Foreign films - default language

[DmitryB]

I don't have a lot of foreign films in my K collection (largely because K doesn't have a deep catalog of foreign titles.) But twice I've watched something, the audio defaulted to an English dub of the movie and the subtitles did not activate. Is there a setting perhaps to let films default to their native language and activate English subtitles in foreign films? Or does one have to change the audio track and turn on subtitles every time?

 

[Transepoch]

The Encore side can select a default language. Are you watching from a Strato or something else?

 

[DmitryB]

I'm playing it off the Strato. How do I set a default language?

 

[andy]

Go to the K menu on your Strato (from the TV, not the browser interface) and select System > Settings > Language/Subtitles. Once there, it should be fairly self explanatory.



Andy

 

[DmitryB]

Go to the K menu on your Strato (from the TV, not the browser interface) and select System > Settings > Language/Subtitles. Once there, it should be fairly self explanatory.

View attachment 3313

Andy

So here's the interesting thing: I had "Use movie's default" selected. That means K-store is setting English as the default?

I'm going to switch it to the way you have it. I had assumed "Use movie's default" would have automatically chosen the film's original language. I wonder why there are two different options that call for the same thing (but the first one does not work as I expected.)

 

[Transepoch]

So here's the interesting thing: I had "Use movie's default" selected. That means K-store is setting English as the default?

All the stores are in primarily English-speaking countries, right? In that case it would make sense that English would be set as Track #1 (if available.)

 

[andy]

Selecting “Use movie’s default” is what should be selected in the first option to get the “native” dialogue.

Sorry to confuse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DmitryB]

All the stores are in primarily English-speaking countries, right? In that case it would make sense that English would be set as Track #1 (if available.)

But I don't think that makes sense. "Movie's default" and "Store's default" are two different things. A movie's default should be its native language, regardless of what country the viewer is from.

Andy, then if the original setting was correct - "Use movie's default" - then K was defaulting to English dub instead of the movie's original language (for example "Iron Monkey" started playing in English, not original Chinese. I had to manually change audio to original Chinese and turn on subtitles.) And in the screen grab you posted above, choosing English as "movie's default" opens option to "Play Movie Audio in Original Langue" as well as "Show English Subtitles." Those options are not available if you choose "Use movie's default."

 

[MikeKobb]

No, the "default" is different from the "original language". The default is whatever audio track the licensor chose to be the primary audio track. Some licensors choose English for English-speaking markets even if that's not the original language. This is especially common with animation.

If you say that your preferred language is the "movie's default", you're basically saying that you have no preference for spoken language, and you will accept whatever language the licensor has chosen as the default.

If you instead choose a preferred language, you're telling us to override the licensor's default settings and provide the movie to you in your chosen language. You then have the option to specify whether you want to have your preferred language as dubbed audio, or as subtitles over the original audio.

 

[DmitryB]

No, the "default" is different from the "original language". The default is whatever audio track the licensor chose to be the primary audio track. Some licensors choose English for English-speaking markets even if that's not the original language. This is especially common with animation.

If you say that your preferred language is the "movie's default", you're basically saying that you have no preference for spoken language, and you will accept whatever language the licensor has chosen as the default.

If you instead choose a preferred language, you're telling us to override the licensor's default settings and provide the movie to you in your chosen language. You then have the option to specify whether you want to have your preferred language as dubbed audio, or as subtitles over the original audio.

Yeah, that's what I'm figuring out. To me it seems the movie's original language should be the default. But, as you say, some studios decide an English dub should be the default. They're wrong, of course!