DVD says CC, but does not have Closed Captioning

DoDaDew said:
Shastar...

There is nothing wrong with your DVDs. Your television is set up right. As you just found out, HDMI is the culprit. It is a well known issue of HDMI interferring with closed captioning. The industry knew about it so did FCC but nothing has been done to address it. I am hoping that the industry will address it someday so you and others can enjoy closed captioned DVDs on HDTV. Please do tell us how well the Digital Converter box performed so we all can enjoy our HDTV.
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yup
 
That's right...

My dad had the same problem when he hooked up his blu-ray to his television. He used HDMI and the captioning didn't work when he played DVDs that had closed captions. I told him about what needed to be done. So, he added a second output using RCA and it worked.

So, whenever we watch blu-ray... it's subtitled. If we watch DVDs that are not subtitled, but captioned instead... we switch to a different mode. :)
 
I hate it when that happens too.

Here's an option that'll allow you to watch them such subtitles on your computer.

Download the VLC player.

Search for and download the subtitles that match the movie you want to watch.

Open the DVD in the VLC player. Pause the video. Right click and open the subtitles file.

Now you can watch it with subtitles.

If any of you need any help with this let me know.

Ron
 
VamPyrox - Is that RCA Digital TV Converter you are referring to?

RonJaxon - I found a link to download VLC for free. So are u downloading to ur laptop and then running the DVD movie from ur PC connected to ur HDTV for closed captioning when English subtitles are not on the DVD movie, but closed captions are on the DVD movie?

As u know I found no input jacks to Blue Ray to hook up my RCA Digital TV converter. So I last said I was going to try it on our DVD player, which I did this am. I did not see an input for antenna on the back of DVD player. My only other hope it the DVD writer - VHS Player device that Best Buy is fixing right now has an input jack for antenna when we get it back.
 
Ron Jaxon - excuse me, I think I misread your message. My new question for you is if the DVD that I have for TV Series on it does not have English subtitles, how is VLC player going to do it? I just downloaded VLC on my laptop. I will see what I can figure out.
 
Still not resolved...

RonJaxon - I just put the DVD Tv Series in my laptop and ran it through VLC player. I think perhaps you misunderstood my problem.

The TV Series that is on the DVD is closed captioned with a 3 subtitles that are not English subtitles.

So, VLC does have options to play the subtitles in other languages, but not English and I can't get the closed captioning to work because I have HDMI cables running to my HDTVs.

Wish your idea worked, but it doesn't because the DVD would have to have English subtitles in the first place. If it did, I would not be trying to figure out how to make the closed captioning to work. This scenario is happening to me over and over with lots of movies & TV series my family is buying for me.
 
if you ever want to watch DVDs on your computer WITH close captionings (that is, if the DVD has CC logo on it), Windows Media Player has the Closed Caption option, and WMP is usually standard on any PCs. WMP, DVDs and CC works great for me. My poor portable DVD player is in bad shape now, that I've had to resort to using my computer to watch my DVDs haha. At least computer has caption, the DVD player did not.
 
shastar said:
VamPyrox - Is that RCA Digital TV Converter you are referring to?

RonJaxon - I found a link to download VLC for free. So are u downloading to ur laptop and then running the DVD movie from ur PC connected to ur HDTV for closed captioning when English subtitles are not on the DVD movie, but closed captions are on the DVD movie?

As u know I found no input jacks to Blue Ray to hook up my RCA Digital TV converter. So I last said I was going to try it on our DVD player, which I did this am. I did not see an input for antenna on the back of DVD player. My only other hope it the DVD writer - VHS Player device that Best Buy is fixing right now has an input jack for antenna when we get it back.
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Blu-ray uses composite or HDMI connection. That's why I said it varies on the devices you're using or what you want to hook up. From what you've just said, I'm guessing you'll need a better quality switch box.

I suggest you make a list of everything you want to hook up (including the kind of wiring involved) and bring it to your local electronics store like Best Buy, Target, etc. Someone there should be able to help you.
 
cdmeggers is correct. If you are using windows media player 9 or higher it'll place closed captioning on DVD's. Upgrade if you're isn't 9 or higher. Here is more information on that.

Windows Media Player version 9 and higher (Windows)

Windows Media Player does not currently support descriptive video. It does support closed captions. However, there are several requirements for closed captions to be displayed:

1. Windows Media Player must be in Full Mode (Control+F1), rather than Skins Mode. Windows Media Player has a variety of visual skins available, but few support the display of closed captions.
2. Turn on captions by performing the following steps:
* Press Alt+P to activate the Play menu (this hotkey combination will work even if the application menu is not visible)
* Select Captions and Subtitles
* Select On if Available
3. In version 10 and higher, an additional step required in some circumstances because Windows Media Player's security settings block the display of captions by default. To assure that the display of captions is permitted, perform the following steps:
* Press Alt+T to activate the Tools menu (this hotkey combination will work even if the application menu is not visible)
* Select Options
* Select the Security tab
* Check the box beside "Show local captions when present"
* Select OK
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Let me clarify what I meant about opening them in VLC player and adding subtitles to them.

Here's the bottom line to it. If you want watch the DVD on your computer with the VLC player. Then you can play a subtitles file on it too. I'll walk you through it.

