[navyman]

I currently have 2 DTivo Series 1 DSR6000, and 1 Hughes DTivo Series 2 (HDVR3) receiver with the 6.2 SW version. I have not noted any significant captioning problems on my Series 2 on my recorded programs, but I do note the CC is discernably more reliable on my Series 1 units. I suspect that certain programs may be more susceptible to whatever causes the recorded program's CC to be problematic...it may tie back to the method of coding that the particular hired captioning firm uses with certain programming. This is just an educated guess.

In any case, the fact that the DTivo is the most likely cause perhaps due to buffer issues with replaying recording programs, Directv should be held responsible per the Telecom Act of 1996. Continue to monitor and document the problems and request Directv to resolve. If they are not reasonably responsive, provide your information to the Federal Communications Commission at this email address: [email protected]. An interesting bio on her is available at: Jenifer Simpson. She was the reason why Directv finally got around to resolving the infamous captioning problems on the Directivos a couple of years ago. I was then forced to file a complaint to the FCC after Directv continued to deny the existence of the problem that many others confirmed here at tivocommunity. We cannot allow Directv to backslide on CC passthrough quality issues.

-navyman

 

[navyman]

...
There is absolutely no reason why it would show up late in recordings, since it is just another part of the recorded picture.
The TIVO has NO closed captioning function. It passes the CC fuzz, as part of the picture signal, to the TV that decodes it and displays it. That said, there is absolutley no way the TIVO should be able to delay or speed up the CC data, because it is PART OF THE PICTURE...[/url]

I completely disagree with you with regards that the directivo doesn't have any effect on captioning quality. A couple of years ago, I did some deductive experimenting to see what was causing closed captioning problems when I was using the Directivo. Since I have the Comcast internet service (and therefore, the basic progamming), I was able to simultaneously compare the same live programming for captioning differences. I found that the captioning was perfect on the Comcast's tv show, whereas the same show on Directivo was showing less accurate captioning. I also swapped tv's between the comcast and directivo connections and the directivo still showed the same captioning problems even though both tvs have the CC decoder in them. So, it was clear to me that the directivo was doing something to the caption stream. After writing a letter to the FCC and DirecTV about these problems, DirecTV acknowledged the problem and worked to resolve it. Despite significant improvements in captioning quality, they've never gotten it to where it's as good as the Comcast captioning. Nevertheless, most of the programming I watch does not have signficant captioning issues, so I don't have much to complain about, but I feel for my deaf compadres who do watch such affected programming.

Unrelated note: One thing I do miss is the ability to watch programs at 2x speed with intact captioning. That worked wonderfully when I used an SA Tivo with Dish Network. But, CC gets garbled quickly when I try the same thing on the Directivos.

-navyman