Closed Captions and Subtitles

This is Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer at Netflix. We've had some inquiries about why Netflix doesn't yet provide closed captioning or subtitles for streaming movies and TV episodes. Captioning is in our development plans but is about a year away.

You might be asking how it could be so hard, since we already subtitle foreign language streams with English subtitles. These subtitles are "burned in" to the video stream at the time of encoding - they are so-called "open captions" that cannot be turned on and off by the viewer. The majority of viewers would object to English captions on English content, so we have to figure out how to let individual viewers turn them on and off.

Encoding a separate stream for each title is not an option - it takes us about 500 processor-months to make one encode through the entire library, and for this we would have to re-encode four different formats. Duplicating the encoded streams is prohibitive in space too.

So we are working on optionally delivering the SAMI file (Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange), or similar, to the client, and having it render the text and then overlay it on the video at playback time. Unfortunately, the tools for rendering SAMI files in Silverlight, or in CE (Consumer Electronics) devices, are weak or non-existent, and there is some technology development required.

I would expect to deliver subtitles or captions to Silverlight clients sometime in 2010, and roll the same technology out to each CE device as we are able to migrate the technology, and work with the CE manufacturer to deliver firmware updates for each player.

Message to Netflix subscribers who watch instantly via Xbox

Hi, it’s Catherine again from the PR team. This message is for Netflix subscribers who instantly watch movies on their TVs via their Xbox 360s. As you’ve likely heard from the Xbox team, Xbox LIVE and Xbox.com will be offline most, if not all, day Tuesday, June 16th due to scheduled maintenance. While Xbox is performing this maintenance, you won’t be able to instantly watch movies on your TV via your Xbox 360. If you want to read more about the Xbox maintenance or have questions, visit the Xbox website at www.xbox.com.

Here’s the actual communication from Xbox: “On Tuesday, June 16 beginning at 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. PDT (2009-06-16 0701 to 2009-06-17 0659 UTC) Xbox LIVE and Xbox.com will be offline for scheduled maintenance. As a result, the “My Xbox” section of Xbox.com will not be available, and the Xbox forums will be in read-only mode, and you will be unable to post. The rest of Xbox.com will be functional and available. When services are restored, up to 24 hours later, there will be no new functionality or features.”

Vote for the film you think should win the Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition

Hello movie fans,

It’s Catherine Fisher again and we are in phase two of the Netflix FIND Your Voice Film Competition – it’s time to vote for the film you think should be made and ultimately distributed on Netflix. We blogged about the contest back in January, but as a refresher, Netflix is working with Film Independent (FIND) in search of the next great independent filmmaker. In addition to a total prize value of $350,000, the winning film will premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2010, and it will be distributed through Netflix.

More than 2,000 applications were submitted, and now we are asking the public to vote on the 10 semifinalists’ three-minute videos at http://www.netflixfindyourvoice.com/. If you are a Facebook user, you can download an application that allows you to watch the semifinalists’ videos and vote on them from the Netflix fan page here. Once the votes are tallied, five finalists will be reviewed by our panel of judges, chaired by Josh Brolin. Voting ends on July 5th, so watch and vote today!

New Ways to Enjoy Netflix on your Xbox 360

Hi, Catherine Fisher here from Netflix Corporate Communications. Microsoft swept E3 today with some exciting new ways to experience the Xbox 360. The news we are most excited about, of course, involves Netflix. Available this Fall, if you are an Xbox Gold LIVE member, you will be able to browse and add movies and TV episodes to your instant Queue directly from your Xbox 360 – you don’t have to go to your computer. And with the announcement of Xbox LIVE Party, you will be able to simultaneously watch movies on your Xbox 360 with up to seven friends – bantering back and forth about what you are watching. More than one million Xbox LIVE Gold members have already enjoyed more than 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes via Netflix since November 2008, and we hope you are as excited about the new ways to enjoy movies and TV episodes from Netflix on your Xbox 360 as we are.  

Netflix on Windows Media Center

Hi, Pedro Freitas here from Netflix product development.

We are pleased to announce Netflix is now available in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista-based PCs.

Windows Media Center is the first integration to take advantage of the new Netflix recommended category lists of titles that can be watched instantly.

In Windows Media Center, a new Netflix tile will appear under “TV + Movies”. To stream movies and TV shows from Netflix, just click on the new Netflix tile and login with your Netflix account.

The entire Netflix library can be searched using the PC keyboard or a Windows Media Center-compatible remote control and manage both the instant and DVD Queues.

See the news release for more details.

Enjoy the movies!

(update: added details on how to find Netflix on Windows Media Center)

The Netflix App Gallery

Hi, Michael Hart here from Netflix product development. I’m excited to tell you about the launch of the Netflix App Gallery. The App Gallery showcases the diversity of Netflix-integrated applications and websites from partners.

Looking for a way to access Netflix on your phone? Choose from nine different mobile applications. Want to search for movies and add them to your queue from Twitter? We’ve got you covered.

Watch this space: new applications are being developed every week, so come back and visit the Gallery often to see what's new as well as rate and review the apps you've already tried out.

Application developers looking for more information about how to develop their own Netflix-integrated applications can find more information at the Netflix Developer Portal.

Issue last night with watching instantly on the computer

Hi, this is Jessie Becker, VP of Marketing, with an update about a technical issue we had last night.

From about 5 to 11 Pacific time last night, most Netflix members who tried to instantly watch movies or TV shows on their PCs or Macs were unable to do so.

During this time period, our members could instantly watch movies and TV shows on their TVs via Netflix Ready Devices (Xbox 360, Roku, LG Electronics and Samsung Blu-ray disc players and TiVo HD DVR).

We apologize to those members who visited the site last night and couldn’t watch instantly on their computers. We are contacting those members today to offer a credit to their next billing statement.

More Accurate Star Predictions

Hi, this is Todd Yellin, Director of Product Management, and Jon Sanders, Director of Recommendation Systems, here at Netflix. We’re pleased to announce that we have improved the way we predict the movies you’re going to love. We’ve deployed a new algorithm that allows us to make more accurate guesses at how much our members will enjoy each movie in our the vast Netflix catalog. We are indebted to the Netflix Prize contestants who made these improvements possible, and who continue to innovate in this area. (If you’re not familiar with the Netflix Prize, it’s kind of like “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” for data miners. Read about it here: http://www.netflixprize.com/ )

Members who rate movies will now receive better guidance on how many stars they’re likely to give movies they haven’t seen (aka “our best guess for you”). These star predictions influence the movies we feature on many pages of the Netflix website, in particular in the Movies You’ll Love area. For most members the effect of the new algorithm will be subtle, and we hope rewarding. In the coming months we’ll be testing ways to use these improved star predictions so our members can create even more personalized websites that make it faster and easier to explore the more than 100,000 titles available on DVD and Blu-ray disc and the more than 12,000 streaming titles at Netflix.

Enjoy the movies!

Clarification on New Content

Hi, Catherine Fisher again from Corporate Communications. We have received some questions about my last post, specifically whether or not “South Park” is a Nickelodeon show. Our agreement is with MTV Networks, which includes Comedy Central’s “South Park” and shows from Nickelodeon such as “Dora the Explorer” and “True Jackson, VP.”

I appreciate your comments.