Closed Captioning Question

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David Harleyson

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Hi all. I just now put an "intro" in the appropriate forum.

I have a question for which I'll give a bit of background.

As I stated in my intro. I have tinnitis. That's ringing of the ears you may already know. To mitigate the effects, especially at bedtime, I keep the TV on. I try and keep the volume low because I am married and would like to stay that way!

Also have periferal neuropathy. That is something that is usually cause by chemo therapy, diabetis, or HIV. I have NONE of those so it's called asymptomatic neurapathy. The only value in passing that along is that I don't sleep well.

My hearing was damaged. A 2000 pounder went off near me (Viet Nam vet). You know, the so-called "friendly fire" thing.

Given all of the above I turn on the closed captioning. One of the cc providers places the phrase "And he says,gyou've" on the screen every other display of captioning. Usually the diaplays are two lines long. Sometimes not. But, "you" are losing about 25% of the content due to this error. I simply don't understand the lack of quality.

I found out the providers name (I'll not mention it here yet). Emailed them. Not too surprisingly I've never received a response.

Frankly, I'm angry for the non-hearing as it relates to the quality of captioning. My question: Do you all have an organization that could reach out to these folks to try and fix this?

Just wondering. And, thanks in advance for any information!!
 
SilverRoxy said:
You could file a complaint with FCC.

https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

Try access for people with disabilities section.
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I got a form from FCC to file a complaint and you have tell what show you were watching and what time it was on the station and some other things . So the OP should keep a notebook and pen ready to write time things so if they do file a complaint they'll have it. I wish there wasn't so much paper work to do when filing a complaint b/c by the time I got my form I forget all the info I needed .
I clicked on the quote button by mistake and I wasn't finish .
 
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whatdidyousay! said:
I got a form from FCC to file a complaint and you have tell what show you were watching and what time it was on and some other stuff
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Well, yeah. How else are they going to know what show is not "working" properly with CC?
 
I appreciate the responses.

I can say this... The EXACT same "bogus" verbiage" is across many, many networks and all shows.

I'm an old retired guy and have some time. Not much mind you cause I do have a full time non-paying job. I"m a trustee at a church. Don't worry I won't preach!! This thing just doesn't seem right and I suspect it's some automated thing. Perhaps not, IDK. No idea of its source. I'm a DirecTV customer. Didn't think that would be related but, again, I don't know.

Anyway, I'll keep checking in and undoubtedly learn some things.
 
David Harleyson said:
I appreciate the responses.

I can say this... The EXACT same "bogus" verbiage" is across many, many networks and all shows.

I'm an old retired guy and have some time. Not much mind you cause I do have a full time non-paying job. I"m a trustee at a church. Don't worry I won't preach!! This thing just doesn't seem right and I suspect it's some automated thing. Perhaps not, IDK. No idea of its source. I'm a DirecTV customer. Didn't think that would be related but, again, I don't know.

Anyway, I'll keep checking in and undoubtedly learn some things.
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Are you saying you continually get the same extra sentence embedded in your captioning?
 
YES! The exact verbiage I listed above. Every second screen of captioning. The "And he say..." thing is always the first line and ALWAYS covers up what the person is actually saying.

One really does miss a lot. To the best of my knowledge I can only turn captioning OFF or ON. Not settings and I certainly have not added anything to every second screen.

BTW, I'm wathcing a commercial right now and, sure enough, it's in the ads as well!! ... two in a row!! ... three in a row. OK. I know I'm being obnoxious!!

We contacted (my wife did the email) the provider. Again, no response. Thought it might make sense to go to the person who PAYS the provider!! Follow the money, ya' know!!! lol
 
When I called FCC b/c there was no CC on a news station that was talking about a huge storm we were going to get , FCC told me it was the cable company
responsibly to see that there was CC on the shows . So I called Comcast back and told them this and they said "NO, it was the station responsibly to see that there was CC on the shows" . I would love to know who is was right about this FCC or Comcast...
 
I will try and find out. No promises. I can only imagine the morass of ANY government agency! Should be interesting!
 
David Harleyson said:
YES! The exact verbiage I listed above. Every second screen of captioning. The "And he say..." thing is always the first line and ALWAYS covers up what the person is actually saying.

