AppleTV 2 Adds Subtitle Support for Netflix

Yesterday Apple released AppleTV Software Update 4.4 that adds several great new features. The Holiest Feature of All? Subtitle (aka Closed Caption) Support for AppleTV's Netflix app!

A little bit of history here, subtitles have been supported on very few devices and players like Wii, Roku and the Netflix iOS app for iPhone and iPad. I own all of these and can say that the implementation of subtitles on AppleTV for Netflix is by far the best I've seen. Here's why:

1. Wii - The subtitles are just ugly. I personally don't like yellow text especially if you can actually see the pixels. You also have to select subtitles for every movie. On the upside the text is really large, almost too large for me but it sure makes reading easy.
2. Roku - While this is nice, it seems buggy because some movies with subtitle options work and some don't. Take Prison Break TV series for example, subtitles work on the internet and iOS but not on Roku. As a result I had to hook up my iPhone to the TV to watch it. Plus you have to turn it on each time you pick a movie. Another negative is the captions are white without a drop shadow or black outline. This makes it really difficult, if not impossible, to read on bright backgrounds.
3. iOS - I love the fact you can watch subtitled streaming movies anywhere. But, it's still annoying that you have to turn on subtitles for every movie. The text are yellow too but not so ugly. The text are tiny though.
4. AppleTV - Finally, you can turn on subtitles for all movies! You also have the option to turn it on for each movie. Best of all the subtitles are white with black outlines which makes it easy to read on any background. The text is also really sharp and clean. Someone did their homework when developing this. The only downer that I can see is the text is sized medium, while it's perfect for me, I know people would wish for a larger size.

Ideally I'd like to see the option to choose color and size in a future release for all devices and players.

So, for you lucky AppleTV 2 owners out there, here's how to turn it on, you have two options (sorta):

Always on Subtitles (where available):

On the AppleTV's Home menu page, go to Setting>Audio and Video> Subtitle Language and select "English". That's it! (If you don't have an iPhone, this is your only option.)

Selecting Subtitles on a Per Movie basis:

You'll need the Remote app for iPhone to have this option. Simply play the movie that has Subtitles and on the remote (make sure you're in the touchscreen mode) and press the little outline icon to the left of the "Menu" button. Netflix will pause the move and take you to the subtitle option screen. Select "English". Then you're done!

Kudos to Apple and Netflix for making great progress towards this captioning challenge! Now, let's watch some movies!