# One button close caption toggle



## mlippert (Apr 3, 2010)

The new remotes have new A - D buttons.

It would be great if say the A button could be set to toggle closed captioning while watching a show.

Currently toggling closed captioning requires multiple button pushes, and it requires bringing up the info page on top of what you are watching, obscuring the show. In addition the closed caption toggle is at a different location on the info page depending on if you are watching live TV, a show being recorded or a previously recorded show.

Turning on closed captioning is awesome when no matter how many times you rewind you still can't figure out some piece of dialog. However the captions do obscure part of the screen so you don't necessarily want to leave captions on for the whole show.

Mike


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## stevewjackson (Nov 2, 2007)

mlippert said:


> The new remotes have new A - D buttons.
> 
> It would be great if say the A button could be set to toggle closed captioning while watching a show.
> 
> ...


Then there are those of us, like myself, who MUST leave captions on for the entire program and have to put up with the fact that some portion of the screen will be obscured by them -- as the price of being able to get the dialog at all. In short, if you have hearing and don't *need* those captions, be grateful for what you have.


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## mlippert (Apr 3, 2010)

stevewjackson said:


> Then there are those of us, like myself, who MUST leave captions on for the entire program and have to put up with the fact that some portion of the screen will be obscured by them -- as the price of being able to get the dialog at all. In short, if you have hearing and don't *need* those captions, be grateful for what you have.


I'm confused by your response. Do you feel that I am somehow attacking those who are hearing impaired and require the closed captioning? I assure you that is not the case.

I would think that improving the closed captioning support on the TiVo would be even more important to you.

The functionality I'm suggesting could be helpful in the opposite way that I described using it. There are scenes where the caption obscures important features, in those cases you could go back easily turn off the captioning to see the scene un-obscured and then turn the captioning back on.

I've also thought that an option to have a transparent text background instead of a solid background could be an improvement.

Mike


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## stevewjackson (Nov 2, 2007)

mlippert said:


> I'm confused by your response. Do you feel that I am somehow attacking those who are hearing impaired and require the closed captioning? I assure you that is not the case.
> 
> I would think that improving the closed captioning support on the TiVo would be even more important to you.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I was not suggesting you were attacking those needing captions. I just occasionally vent. And I frequently tell people when discussing my own hearing situation to protect what they have -- you don't know how valuable something is until you no longer have it!

I don't necessarily disagree with your suggestion. I can't recall the last time that I turned off my captions for any reason (I hear with assistance but still rely on them), but it could be easier to turn them on/off.

I haven't done it in quite some time, but I seem to recall that digital captions differ from the older analog types in that there was a capability to change the font, size, color and background settings. I briefly tried transparent backgrounds but found that it actually got much harder to read the captions -- at least for me.


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## wgc (Oct 16, 2009)

Even better would be a configuration to automatically enable closed captioning on mute.


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## mlippert (Apr 3, 2010)

wgc said:


> Even better would be a configuration to automatically enable closed captioning on mute.


That might be a nice addition, but it wouldn't be better as far as I'm concerned. I'm using the cc to be able to understand what I missed, I still want the sound. Also the mute command from the remote isn't directed at the TiVo, it's directed at either the TV or the receiver.

I also think that a transparent background for the captions particularly if the captions were rendered w/ a black outline and white fill would be easy to read and yet obscure less of the picture than the current solid caption background.

I've seen this for subtitles watching video on Windows w/ Media Player Classic. It works quite well.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Your one-button CC toggle...










...if you're willing to use your computer as your remote.


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## EvilMidniteBombr (May 25, 2006)

I find myself toggling CC when dialog is muffled or accents make it hard to understand what is being said. Some of us still use the pre-Premiere models and don't have the red, blue, green & yellow buttons. Maybe a long press on the mute button work? A long press would toggle the CC but not mute the audio.


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## RusRus (Apr 8, 2013)

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> I find myself toggling CC when dialog is muffled or accents make it hard to understand what is being said. Some of us still use the pre-Premiere models and don't have the red, blue, green & yellow buttons. Maybe a long press on the mute button work? A long press would toggle the CC but not mute the audio.


I have a tivo hd dvr but I did buy a newer remote with the four colored buttons. Can these be used to toggle the cc on and off?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The new units have those 4 color buttons on the remote. I don't think they are even used when watching a program. They could easily make one of them toggle CC on/off. (maybe they do, has anyone tried?)


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## davidblackledge (Sep 9, 2008)

EvilMidniteBombr said:


> I find myself toggling CC when dialog is muffled or accents make it hard to understand what is being said. Some of us still use the pre-Premiere models and don't have the red, blue, green & yellow buttons. Maybe a long press on the mute button work? A long press would toggle the CC but not mute the audio.


Great solution. I was concerned about how the remote also sends a "mute" to the TV when you do that, but with the long-press distinction, you can always get it back how you want with an additional quick press of "mute"


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Dan203 said:


> The new units have those 4 color buttons on the remote. I don't think they are even used when watching a program. They could easily make one of them toggle CC on/off. (maybe they do, has anyone tried?)


I tried, and unsurprisingly none of them seem to have any effect while watching a program. Certainly they didn't toggle CC on/off.

(And I actually tried both ways -- originally pressing them with CC off; then thought to try pressing them again later after I'd turned CC on to understand some Doctor Who dialog)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I tried it too after posting this and came to the same conclusion. They should use one of those buttons though, since they don't seem to do anything else when watching a program.


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