The first step is to find subtitles that match your video. Let's use an example here. Let's say the DVD is the movie start wars. You'll have to find and download subtitles for "Star Wars". There are many sites that you can download subtitles from. Click here to see a list of subtitles you can download for the movie "Star Wars". As you can see they come in a variety of languages. Find one in the language you want (English) and download the subtitles file.

Subtitles files are very small text files. I have a folder on my desktop that I keep all my subtitles in.

Now. Open the DVD so it's playing in the VLC player. While the video is playing (Or you can pause it). Right click on the video and in the menu that appears under "Video" then "subtitle Track" Click "Open subtitles". Find the subtitles you downloaded and open them.

Now the video will play with the subtitles.

Here's a video I just made that'll show you how to open the subtitles file in the VLC player.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-e_lXb-A7I]YouTube - Open Subtitles in VLC player[/ame]

Things to keep in mind.

Subtitles files are made by people so some will be better then others.

Not all subtitles files will be timed to your video. Videos come in different frame rates and some videos start at different points (such as some containing opening credits and some don't). So if the timing of the subtitles file does not match your DVD. Then try another one.

Another option is to download the free Time Adjuster program. This will allow you to change the time of your subtitles file. So for example if your subtitles are 3 seconds to soon then you can move the time of them 3 seconds forward.

Let me know if you have any trouble.

Ron Jaxon
 
RonJaxon, I would be okay with trying your suggestion if I can feed the DVD movie or TV series with the downloaded subtitles through to the HDTV, which has the HDMI cables.

I do not see my family sitting around the laptop watching the movie or TV series that they have purchased for me.

I am still waiting for Best Buy to complete repair on our DVD writer/VHS player so I can see if there is input slots that I can insert the Digital TV Converter box. It says on the outside of the Digital TV Converter box that it transmits Closed Captioning. That would solve the problem of the DVD movies & TV series that my family is buying me that is CC, but do not have English subtitles.
 
I had a class last year that the DVD, though advertising CC on it, couldn't be accessed. Everyone else would watch it on the huge screen from the projector, while I was left to go sit to the side and look at the downloaded script on the archaeic computer. Then, my teacher figured out he could play the movie simultaneously on a small tv he had on the side of the cart the projector/laptop was on, and the small tv would play the captioning. So then I'd just turn my chair and watch the movie, which prompted others to then just watch my captioned version, because the movie had heavvvvy german/italian accents. Eh, good enough. Still wished subtitles would just play on all DVDs.
 
We have 2 DVD players. One is a cheapie LG and the other a fancy "uplift" Sony DVD. Whenever cc does not work on the uplift we try to on the LP cheapie - works every time. It seems (obviously) something in the uplift breaks the CC.

Hope this helps.

P
 
pcryan,

Are the cables in cheapie and uplift DVD players connected exactly the same way to the TV?

Peter
 
pcryan said:
We have 2 DVD players. One is a cheapie LG and the other a fancy "uplift" Sony DVD. Whenever cc does not work on the uplift we try to on the LP cheapie - works every time. It seems (obviously) something in the uplift breaks the CC.

Hope this helps.

P
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It depends on how they're set up. It also depends on your television.
 
if your dvd player and HDTV have S-Video i/o then use that it is better than A/V Maybe find a better DVD player that have CC decoder built in that could send cc stream to HDTV: see this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=846346&page=2

OR buy a mini sized pc or mac and use it as multimedia center. for example Mac Mini Intel has DVD drive and DVD Player software which has CC support can send cc to HDTV via HDMI (DVI to HDMI of course) in full HD glory. Also can watch HULU, Run Boxee whatever... (Best Buy has Dell Inspiron Zino HD )
 
peternagy said:
pcryan,

Are the cables in cheapie and uplift DVD players connected exactly the same way to the TV?

Peter
Click to expand...

Yes. I ended up using S Video and RCA cables. (It also worked with component but I wanted to use those inputs on my TV for other stuff.)

FWIW - I tried every possible combination with the uplift DVD to my TV before going the cheapie ($38CAN!) DVD route. I know TV's and I know cables - and the SONY simply refused to play CC on some DVDs.


Peter (2)
 
That's very strange. DVD players should not care about CC when using S-video or composite (RCA cables) because they are analog. TVs should be responsible for decoding analog CC, not external sources like DVD players. Some TVs refuse to decode CC using component cables. My old TV was able to decode CC with component cables as long as the settings in DVD player is interlace (or non-progressive). Many newer TVs don't decode CC via component cables whether it's interlace or progressive scan. Check your Sony DVD player and see if you can make some adjustments via on-screen menu like set the video output to interlace or non-progressive scan.

My current setup is digital all the way including Blu-ray and HDTV using HDMI cables. I use subtitles and most Blu-ray movies no longer come with CC. I know many older DVD movies include CC but no subtitles which really sucks for modern entertainment equipment using HDMI cables because CC does not work with HDMI cables UNLESS Blu-ray or DVD players can overlay CC on video signal. One Panasonic DVD player may be able to do that but I heard it's not reliable.

Peter
 
I have my Bluray set up HDMI, Component and s-video ... I have them all plugged in. because HDMI & Component works great for Subtitled movies (but will NOT work with CC)

For CC I use the S-video connection (or composite on dvd player)- and it works well ...

I do know a number of people who've gotten blurays and ended up rehooking their dvd player up (in addition the the bluray) so they can get the CC working solidly (some Bluray do not have s-video or composite out... I'm actually thinking of doing this myself because the CC is better (who knows why) on my DVD player than my BluRay
 
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