Like the title says. My wife and I always watch movies with subtitles, and I have ripped my entire movie library to include burned-in subtitles which show on the screen instead of below it. Also Netflix and others do this. It is very annoying that when we pause the movie to read the subtitles, the progress bar covers up the words and we must wait for the bar to go away so that the words can be read. My blur-ray player has the progress bar disabled by default so that this is not a problem on that device. Is there any way to disable the bar on the Apple TV, or for any other set to box?
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Can the process bar be disabled when pausing?
- Thread starter danny_w
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Yes it is that big of a deal to us. I am American (typical, only know English) and my wife is Korean (knows English but not well enough to understand a movie well). We both need subtitles when watching movies of the other language. This means that a 2hr movie can easily turn into a whole day affair for either of us, and most Korean dramas (tv shows) are almost 2hrs per episode. If the progress bar could be disabled this 5s savings could really add up fast (just try it, stopping on every sentence, and you will see what I mean). I generally hate jailbreaks and modified code, but if it were possible I would gladly do it for this feature alone. I would even go non-Apple for this, but would not give up my
TV - it is useful for many other things like Airplay.
Yes it is that big of a deal to us. I am American (typical, only know English) and my wife is Korean (knows English but not well enough to understand a movie well). We both need subtitles when watching movies of the other language. This means that a 2hr movie can easily turn into a whole day affair for either of us, and most Korean dramas (tv shows) are almost 2hrs per episode. If the progress bar could be disabled this 5s savings could really add up fast (just try it, stopping on every sentence, and you will see what I mean). I generally hate jailbreaks and modified code, but if it were possible I would gladly do it for this feature alone. I would even go non-Apple for this, but would not give up my
Maybe you can change the offset of the subs so that they are at the top of the screen instead of at the bottom? I know this works in QuickTime but I don't know if ATV will respect it or if it would cover the whole picture with the backshading.
The OP's subs are burned-in, so unfortunately this wouldn't work.
As Sedulous has mentioned, there is no option in the stock firmware to disable the progress bar whilst pausing (indeed it is not possible to customise any element of the UI). Unfortunately it doesn't seem as though there is any practical work-around to this particular problem.
I never knew that. Do you mean the down arrow? I have never learned all of the 'hidden' functions of that tiny Apple remote!
Thanks to everybody for the replies. Does anybody know of a set top box that has the progress bar that cant e disabled or has it in a different place? Like I said my LG BluRay player does not have a progress bar per se, and you have to press a button to get the details. I will try the down arrow trick; it is bound to be a big help.
Yes, like the other person said, down arrow button will bring down the status bar.
Also, when watching a movie or TV show on Netflix, press and hold the "select" button on the remote. A screen with subtitles option will come out and you can choose English from there and continue watching your show without interrupting it. Not every show and movie supports the feature but it works for most newer shows and movies. I discovered it by coincidence when watching White Collars episode. It looks better than the Apple Tv's subtitle option that you activate from the settings. You may want to turn off Apple TV's own subtitle option off to avoid overlapping each other.
You should experiment with the buttons while doing different activities. For example, when watching a show or movie, pressing up arrow button twice will bring will bring the info for the TV episode or movie you are watching. (Pressing it once will bring the status bar).
Pressing the down arrow button twice divides the status bar in small chapters for an alternative fast forwarding or rewinding.
Pressing and holding the select button while listening music from either iTunes Match or through home share will give you different browsing option (by artist,etc) and will also allow you to activate genius for your music.
You may not have many buttons on the remote but they are highly functional. Happy experimenting
I don't remember from the top of my head, i can check when i get home, but if you decide to jailbreak, i believe that XBMC doesn't show the bar, I know for sure that you can adjust the location of the subtitle to show pretty mich anywhere you want, and the size.