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.