Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
JNTDPT
Enthusiast - Level 2

This is from the HDMI.org website:

"With the advent of digital TV and the introduction of digital HDTV services (cable, satellite, etc.) the responsibility of decoding CC has been taken away from the TVs and put into the various Set Top Boxes (STB) that are required for the majority of the digital HDTV services. Additionally, these STBs now have different ways of enabling CC making it complicated and creating confusion for consumers. All set-top boxes are required to support CC, however the implementation of CC can vary from one product to another. Enabling CC on a specific set-top box can be simple, or more difficult, depending on the implementation."

My question is: if all STB are indeed required to support CC, how come my standard boxes do NOT support it?

Message Edited by JNTDPT on 06-15-2009 09:40 PM
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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
kevinb
Contributor - Level 2

The non-advanced STB's pass the CC to the TV. Therefore, they support CC.

Message Edited by kevinb on 06-16-2009 01:14 PM
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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
MarkZeo
Enthusiast - Level 2
We have standard def boxes, and previously got closed captions via the TV itself. Within the last week or so those stopped working. After poking around here on the fourm and the help sites, it seems our STB's don't have those close captioning. Why did it stop working on all of our TVs? It worked before! Is my mostly deaf grandmother out of luck? I'd like a few suggestions.
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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
Tektronic
Enthusiast - Level 3

first thing to try is find the remote or use the menu settings of the tv to see if u can turn on cc that way if u can, u got two options

either inform her how to use the remote for her tv/menu or

try reprogramming the verizon remote

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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
MarkZeo
Enthusiast - Level 2

I tried those options already. This is not an issue with us not knowing how to operate our TV remotes. As I said, we had been using the close caption feature that was built in to the TV's before. We know how to enable  and diasble that. However, CC via the TV stopped working in the last week or so. We had not changed a thing on our TV's, the first thing we did was check to see if we had accidentally diabled the TV's close caption feature.

What I am saying is that I have read all the relavant documents, and our STB does not have it's own close captioning built in. Trust me, I've tried everything. Using forums like this is a last resort for me.

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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
ssetta
Contributor - Level 1
Was there a software upgrade recently? Did it happen before or after the digital breakup from a few days ago? It's possible that may have had an effect on it. Though it does sound like a problem, so I would suggest calling Verizon and asking them if they can do anything.
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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
Tektronic
Enthusiast - Level 3

no calling verizon will do no good, it is a problem with the tv.

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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
MarkZeo
Enthusiast - Level 2

Yeah when my grandmother called verizon, they tried to get her to enable CC on her STB, a box that (according to it's manual) ddoes not have CC functionality.

This seemed to coincicde with the digital switch, but may have been a few days before or after. If this is a problem with the TV, then why does CC no longer work on ANY of our TV's, we have been using CC on them for years, including when we first got FiOS last year.

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Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
spacedebris
Master - Level 2

Only the HD STB's have CC control. That is because of the HDMI output. HDMI is digital and digital needs controls on the STB to make CC work correctly. The 2500 boxes have no CC controls due to the fact that they do not have Digital outputs. They simply convert the Digital input signal to an Analog output and pass through the CC to the tv.

The digital conversion would not have affected you at all as Verizon has been Fully digital since 02/2009 (last converted region) so the day of the digital conversion made absolutely no change to Verizon at all.

If the CC stopped on that day, then the only change that would have affected you is from the broadcaster itself and they way the programming is encoded at the source. Verizon's broadcast was unaffected.

Message Edited by spacedebrismark on 06-22-2009 11:37 AM
Re: Close Captioning and STBs--HELP!!
MarkZeo
Enthusiast - Level 2
It should be noted that I tested a number channels, from local stations, CNN, Comedy Central, to USA, CC is not working on any of them.

If what you say is true and Verizon did not change anything in regaurds to CC, but the sources did, what should we do?. hearing impaired people like my grandmother depend on this function. And, it does not seem like she will be getting an HDTV and HD STB anytime soon.

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