The last Harry Potter movie, The 1/2 Blood Prince...

Audiofuzzy

Audiofuzzy

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.. in Canada, the DVD doesn't have English CC nor subtitles!

how infuriating :mad:

I am a great fan of HP, have all the books and movies and was simply devastated when I sat down to watch the movie and discovered I can't.
I had to return it.

Months later, my friend bought me one in US with English subtitles
but, come on!

is it even LEGAL to let the movie out without English captions for hearing impaired in Canada?

Fuzzy
 
Legal repercussions regarding distribution outside the US gets a bit complicated on the international market.

If you have a DVD drive, you can plop it in your computer and with a free program like VideoLAN or TheKMPlayer you can download custom subtitles to append to it.

It is an alternative fix, but up to you if you want to use it this way or not.
 
Thank you for your suggestion, but I was thinking more along these lines:
aren't there laws that provide us deaf and hard of hearing people with special services, and if yes, aren't we by law to be provided with captions?

Maybe I am wrong, but I thought it was established some time ago that all the movies are to be equipped with CC or other subtitles.

(likewise the TV programs, BTW, but that's another story)


If yes, aren't these companies breaking a law by letting non-captioned movies out on the market?

Canada is bilingual, meaning both English and French is an official language
so IMO having only French CC/sub DVD for sale is not enough.

Why should I trouble myself with searching for and then downloading captions on my own? what am I paying for?


Fuzzy
 
It's different, I don't think digital production/distribution laws carry over for international releases. Plus there's always the money thing at bay, if they could save some quick cash from skipping subtitles, they'd probably do it.
That's probably the main issue as it is probably devoid of a standard.

I may be wrong as I am not an expert in legal issues pertaining. This just my best guess at why it's not done.


For example, by asian standards you will almost always find subtitled versions (even if just chinese) on their media. It's a part of their culture.
 
Thanks.
That would be interesting to find out if there were any laws broken in releasing "HP and the H-f Blood Prince" without English captions nor subtitles in Canada.

and anyhoo, why the heck make French and Spanish! but not English????

I however did some new research, and found something interesting:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen) (Bilingual French/English Edition)

[ame=http://www.amazon.ca/Potter-Half-Blood-Widescreen-Bilingual-English/dp/B002R02FAE]Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Widescreen Bilingual French/English Edition: Amazon.ca: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Dave Legeno, Helena Bonham Carter, Elarica Gallacher, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Geraldine Somerville, Mi[/ame]

looks like either they fixed they big blooper, or the info is wrong.

oh yepp!!!

lookie here:

(scroll way down)


19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Hello, there are no English Subtitles, Dec 13 2009

Update Dec. 19, 2009
I contacted Warner Bros and they are exchanging the DVD for a US version which does have full subtitles. The following is the reply from Warner Bros:
"The standard definition versions of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince initially released in Canada on December 8, 2009 inadvertently omitted English subtitles (for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired). Warner Home Video is currently working on updating the Canadian version to include English subtitles."


Oh I see....


btw I don't think 2 DVD edition had CC either. we checked with the guys at the store for CC or subtitles and there weren't any English, either.
Only the BlueRay had them, but I have no BR and no intention to buy one just to watch HP.
besides, I have the whole set of other dvd's so what's the point..


off my soap box, now... :giggle:

Fuzzy
 
That's right. Every country has their own views on different things.

Some countries don't care much for issues related to gender.

Some countries don't care much for issues related to handicap.

Some countries don't care much for issues related to religion.

If there's something we have that you don't have, you can always ask us to send it to you. ;)
 
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