# Amazon Video -- closed caption turned on by default



## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

I just recently re-subscribed to Amazon Prime after being away for a few months and now find that every time I play something in the app on my Roamio, closed captions are turned on by default. I have to manually turn them off using the app's playback controls.

There's no default setting for CC (other than for the font/color, but not whether they're automatically displayed) either in this specific app or in my global account settings at Amazon.com.

I just contacted Amazon chat support and they confirmed that Amazon intentionally has CC turned on by default for all users on all devices. "That's nuts!" I responded. Does Amazon assume all their customers are deaf?

Is anyone else seeing this or know of a way to disable this so that I don't have to manually turn off CC at the start of every show I watch?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

NashGuy: I just check on my Bolt went into Amazon & just started a random TV show I had never watched before. Closed Caption was not on by default. I don't remember ever doing anything to turn it off globally but if I did I don't see what it was.

Edit: Decided to see if anything was different on my base Roamio, again closed captions was not on by default. Only thing different with the Amazon app on my Bolt as compared to the Amazon app on my base Roamio is that it is slower at loading and navigating on the Roamio.


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## Paul Coco (Jan 21, 2003)

This also drove me crazy for a long time. Try this - when you select a show and get to the description page, before you select "Watch Now," look at the top of the page and you will see several other selections, the last of which is captions. From there you can turn them on and off and, as counter-intuitive as it seems, this is a global setting which will turn off all future shows as well.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Paul Coco said:


> This also drove me crazy for a long time. Try this - when you select a show and get to the description page, before you select "Watch Now," look at the top of the page and you will see several other selections, the last of which is captions. From there you can turn them on and off and, as counter-intuitive as it seems, this is a global setting which will turn off all future shows as well.


Just an additional note I only saw this option on movies, did not find the option for TV shows.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

Thank you, gentlemen! Paul's solution worked! I brought up a movie's info page and turned off captions from there, then started an episode of a series and -- hooray! -- no CC. As atmuscarella noted, though, that captions setting doesn't exist on the info pages of series, only movies. 

Just another example of the crackerjack job that Amazon's software design team has done. (And as for Amazon support, this isn't the first time I've gotten incorrect or worthless responses from them. Good thing we've got fellow customers who can help us out online, huh?)


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

atmuscarella said:


> Just an additional note I only saw this option on movies, did not find the option for TV shows.





NashGuy said:


> Thank you, gentlemen! Paul's solution worked! I brought up a movie's info page and turned off captions from there, then started an episode of a series and -- hooray! -- no CC. As atmuscarella noted, though, that captions setting doesn't exist on the info pages of series, only movies.
> 
> Just another example of the crackerjack job that Amazon's software design team has done. (And as for Amazon support, this isn't the first time I've gotten incorrect or worthless responses from them. Good thing we've got fellow customers who can help us out online, huh?)


Series have this page too, it's just a little harder to find. If you go to the page that shows the episodes and move the cursor over the episode title instead of "Watch Now", hitting Select will bring up the page with the "Captions" selection on the second line from the top.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

ej42137 said:


> Series have this page too, it's just a little harder to find. If you go to the page that shows the episodes and move the cursor over the episode title instead of "Watch Now", hitting Select will bring up the page with the "Captions" selection on the second line from the top.


You really have to wonder if whoever designed the UI for this app had ANY experience or training in that area. The newer version of the Amazon Video app that's on many devices looks much better though.


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## Phil Broughton (Sep 25, 2004)

NashGuy said:


> I just recently re-subscribed to Amazon Prime after being away for a few months and now find that every time I play something in the app on my Roamio, closed captions are turned on by default. I have to manually turn them off using the app's playback controls.


Ditto. Thanks, I thought it was just me..... and this started a quite few months ago; was not always this way, as I had no problem with Bosch, Season 1, which I watched well after it aired originally.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

I really wish there were universal CC buttons on remotes.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

jth tv said:


> I really wish there were universal CC buttons on remotes.


I'd be thrilled if we had a CC toggle button on our TiVos. A/B/C/D aren't all used.


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## bittmann (Apr 19, 2005)

Paul Coco said:


> This also drove me crazy for a long time. Try this - when you select a show and get to the description page, before you select "Watch Now," look at the top of the page and you will see several other selections, the last of which is captions. From there you can turn them on and off and, as counter-intuitive as it seems, this is a global setting which will turn off all future shows as well.


Another say of "thanks" for this hint. You just saved me a lot of ongoing grief. :up:


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

astrohip said:


> I'd be thrilled if we had a CC toggle button on our TiVos. A/B/C/D aren't all used.


I've programed CC on and CC off buttons on my Harmony remote and they are very handy. Unfortunately the Amazon, Netflix and Hulu apps don't respond to them.


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

ej42137 said:


> I've programed CC on and CC off buttons on my Harmony remote and they are very handy. Unfortunately the Amazon, Netflix and Hulu apps don't respond to them.


Please share the Harmony programming secret for this. Is it a macro or is there an old code in the Harmony menu for this?

One push on/off CC button on all remotes for devices displaying content should be standard considering some estimates say a little over 10% of the population is hearing impaired.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

Right. We need a CC standard.

I just watched a 1947 movie, no problem hearing at all. It is something about the content these days that makes hearing what they are saying a problem. Too much slang and fashionable jibberish.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

thefisch said:


> Please share the Harmony programming secret for this. Is it a macro or is there an old code in the Harmony menu for this?
> 
> One push on/off CC button on all remotes for devices displaying content should be standard considering some estimates say a little over 10% of the population is hearing impaired.


It was quite easy.

I learned how TiVo remote IR codes worked from here and here.
Then I collected TiVo commands from various sources, including TCF discussions. (The CC on and CC off commands were among those I found.)
I deduced how TiVo remote addressing worked from looking at commands with different IR addresses.
I used a program called "Unified Remote" to download those codes to a Samsung S4 I bought on eBay that had IR capability.
I used the S4 to teach the commands to my Harmony remote, and easy peasey, Bob's your uncle!
If I had this to do over again, I'd look into using a Rasberry Pi for the intermediate IR device.


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