Has this happened to you: you scrounge and save and finally get an awesome TV (flat-screen, LCD, the works). Now that you have the sweet TV you want to hook-up your receiver (Comcast DVR, TiVO, DirecTV DVR, etc) with the HDMI cable for maximum viewing quality. Finally it’s all hooked up and the picture looks stellar but the closed captions have disappeared. Where did they go? You didn’t really change anything so why can’t you turn them on with the TV?
The problem isn’t with your TV or DVR. The problem is that the HDMI and componenet cables cannot carry closed caption information. The TV won’t be able to read closed captions because none will be transfered from your DVR to you TV. Yikes. Therefore, if you connect any device (Comcast’s DVR, Tivo, etc) by HDMI/component, you must use that device’s menu to decode the closed captions. Your TV’s closed caption button will never show captions when connected this way.
Why?? The TV’s closed caption button only works for the analog input, when the caption data is embedded in the signal. In this new fangled digital world, the receiver (aka DVR or set-top-box) must generate captions for the screen. Including closed caption info. on an HDMI cable has not been defined or agreed upon by the TV makers. Closed caption data is only well defined on the standard TV format. The closed caption information does not get transmitted by the HDMI cable.
The solution is to use that device’s menu to turn on the captions. Every DVR is different but we can give you a few tips and tricks here. Please comment and add more information if you’ve done this testing, too. The trick is to fool the TV into thinking that you’re setting CC for the coax input, then leaving it set to ON after that. It may be that what’s really going on with these TVs may not be that CC isn’t available in non-coax inputs, but that you can’t ADJUST CC in those inputs.
First, start by enabling the closed caption data in the general menu of the DVR. See our handy guide for more information on finding the closed caption menu on your DVR.
If this doesn’t work, then try to find your DVR’s “hidden” menu. (It’s not that spooky but it is tricky to find.) Most of the time, you’ll need to turn off your DVR and then press the Menu or Power button on the front panel. Here are a couple how-tos for Comcast, Motorola and Verizon. Send us more so that we can all help each other. Note: The digital captions will always be enabled! You need to repeat these same processes to disable the captions!
Comcast Hidden Menu:
1. Turn on your TV
2. Turn off the DVR
3. Press the Menu button
4. You will see the USER SETTING screen on your TV
5. Move down to the CLOSED CAPTIONS entry using the arrow buttons
6. Press the right-arrow to switch between ENABLED and DISABLED
7. Press the Menu button
8. Turn on the DVR
To turn CC off you have to use the same method!
Motorola DCH3416
1. Turn off the TV.
2. Press the Power button on the front panel of the DCH3416 unit to bring the unit into Stand-By mode.
3. Unplug the power cable from behind the unit to truly power-off the unit.
4. Turn the TV back again (should just be blank screen)
5. Connect the power cable to the DCH3416 unit and quickly press the Menu button on the front panel of the unit.
6. If all goes well, there will appear a rough looking screen on your TV titled “User Setting Status”. NOTE: If this does not work immediately, try steps (3) to (5) a few more times.
7. Notice that item “Closed Caption” is Disabled.
8. Use the Remote of DCH3416 unit to scroll down (using up/down buttons) to the “Closed Caption” line. Press the right arrow on the Remote to toggle this item to be “Enabled”.
9. Then press the “Menu” button on the front panel of the DCH3416 unit to get out of the “User Setting Status” screen. This saves your settings.
10. Press the “Power” button on the front panel of the DCH3416 unit to bring the unit out of Stan-By mode into full operation. The close caption should now work.
To turn CC off you have to use the same method!
Verizon FIOS HD DVR STB Model #6416 (and #6214)
1. Press power off
2. Press Select button
3. Press menu button to get this display. (not easy to get—there may be a specific amount of time required to hold down the button)
Verizon FIOS HD DVR STB Model #6214
1. Press power button off
2. Press menu button to get this display.
Good luck! If you find any more information, send it our way and we’ll continue to update this post.
This is great information!
Comment by Michelle | August 23, 2010 @ 8:31 am
I’m hard of hearing, and this just pisses the hell out of me.
Since the whole industry knows about this, why can’t they come to an agreement that will allow Closed Captioning to be transmitted over HDMI cables?
BUT UNTIL THEY DO…
Why the hell can’t the DVR makers make CC part of an *accessible* menu instead of a hidden one?
Why should we have to turn the DVR off to go to the *hidden* menu to turn CC off to see what was on the screen that the captioning was blocking (which, by the time you get CC turned off and the DVR back on, is gone anyhow) and then have to turn it off again to go BACK to the *hidden* menu to be able to read what some of us can’t hear ?
When all they would have to do is put CC on an accessible menu ???
Comment by Conrad | January 29, 2011 @ 1:51 pm
Exactly so, Conrad!
What the hell are they thinking?
My wife has hearing problems, I don’t. When she is not watching, I’d rather have CC off and turn it on as needed. It’s not a one shot deal. It’s a major pain to get into that System menu on my box. It should be on the regular menu, not the system menu.
Comment by Steve Cohen | May 18, 2011 @ 5:44 pm
Thanks so much for the hints… I’ve been battling the lack of CC on HD/HDMI for months… I have a Scientific Atlanta DVR, and indeed I was able to go through the Settings menu on the remote, go up to find the CC, change that from Off to On and that did the trick for me… now I can watch TV shows on HD with CC. Thanks,
Jose
PS: I agree with Conrad and Michelle’s comments 100%… that is too bad… CC should be provided through HDMI connectivity…!!!
Comment by Jose L. Antoniano | July 19, 2011 @ 1:49 pm
I agree. I am hearing impaired and I too have to go through hoops to turn it on or off. Once in awhile I would just like to hit the CC button on my remote so that I can see what is on the screen instead of having to go through all the hoops to get it off and then all the hoops to get it back on again. This is so uncalled for this day in age with our technology that nobody fixed this issue.
Comment by Janie Frances | October 13, 2011 @ 8:53 am