(no subject)

[flemmings]

So mvrdrk sent me a DVD of The Butterfly Lovers and I've been watching it in spurts. Spurting partly because Shanghai opera music (I'm assuming that's what this version is?) is terribly catchy and I get the most awful earworm from it; and partly because the DVD has no subtitle options. The case says it does- in Japanese as well if you want it- but no menu appears at the start. We just go straight into Chinese subtitles which I then squint at hoping to make some kind of sense of the things. And it works 'cause by the time the heroine got to lamenting at her lover's tomb I was able to make out most of what the lamentation was about. So I finished the opera tonight. Then I was presented with the subtitle menu. Argh.

(To combat Shanghai opera earworms, I have recourse to the Sen to Chihiro Image Album and the cheerfully lugubrious Aburaya. Sounds similar but I know what it's saying.)

Comments

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

? Why would you need a menu? Are you using a console-type DVD player? Your remote ought to have a subtitle button (mine's labeled SUB-T) that lets you cycle through the available tracks. Same deal as the audio button.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I need a menu because all the DVDs I've ever watched require you to select language as the first step in viewing- or rather, to chage the fershlugginer defaults (English, subtitles off) to something unpainful. Never met a fixed-language DVD that might have subtitles attached so never squinted at the tiny lettering next to the tiny buttons. Thanks, I'll try that option next time.

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

I've only met one so far (that most recent LoTR set) that -forces- you to use their menus if you want to change the options. So I usually skip past the menus, which are so often pokey and annoying, in favor of pressing buttons. :D

Some DVDs have multi-language subtitle tracks, but others have odd stuff (e.g., some BBC Dr Who DVDs have a fannish trivia subtrack). You usually can cycle the various audio tracks in the same fashion to get the other language dubs, different commentary tracks, or just toggling mono/stereo/Dolby.