In which I whine to the government (why have I heard nothing about this from anyone else?)

[algeh]

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to complain about ability to receive closed captioning on a new television set. At my house, I use an old, analog set and have used the closed captioning option for years. I am currently visiting my father who purchased a new Samsung HDTV set recently. When I tried to enable closed captions on his set it told me that captions "were not available in this mode" and would not let me turn them on (I was watching Comcast digital cable programming at the time, but this was a TV-level menu rather than a cable box menu denying me access so I see no reason to bother the cable company about it).

I was unable to turn on the closed captioning even after much button-pressing, menu-navigating, and instruction-reading. The option is simply grayed-out and cannot be enabled. I have been enabling captions on a wide variety of analog sets over the years while traveling or teaching and this is the first time that I have had access to both a TV set that was manufactured recently enough to have captions and its original remote yet still been unable to eventually turn them on. I tell you this so you'll realize that this is not a simple case of me needing someone to walk me through the menus.

After some additional research, I learned that many other people are also unable to receive closed captions when watching HDTV through the HDMI connection, which I am led to believe is the main HD connection currently available. According to several internet sources, the HDMI specification does not allow for proper encoding of closed captioning information. I am very concerned about this both as a consumer of captioned television at home and as an educator who utilizes captioned programming whenever possible in my classroom.

I find your online complaint form confusing and telephone-issue-centric and I would like detailed instructions on how to file a formal complaint on this issue. I also want to know what steps your agency is taking to resolve this issue before we lose analog television in 2009 and many Americans will apparently be reduced to watching the pretty pictures and trying to guess what is going on. I particularly want to know how the issue will be mended for those who, like my father, have purchased HD sets already.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
[contact information redacted before posting to journal]


Does anyone know of any way I can do some additional stink-raising on this issue?

Comments

[unkle-social.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand what's going on.

[algeh]

Um, yeah, I suppose most hearing people really don't know anything about this (possibly particularly those who don't live in the US).

Closed captioning is a system in which captions (the text that everyone is speaking and incidental noises like doorbell rings) are transmitted along with pictures and sound for the benefit of people who would have trouble hearing them on the soundtrack (generally the deaf or hard of hearing, but some TV sets also turn them on whenever you hit mute). This is kind of, but not quite, like subtitles (which generally don't deal with incidental noises but just dialog since they're for the benefit of hearing persons who want a translation into a different language).

In the US, pretty much all programming is now required to be closed captioned. Also, all TVs (possibly just ones over 13", I can't remember) are required to be able to display these captions. For example, my dad's TV has an option in its menu and also a "caption" button on the remote to turn this on. Some just have the remote button or just the menu option. Thus, this is something that basically everyone has access to, but it is mostly used by people who have trouble hearing. (Some schools and daycare centers also use it to give students practice with written forms of words.)

HDMI is a type of cable that goes between a source (such as a cable box or DVD player) and a TV. It seems to be the current standard cable to get high definition TV signals. I really don't know much about HD television, as my vague understanding is that it's all infested with DRM and my personal plan is pretty much to give up and read books instead when they stop putting things out in non-HD formats. (I haven't had cable or an antenna for several years now and I don't really miss it. I just tend to watch TV at my dad's house because he has a ridiculously large cable package and it's lighter than packing a week's worth of books.)

Basically, whatever evil monkeys wrote the HDMI spec didn't provide it with a way to pass along the closed captioning information, so if you want HD picture qualify you can't get captions. My guess is that most deaf people would kind of like high picture quality and captions at the same time.

This affects me personally because I have trouble with auditory processing. Sometimes I can't understand what people are saying and I also remember things better if I read them rather than see them. (For example, I almost never can remember the list of specials in a restaurant if the waiter tells them to me but there is no list. Also, the other day I had no idea which brand of cider I was drinking because it sounded kind of like "spider" to me and I couldn't tell if it was Spire or Wyders but was too embarrassed to ask the guy to repeat it because it wasn't Hornsby's and I'll drink either of the two in question.) I often semi-lip-read as well as listen if it's important that I understand what's going on.

Anyway, if I'm the only one watching TV I turn on the captions unless they differ from the spoken dialog to a distracting degree (which happens sometimes). I generally turn them off if other people are watching too because most other people seem annoyed by them (they cover up part of the picture).

So anyway, I'm pissed because my legally-required-to-be-present captions are not viewable if I watch TV at my dad's house anymore because the new video information cable spec doesn't allow for them to be transmitted. This is like having hot water pumped all over your house but having the new faucet spec only deal with cold because the people writing it never used the hot water and didn't think about it.

[clipdude.livejournal.com]

Does the FCC have the authority to do anything about this? The requirement that TVs have captioning chips was part of legislation passed by Congress. Maybe that legislation doesn't extend to the HDMI connection. (I don't know.)

I don't think the FCC can independently regulate media devices without a mandate from Congress. They recently tried to force electronics capable of receiving TV signals to have some sort of DRM in them, and the courts overruled them, saying they couldn't act without authorization by Congress.

