Gaffer Tape said:

TV's Frink said:

I like subs in the matte. Easier to read.

I don't mind subs in the matte if they're the hearing impaired or whatever subtitles. But if they're part of the movie, like alien languages in Star Wars or Star Trek or the Sicilian in The Godfather films, they need to be in the damned movie!

There are very good reasons why this isn't always the case.

For one thing it would mean a unique transfer for each language rather than just the stupid region thing.

Another is, say the subs are embedded English and the viewer is deaf and French.

They would have their French subs for the hard of hearing on but overlayed over embedded English subs which could be very messy.

Having them inside a black band might make it easier to read but it's going to be a lot of effort to align the band over the embedded subs.

It's much easier to have the subs as a digital overlay over a clean picture or do a branching of the embedded subs with a blank screen as an option.

The sub designer could make a good approximation of the original embedded sub and some distributors know that their pressing is going to only sell to a select group anyway so may bite the bullet for the added expense.

Ultimately however if you want that true to cinema experience you should be pressing your local art-house to screen the film.

Home cinema is never going to be the same thing.