I have now managed to get Youview (well LIVE TV & CATCH UP as now called) back as the default on my Bravia, but the fact it was necessary shows they don’t really want you to I feel.
Well, we don't have a smart TV but it is a Sony Bravia. KDL-32RE403. We tend to record everything via Youview box to watch at our leisure (minus dreaded ads). Anyway, after accidentally deleting a couple of episodes of the Bay we tried to watch it on the ITV hub last night (through our BT Youview box) and it seems that subtitles are/were not available?!? We are both half deaf so it was hard work. Anyway is this standard practice for our setup, or was it a one off?
I have now managed to get Youview (well LIVE TV & CATCH UP as now called) back as the default on my Bravia, but the fact it was necessary shows they don’t really want you to I feel.
YouView gets very negative responses on the Sony Community, and I have been a lone voice on there since 2015, correcting misapprehensions about it. But for most of it, I have to say YouView is guilty as charged; it’s slower and clunkier than the Freeview side, and the 7-day backward EPG doesn’t seem to be that much of an attraction.
Added to which, it’s a pale shadow of YouView on a box, with no pause live TV and no ability to record. And none of the channel moving and Favourites-type flexibility that you get on the Freeview side of these TVs, though you don’t get those on a YouView box either.
Add to that a set of Players that used to need terrestrial TV channels tuned when a lot of users don’t have a terrestrial aerial, and two of which used to stop if you moved away from YouView - though these are things that s-l-o-w-l-y got addressed over the last few years.
And you couldn’t convince people that YouView was the only reason these Sony sets had itv Hub and All4 at all - the immovable perception was that bad old YouView punished you for moving away from it by taking these Apps away from you. Until good old Hoshsadiq solved the problem, and it turned out you could perfectly well have these apps on the Freeview side, at least technically.
And it used to be a big deal moving from the YouView side to the Freeview side, and that also got fixed, though by then the YouView name was in such bad odium that it was provided under the euphemistic name you mentioned above instead.
And it’s not exactly that Sony didn’t really want you to have it as the default; they badly wanted you to have YouView as the default, and for a few years it was the default, and people hated it, and made their way to the Freeview side, and how to do that was a bit samzidat, and everybody congratulating new escapees to the Freeview side like they’d made it out of occupied Europe, or something like that.
So now it’s all reversed; Freeview is the default, and the instructions for going over to (whisper it) YouView really, are very low key, and kept in a dark corner where Sony hope no-one will stumble over them by accident.
Poor YouView; Like BT, Sony wanted the functionality (though Sony stopped well short), but neither wants to call it by the YouView name any longer 😢
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
Have 2 Sony's both recent 4k models. I personally think the Freeview play UI on both is pretty rudimentary and nowhere near as good as my youview boxes UI. Perhaps I'm spoilt as my tvs are plugged straight into my boxes on installation and would never dream of using the tv for nothing else but it's screen. Smart tv....er no.
I take it you were getting subtitles OK on the episodes of The Bay still intact which had been recorded live on your YouView box?
I just checked, and The Bay episode 6 (I didn’t check any others, but don’t expect they would be different) on the itv Hub on my T2100 YouView box says specifically that subtitles are unavailable when you press the Sub button on the YouView remote.
But the itv Hub app on the TV I was using for the test, a 2021 43” LG Nano, did show subtitles on this same episode.
So not very satisfactory.
I knew YouView boxes cannot show subtitles on the Now app, but I did not know this went any further.
I am sure @kodikid will pop up at any minute to suggest you get a Roku device or an Amazon Firestick (I just confirmed subtitles are present on itv Hub on the Firestick), to make your TV independently smart outside of any limitations YouView might have.
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
Hi Ever thought of getting a Roku device or a Amazon firestick (The Royster has confirmed subtitles are indeed on firestick's itv hub) This will make your tv independently smart outside of any limitations youview might have. Just saying.
Hi @Chris A. ITV Hub doesn't currently have subtitles available on YouView devices (full list of supported devices from ITV can be found here). ITV Hub, Now, POP, VOD 365 and AMC are the apps on YouView which do not have subtitles, the other apps on YouView should have subtitles available on most of their content. Thanks, Sarah
Comments
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00254818
YouView gets very negative responses on the Sony Community, and I have been a lone voice on there since 2015, correcting misapprehensions about it. But for most of it, I have to say YouView is guilty as charged; it’s slower and clunkier than the Freeview side, and the 7-day backward EPG doesn’t seem to be that much of an attraction.
Added to which, it’s a pale shadow of YouView on a box, with no pause live TV and no ability to record. And none of the channel moving and Favourites-type flexibility that you get on the Freeview side of these TVs, though you don’t get those on a YouView box either.
Add to that a set of Players that used to need terrestrial TV channels tuned when a lot of users don’t have a terrestrial aerial, and two of which used to stop if you moved away from YouView - though these are things that s-l-o-w-l-y got addressed over the last few years.
And you couldn’t convince people that YouView was the only reason these Sony sets had itv Hub and All4 at all - the immovable perception was that bad old YouView punished you for moving away from it by taking these Apps away from you. Until good old Hoshsadiq solved the problem, and it turned out you could perfectly well have these apps on the Freeview side, at least technically.
And it used to be a big deal moving from the YouView side to the Freeview side, and that also got fixed, though by then the YouView name was in such bad odium that it was provided under the euphemistic name you mentioned above instead.
And it’s not exactly that Sony didn’t really want you to have it as the default; they badly wanted you to have YouView as the default, and for a few years it was the default, and people hated it, and made their way to the Freeview side, and how to do that was a bit samzidat, and everybody congratulating new escapees to the Freeview side like they’d made it out of occupied Europe, or something like that.
So now it’s all reversed; Freeview is the default, and the instructions for going over to (whisper it) YouView really, are very low key, and kept in a dark corner where Sony hope no-one will stumble over them by accident.
Poor YouView; Like BT, Sony wanted the functionality (though Sony stopped well short), but neither wants to call it by the YouView name any longer 😢
I personally think the Freeview play UI on both is pretty rudimentary and nowhere near as good as my youview boxes UI.
Perhaps I'm spoilt as my tvs are plugged straight into my boxes on installation and would never dream of using the tv for nothing else but it's screen.
Smart tv....er no.
I take it you were getting subtitles OK on the episodes of The Bay still intact which had been recorded live on your YouView box?
I just checked, and The Bay episode 6 (I didn’t check any others, but don’t expect they would be different) on the itv Hub on my T2100 YouView box says specifically that subtitles are unavailable when you press the Sub button on the YouView remote.
But the itv Hub app on the TV I was using for the test, a 2021 43” LG Nano, did show subtitles on this same episode.
So not very satisfactory.
I knew YouView boxes cannot show subtitles on the Now app, but I did not know this went any further.
@Sarah, any comments?
I am sure @kodikid will pop up at any minute to suggest you get a Roku device or an Amazon Firestick (I just confirmed subtitles are present on itv Hub on the Firestick), to make your TV independently smart outside of any limitations YouView might have.
Ever thought of getting a Roku device or a Amazon firestick (The Royster has confirmed subtitles are indeed on firestick's itv hub)
This will make your tv independently smart outside of any limitations youview might have.
Just saying.
It's what you see.
ITV Hub doesn't currently have subtitles available on YouView devices (full list of supported devices from ITV can be found here). ITV Hub, Now, POP, VOD 365 and AMC are the apps on YouView which do not have subtitles, the other apps on YouView should have subtitles available on most of their content.
Thanks,
Sarah