[algeh]

I don't honestly know who has the authority to do anything about this. The FCC is who you complain to if someone isn't captioning their programs properly, so they seemed like a reasonably good choice. I'm hoping if they're the wrong choice that they'll point me to the right one.

Basically, I googled for "HDMI caption" when I was trying to figure out how the hell to turn them on, and the FCC seemed like who the other people were complaining to and that they were keeping statistics on the number of complaints received on the issue. Even if they can't actually do anything about it, I want to send my compliant to anyone in the government who is keeping track of numbers of complaints on a given issue. I guess I should write to my CongressCritters too. Part of why I posted this here was to get ideas on other targets for my email.

Incidentally, HDMI also seems to turn off the V-Chip, but I'm less concerned about that because (a) it really doesn't affect my life and (b) the cable company is doing a good job of promoting and explaining parental controls at the cable-box level unlike captions which I have not been able to find buried anywhere in any menu at all. It is possible that they are in a hidden menu somewhere. Someone on the internet said that they got captions through their cable box after getting a special cable box, using a hidden menu, and having about 3 technicians come to their house. Contrast this with the clearly-labeled "caption" button on my TV remote and you'll see why this isn't really an acceptable substitution if it is indeed the plan.

[clipdude.livejournal.com]

Definitely sending a letter to the FCC is good. Even if they don't have the authority to regulate, if they get enough complaints, they could request that Congress give them the authority.

In addition to Congress, you might see if there is a group that advocates on behalf of the people this effects (e.g. members of the deaf community), and see what they are doing about it. I know there is a movement to caption films in theaters (I believe it's possible to do this so that only the audience members who want captions can see them); perhaps the people in that movement might also have something to say about this issue.

[clipdude.livejournal.com]

http://www.deaftoday.com/v3/archives/2007/05/hdtv_silences_c.html

At the FCC, spokesman Clyde Ensslin said his agency is aware of the issue and is watching it closely. Still, the FCC received only about 70 complaints regarding accessibility issues in the second and third quarters of 2006.

[diantha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I missed this comment about the congrescritters.

[diantha.livejournal.com]

Maybe also write your congressperson? That is sort of my fallback 'I'm pissed about something in the government' thing to do. I'm not so sure that they actually take the time to read my letters- but somebody on staff probably takes statistics on who complains about what. Who are the Oregon reps these days anyhow?

[diantha.livejournal.com]

I mean, my personal rep is Hastert, who I wouldn't expect to agree with me... but I sometimes write Obama (allthough, he likely has other things on his mind right now) and/or Durban.

[algeh]

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll write my Critters this week. The kind-of cool thing about this issue is that it's not obviously partisan so I can write to people whose politics I don't ordinarily share and hope that they might actually give a damn. I need to find out who my reps are since I moved to the middle of nowhere.

Samsung HDTV CC problem

[(Anonymous)]

I too have been in contact with Samsung regarding this problem, but they do not seem to want to own up to the problem. They put me on hold and then the line drops. I guess they are hoping I will give up.

If you have this problem, harrass the people you bough the TV from and let them complain to the manufacturer.

Re: Samsung HDTV CC problem

[algeh]

I have not tried contacting Samsung, since a little googling led me to believe it was the HDMI cable being unable to carry such information, so it never gets to the in the first place. I directed my complaints to the FCC since they are the government body that deals with caption accessibility issues and I don't know who governs the HDMI spec. I encourage you to complain to them as well since they keep statistics on the number of complaints they receive on a given issue.

I'm mostly responding to this because I'm realizing that other people may come here looking for a way to turn on their captions. I have not had this resolved to my satisfaction, but I did finally learn how to turn on captions through the cable box (so they are already present in the visual stream when sent through the HDMI cable rather than on a subchannel that the HDMI cable does not carry).

Instructions follow:

Step one: Turn off the cable box (leave the tv on)

Step two: Press the "menu" button on your cable remote quickly twice (like double clicking on an icon, but with a physical button)

This should bring up a Super Secret Menu where you can change a variety of cable box settings, including the captions.

Note: This does not work when you are recording a program using the cable box's built-in DVR, and is a royal pain in the butt if two people share a TV and only one of them watches their programming with captions on. I do not consider it the same level of accessibility that I have enjoyed previously for the past 10 or 15 years since they started requiring built-in captioning in our analog tvs, but it is better than nothing at all.

I am also concerned about other devices that communicate through HDMI cables such as DVD players. I know my Degrassi Junior High DVDs, for example, are captioned but not subtitled, so unless HDMI cable type DVD players support enabling captions I will be unable to watch them properly at my dad's house. I suppose I can explore this if I stay at his house for the holidays this year. (I have decided to not buy a digital tv if they're going to leave me behind like this. I can buy an awful lot of books for that much money and I know I can understand them without weird hidden menus.)