It’s hard to watch television nowadays. Whether it’s streaming delays, show cancellations, or an entire episode looking like it was shot through a low-contrast Instagram filter from 2012, you might have to jump through hoops in order to watch your favorite characters do what they gotta do. Remember the golden days of television when all you had to do was turn on the remote? Those times are long gone.
Amazon Prime seems to have heard fan feedback about some shows having dialogue that nobody could reasonably expect to make out, so the streamer has introduced a new feature called Dialogue Boost. A handful of Prime originals, including The Boys, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Jack Ryan have a new feature that allows viewers to adjust the volume of the spoken dialogue and limit background noises and music. This means you can crank that conversation volume all the way up or down in order to either hear John Krasinski or ignore him, depending on what mood you are in that day. We are all used to him being quiet anyway.
While the feature is only available on select Prime originals, Amazon is expected to add more titles in the coming months. “At Prime Video, we are committed to building an inclusive, equitable and enjoyable streaming experience for all our customers,” said Raf Soltanovich, VP of technology at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, per Variety. “Our library of captioned and audio-described content continues to grow, and by leveraging our technological capabilities to create industry-first innovations like Dialogue Boost, we are taking another step to create a more accessible streaming experience.” Viewers can change which level of Dialogue Boost they would like to use via the audio and subtitles drop-down menu on select originals.
Amazon might be the first streamer to adjust audio levels, but other sites have been allowing users to customize their viewing experience lately. Netflix recently introduced caption customization to help the growing trend of adding captions to your favorite show. Maybe HBO (or MAX, depending on who you ask) will start to introduce some contrast adjustments in the coming months. They could use it!