One really does miss a lot. To the best of my knowledge I can only turn captioning OFF or ON. Not settings and I certainly have not added anything to every second screen.

BTW, I'm wathcing a commercial right now and, sure enough, it's in the ads as well!! ... two in a row!! ... three in a row. OK. I know I'm being obnoxious!!

We contacted (my wife did the email) the provider. Again, no response. Thought it might make sense to go to the person who PAYS the provider!! Follow the money, ya' know!!! lol
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It is applied on top of the captioning. That sounds like you have two different captioning enabled.
 
Bottesini said:
It is applied on top of the captioning. That sounds like you have two different captioning enabled.
Click to expand...

Like, one for a cable box and another for TV?
would that cause problems even if the captions should say the exact same thing?

Fuzzy
 
Audiofuzzy said:
Like, one for a cable box and another for TV?
would that cause problems even if the captions should say the exact same thing?

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

Yes it would. I think I had that happen to me accidentally but can't remember where (whether on my own or at my aunt's house...somewhere...) Depending on how the captions are designed you can tell there are separate sets... and sometimes they are the same format and colors but positioning may be slightly different.

David- I wonder if it has something to do with DishTV... though Fuzzy's thought does make sense as I know they have their own captioning settings apart from your own tv.

As for whose responsibility-- it's the local cable station and/or tv station's responsibility. Start at the TV station level locally- for example Channel WYZ 3 in Philadelphia (not real I can't think of the right one); best bet for live news shows or reports and local programming. If that doesn't work, find out the local cable office or station and ask them (or DishTV)- best bet for cable tv shows and syndicate shows.

FCC has nothing to do with programming and all that I don't think.

Hope you can figure it out :)
 
Does it on all three sets in the house. I HOPE it's a setting. I'll try and dig a little deeper in my world. It's something I toggle on and off using the DirecTV remote/receiver.

BTW, I'm watching Golf Channel this morning. Their captioning is perfect. Does not do this so having two on is probably not the case. Plus, I can tell the Golf Channel's provider is different because the display is a different font AND all captioning is in upper case.
 
Thanks, Ducky!
I know if you have Subtitles and CC it may overlap each other, but I had no idea it may also happen to same CC in TV and the box.
Thanks! :ty:

Fuzzy
 
Wow!! I can't believe the following!

Clicked Menu. Went into Settings and Help > Settings > Display > Captioning. The preferences listed are Captioning On or Off, Digital Track (this is where you choose one (1) of six (6) "services". Only Service 1 exists in my world. I know because I cycled through all 6.

Finally went back to Service 1, changed the font and color of the captioning on my screen.

Magically, it's fixed. Don't ask me!!!!!!!!! Somehow the offending phrase was in a buffer for display, I suppose. Essentially the MOST I could have done is sort of a "Control/Alt/Delete".

So, while it was real and I "accidently" fixed it, I feel like an idiot!!!

Thanks y'all!! Back to your regularly scheduled programming, as it were!!! :dunno2:
 
David Harleyson said:
Wow!! I can't believe the following!

Clicked Menu. Went into Settings and Help > Settings > Display > Captioning. The preferences listed are Captioning On or Off, Digital Track (this is where you choose one (1) of six (6) "services". Only Service 1 exists in my world. I know because I cycled through all 6.

Finally went back to Service 1, changed the font and color of the captioning on my screen.

Magically, it's fixed. Don't ask me!!!!!!!!! Somehow the offending phrase was in a buffer for display, I suppose. Essentially the MOST I could have done is sort of a "Control/Alt/Delete".

So, while it was real and I "accidently" fixed it, I feel like an idiot!!!

Thanks y'all!! Back to your regularly scheduled programming, as it were!!! :dunno2:
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Good! "Reset" is always good.
 
A somewhat similar issue that I deal with is how well the captions come in when the TV is set to analog or digital captions. I get my TV OTA using an antenna on a tall outside tower. I find that the captions either don't come in or cut in and out badly on the "Create" sub-channel of my PBS station if set to "digital" but do fine if the TV has them set to analog.
 
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