No CC on some HD -- i.e. Jericho on UHD

[Gai-jin]

I've noticed that on some HD programming I don't seem to get captions. It seems like it's been on a variety of shows, but I can't say for sure. I do know that I watched Jericho tonight, as recorded on UHD, and had no captions.

Is this show being sent w/o caption data? Or is the tivo not decrypting it? Or might the cableco be doing something that filters it out?

[drcos]

In my experience, captioning on UHD is spotty at best.
I seem to recall complaints that if they do include captions, they are not up to spec.
This is a problem with UHD, not your headend as I've seen the same problem on at least two cable systems.

This and the commercials now in movies as well is enough reason to not pay as much attention to what's on there. Although it is curious to see commercials in uncut movies.

[bicker]

As far as I'm concerned, Universal HD is now in violation of US law, with regard to Closed Captioning, and has been since August 1, when the channel lost its automatic exemption.

Unfortunately, the hearing impaired seem to be a very low priority for the FCC, and they have taken no action against Universal HD despite complaints.

[Gregor]

Same experience with UHD. What's the address to complain? Maybe a few more complaints will get the FCC moving.

[Gai-jin]

Same experience with UHD. What's the address to complain? Maybe a few more complaints will get the FCC moving.

Well, according to this page:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html

It looks like i have to complain to my cable co first. So I did. Just sent this letter:

I have found a significant portion of programming broadcast on Channel 740 Universal HD does not include Closed Captions. Having closed captions is important to me and my family, as I have trouble hearing the words spoken by the actors.

The most recent example of this was in the program Jericho, aired on Friday January 18th, 2008 at 5pm.

This show was without closed captions for the entire duration of the show.

It is my understanding that this is a violation of the FCC rules regarding closed captioning, specifically 47 CFR Part 79.1. Please consider this an official complaint pursuant to those rules.

I hope this issue will be resolved as quickly as possible, so that I may enjoy the programming to the fullest extent.

Thank you,
(Name & address omittied)

[Gai-jin]

And sent a copy of the same to universalhd@nbcuni.com

[astrohip]

I was about to jump in and say that UHD rarely captions anything, and hence I rarely watch it (which is a shame, they have some programming I would like to sample). And then I was gonna add that they have an exemption from the FCC as a "startup" channel that lets them get away with this shyte.

But I didn't realize until I read bicker's post that their exemption had expired. I will forcefully follow up both avenue's of complaint--FCC & NBC--and find out WHY they haven't started captioning. I have found that letters (snail mail, not email) is a great way to get answers from higher-ups.

If anyone hears back from anyone, please update us.

[afiggatt]

The CC problem with UniversalHD has been going on for a long time. They had no captions at all until early 2007 when I saw them show up on the occasional movie. They had captions for some episodes of Northern Exposure but not others. It was random as far as I could tell. With their new movie heavy line-up, I notice they now have captions for many of the movies. But I have never seen captions on Battlestar Galactica, last year or this year so far, or Stargate: Atlantis when they had that on, or few of their prime-time series showings that I can recall.

I have sent multiple emails to the email address on the website, several to another NBC Universal address, and even a snail mail letter complaining about the lack of captioning. I have never received a reply of any kind. I was not aware that their exemption for CC had expired. Time to file a formal complaint with the FCC and perhaps email the FCC commissioners.

UnivHD has closed caption hardware, we know that much. Either they have it on only 1 tape/server machine and not others, or they have engineers who don't know how to or when to activate the CC equipment. But this is UnivHD, which has been screwing up 5.1 sound for years, no reason to expect them to get CC right without some prompting from outside.

[Gai-jin]

It just seems odd, from an outsider's point of view. Considering that these are newer shows and movies, they obviously had captions when they were first aired on the networks/other movie channels. Why would they not include them now?

[astrohip]

It just seems odd, from an outsider's point of view. Considering that these are newer shows and movies, they obviously had captions when they were first aired on the networks/other movie channels. Why would they not include them now?
That's part of what is so utterly frustrating. They don't even have to spend time/money to have their shows captioned from scratch. I don't know if there is a fee from the content provider for using the captions too, but it's gotta be minuscule compared to the cost of actually hiring captioners.

[bicker]

I think one reality we have to face is that, for many suppliers, if it weren't for the law, we would not be served at all. There simply aren't enough of us to make it a market consideration. I suspect if it weren't the law, we might only have one or two niche channels that supposedly "service" our community, and we've be deprived of mainstream programming altogether. :(

[drcos]

Perhaps now that they have all this extra money from putting commercials into the movies (thanks!), they can fix the problem.

[Dancar]

I posted the other day about Battlestar Galactica on UHD beign in stereo only rather than 5.1.

Is UHD a low-budget channel that put all its budget into providing a great picture and skimped on enerything else?

[afiggatt]

I posted the other day about Battlestar Galactica on UHD beign in stereo only rather than 5.1.

Is UHD a low-budget channel that put all its budget into providing a great picture and skimped on enerything else?
They don't even really do that as UinversalHD is a fairly low bit rate HD channel. Around 10 to 12 Mb/s (with mpeg-2) on Verizon FiOS, IIRC. This is the signal from the source, not re-compressed.

So with UnivHD, you get HD movies, BSG, other TV series, and last year they had the first 3 seasons of Northern Exposure in HD (in 4:3 OAR too). But you get also erratic inclusion of closed captions (although I think they are getting better at it), low bit rate, a large bug, messed up 5.1 sound, and now long commercial breaks. Not one of the best run HD channels.

[bicker]

Yes, but now they're violating US law. Quite frankly, AFAIC, I'd rather see them off-the-air than operating like this.

[Gregor]

For the first time last night, I saw captions on a movie on UHD. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[Gai-jin]

I got a reply from mediacom basically stating they have nothing to do with it and that I'm complaining to the wrong people. I replied back quoting the FCC page that says I have to complain to my cable company.

[drcos]

Hey, there are captions on "Jericho" right now on UHD. I wonder if the complainin' worked?