# Ripper Street Subtitles. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307 "2013-02-25T02:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/1 "2013-02-25T02:43:25Z")
Actually a factual question, but it’s about a TV show, so. As many folks have mentioned, BBC-A’s _ **Ripper Street** _ is… not always the easiest show to follow, so far as the dialogue goes. So, as I do with almost every show I watch, I like to put the subtitles on. Only one problem: The subtitles are consistently out of sync. Like, they come up about five to ten seconds before the actual lines are spoken. I’m curious–is this just me/my cable provider (RCN New York), or is it universal? I’d rather like to complain about it if it’s peculiar to me. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/2 "2013-02-25T02:50:02Z")
No problem here, and we have to use the captioning with our difficulty making out the dialog. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/3 "2013-02-25T14:34:41Z")
I have the same problem with DirecTV. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/4 "2013-02-25T14:58:26Z")
I have to have captioning or subtitles (they’re two similar but different things) because of severe hearing problems. It’s been my experience that most television shows and movies shown on television are captioned in advance, so the captioning should be clear and accurate with only a rare mistake. Live television and shows that are captioned “on the fly” (sports, award shows, news) tend to have very lousy captioning with many mis-spellings and there is a 5-10 second delay between spoken words and captioning appearing on the screen. I have also noticed that different televisions seem to have different captioning accuracy, that is, sometimes I will watch televisions at someone else’s house and the captioning works better or worse than mine. Not sure if this is the television itself, or the cable provider though. I _think_ captioning is done on the network level for your area (for example CBS in Pittsburgh and CBS in Chicago use different captioning services) but it’s possible there may be issues with the cable providers transmission. If you have another television in your house, try checking out the same show on the other television and see if the captioning works better. But if you are getting delays in your captions, then the show is probably captioned on the fly and you won’t be able to do much about it. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/5 "2013-02-25T15:16:05Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > But if you are getting delays in your captions, then the show is probably captioned on the fly and you won’t be able to do much about it. Quite the opposite–the captions show up well before the dialogue is spoken. No issue with accuracy, but it’s a bit jarring. I’ll give the cable co. a call–thanks for the responses. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/6 "2013-02-25T16:05:15Z")
It’s possible your provider bought the subtitles from a british company but didn’t change them to NTSC frame rates. That has to be done by a person retiming the subtitles - no programme can do it and still make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/7 "2013-02-25T22:01:05Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Quite the opposite–the captions show up well before the dialogue is spoken. No issue with accuracy, but it’s a bit jarring. > > I’ll give the cable co. a call–thanks for the responses. I noticed the same problem today playing the latest episode. Unusual. This is with DirectTV. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/8 "2013-02-25T22:21:06Z")
And now, hijacking my own thread, kinda: Are HBO captions absolute unreadable rubbish for the rest of you? But only on initial airing! On demand, they’re fine. My HBO viewing is basically \*\*\*Game of Thrones \*\*\*(which I now watch at a local pub instead) and _ **Boardwalk Empire** _. In each case, the subtitles are a garbled mess if I try to watch when the show originally airs. If I watch it on demand, they’re perfect. Result: I always watch the shows on demand. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/9 "2013-02-26T02:45:46Z")
Video and captions, both acquired by alternative means, sync up nicely. And are possibly as necessary for Brits as Yanks because much of it is argot or simply slang from 125 years ago, expressed with thick accents. I can follow the stories better if I can read it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripper-street-subtitles/651307/10 "2013-02-26T15:30:44Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Video and captions, both acquired by alternative means, sync up nicely. And are possibly as necessary for Brits as Yanks because much of it is argot or simply slang from 125 years ago, expressed with thick accents. I can follow the stories better if I can read it. Same-language subtitles are aimed at the hard of hearing, so you’ll find them in all sorts of shows, not just ones with odd accents.