[orinaccio]

I have been noticing the same caption problems. These issues were prevalent in earlier versions of the Tivo operating system and were, for the most part, resolved by an update that took place about a year or so ago.

Recently, however, the captioning problems have returned with a vengeance, with several shows now unwatchable.

Arrested Development mangles their captions so badly I can barely watch it. Desperate Housewives frequently skips lines and/or words.

Naturally this is quite distressing for someone that relies on captions solely to understand the shows they are watching - I am compiling a list and will be sending it to DirecTV. If anyone knows of an address I should be directing my letter to, please let me know, otherwise, I will attempt to go through normal channels.

 

[orinaccio]

Ill call DirectTV today about this and see where it takes me.

I sent a letter to Jennifer Simpson a year or so ago the last time this problem arose, and will likely do so again now that its returned.

Watched Lost last night, and noticed letters and words would go missing frequently, especially at the beginning and end of captioned dialogue lines.

Can anyone confirm whether the problem is prevalent only when watching time-shifted programs or if it also occurs when watching it "live" on the DirecTV/Tivo box?

 

[orinaccio]

An update:

I called directv and got directed to their tech support unit that apparently focuses on tivo tech problems/issues. They deny that the captioning issues are related to their tivo box, and claimed first that 1) the captions does not even go through their tivo unit, and that the captioning occurs on the television end, which is incredible considering the television signal is passes through the unit itself. Further the signal, to my understanding, is converted for hard drive storage, before its output to the TV; 2) that the issues were being caused by the programming provider/distributor and its not occuring on either their tivo unit or on their end.

I pointed out that their records should show prior problems of this very nature occuring in the past and that the issues are incredibly similar (although not as bad as it was).

Finally they suggested I email their general tech support email address from the website and theyd be able to 'follow up' with the programmer (e.g. Fox, ABC, etc) to find out if the programmers are the source of the problems.

I was surprsed by their kneejerk response of denial that almost seems scripted - It strikes me that DirectTV and other distributors have an incentive to deny problems occurring with their equipment because 1) there is really no regulatory oversight (FCC regulations are set up so that the distributors "police themselves"), and 2) there is no reporting requirement whatsoever. Why expose yourself to claims of governmental noncompliance if you don't have to?

 

[orinaccio]

For people that still check this thread, you might find my post on the HD DirecTV/Tivo unit forum of interest:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=295495