sometimes take a while for the shows to download. What do you think about Unbox on the TiVo? Head on over to webtvhub.

Com and let Chris know. Related Posts: * Last Day For Amazon Unbox $15 Credit * Deal Of The Day: Amazon Unbox Weekend Sale (Download Movies To Your TiVo) * Amazon Unbox 99 Cent Weekend Sale * TiVo Launches Movie Download Service Via Amazon Unbox * This Weekend Only: 99 Cents for "Good Shepherd" and "Ocean's" Stars on Amazon Unbox on TiVoI gave Amazon UnBox for TiVo a try, using the credits they offered when you link your TiVo account to Amazon. I rented two movies.

One thing I noticed immediately – where’s the option for a letterboxed or widescreen version of the film? I refuse to rent or buy DVDs that contain full-screen only – what I refer to as a “broken” copy of the movie. Why would I want less when I’m getting a movie via a download to my TiVo?

The other issue I had, I’m sure many hearing impaired users will complain about, too. Neither of the movies I downloaded had Closed Captions, nor did they have any option for turning on a subtitle of any sort. I’m not hearing impaired, but I frequently use English subtitles or Closed Captioning just to get through scenes with lots of ambient noise – crowds, noisy train stations, fights, that sort of thing.

By leaving out captioning and subtitles, Amazon Unbox has declared that their products are not for the hearing impaired. Not a good move in today’s business environment. Sources: http://www.tivoblog.com/archives/2007/04/27/what-do-you-likedislike-about-amazon-unbox-on-your-tivo .

Amazon so reluctant to support closed captioning for Unbox. View options of Image or List appear in the upper right-hand corner of the My Videos window and can be activated by clicking on the desired option: * Image: This view option displays promotional cover images for your videos. * List: The List view displays your videos in text format and provides more detailed information about each title, including the download status, movie rating, and file size.

Sort OptionsThe Sort pull-down menu provides you with the following options for organizing your videos: * Title: Sorts videos alphabetically by the title. * Movie/TV: This option will display your movie content first and list all television content last. * Download Status: Sorts by position in download queue.

* Expiration Date: If you've rented a video but haven't watched it yet, this option moves videos about to expire to the top of the list. * Watched: Sorts videos so you can easily see which ones you haven't watched yet. * Size: Sorts videos by the file size.

* Rated: Sorts videos by the Motion Picture Association of America film rating or TV Parental Guidelines ratings. * Air Date: Sorts videos by the date they were first aired. Useful for sorting television episodes.

* Order Date: Sorts videos by the date you bought them. Viewing TV EpisodesIf you've purchased TV Episodes, the name of the TV Series will appear along with your movies and other videos on the My Videos tab. To view individual episodes available, double-click on the series title or click the View Episodes button in the information section to the left if you've already chosen a series title.

Downloading and Importing Videos to the PlayerVideos on the My Videos tab are divided up by status: Downloaded and Not Downloaded. If a video appears in the Not Downloaded section, you must download at least a portion of the video to your computer before watching. If you've previously downloaded and saved the video and it appears as Not Downloaded, you can import it without redownloading.To download a video to the Player: 1.

Launch the Unbox Video Player and ensure your computer is connected to the Internet. 2. Click on "my videos" on the Unbox Video Player menu.

3. Place your cursor over the desired video in the My Videos tab and click the right mouse button.4. Choose the "Download to this PC" option from the pop-up menu.

Using the Progressive Download FeatureYour video will start downloading after the Unbox Video Player has queued up the title and checked for available disk space. You can watch your video as soon as you see the "Ready to Watch" message and a Play button in the left-hand column by the video details. Downloading Videos RemotelyIf you wish, you can initiate downloads remotely from one computer and send your videos to another computer connected to the Internet.

This allows you to plan ahead so your video files have time to download before you watch them. To download a video remotely from Your Video Library: 1. Make sure the computer you wish to receive the download is connected to the Internet and running the Unbox Video Player Service. 2.

Visit Your Video Library at www.amazon.com/videoondemand/library.3..

We downloaded Invictus and there was none unless I missed something. " "why can I only buy certain movies on amazon. Com unbox and not rent them?

Viewing an already downloaded Amazon Unbox movie.

Would Like to know a site where I can download horror movies besides Amazon unbox-- THANKS.

Does amazon-instant -video have captioning for the hearing impaired.

We downloaded Invictus and there was none unless I missed something.

Why can I only buy certain movies on amazon. Com unbox and not rent them?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.