[RedSox604]

Hi All - I purchased HD Package and the HR20 from DirectTV and was just installed last weekend. I am using it with a Hitachi rear projection CRT TV. Forgive me if I don’t have all the correct lingo – this is my first attempt at HD TV and I really didn’t think it would be this difficult since DTV was going to come out and install everything. If anyone has any workarounds that could be accomplished by a technical novice, I would appreciate it.

My only real issue with the HR20 is the closed captioning. I have a hearing impaired person in the house, so it’s a huge problem. I called and was shuffled around by DTV tech support, where the support reps didn’t even have an HR20 so that they could walk me through some things.

(1) The HR20 overrides the closed captioning function of the TV set, which had worked fine with my previous receiver (the R10 with Tivo). In general, the HR20 captions are too fast, missing words/sentences and occasionally garbled. Has anyone been able to use the closed caption function through the television instead of the receiver?

(2) Three out of four of my local market HD Channels (Boston, channels 5, 7 & 25) do not include closed captions at all on the HD channel but the standard definition channel does have captions. Direct TV told me that this is because the broadcasters do not transmit captions with their HD programming. Does anyone successfully receive closed caption on any of these channels?

(3) The tech on the phone at DTV also suggested maybe my problems stem from the fact that I am using component cables instead of HDMI. Anyone know if that would make a bit of difference?

(4) I keep asking DTV if there is an older model of their HD receiver that may not have this issue with the captions. They tell me there are none. Does anyone have any experience with the previous version that had Tivo? Should I try to track one of these boxes down on ebay and install that to resolve my problems?

Thanks very much!

 

[mikeny]

Hi All - I purchased HD Package and the HR20 from DirectTV and was just installed last weekend. I am using it with a Hitachi rear projection CRT TV. Forgive me if I don't have all the correct lingo - this is my first attempt at HD TV and I really didn't think it would be this difficult since DTV was going to come out and install everything. If anyone has any workarounds that could be accomplished by a technical novice, I would appreciate it.

My only real issue with the HR20 is the closed captioning. I have a hearing impaired person in the house, so it's a huge problem. I called and was shuffled around by DTV tech support, where the support reps didn't even have an HR20 so that they could walk me through some things.

(1) The HR20 overrides the closed captioning function of the TV set, which had worked fine with my previous receiver (the R10 with Tivo). In general, the HR20 captions are too fast, missing words/sentences and occasionally garbled. Has anyone been able to use the closed caption function through the television instead of the receiver?

(2) Three out of four of my local market HD Channels (Boston, channels 5, 7 & 25) do not include closed captions at all on the HD channel but the standard definition channel does have captions. Direct TV told me that this is because the broadcasters do not transmit captions with their HD programming. Does anyone successfully receive closed caption on any of these channels?

(3) The tech on the phone at DTV also suggested maybe my problems stem from the fact that I am using component cables instead of HDMI. Anyone know if that would make a bit of difference?

(4) I keep asking DTV if there is an older model of their HD receiver that may not have this issue with the captions. They tell me there are none. Does anyone have any experience with the previous version that had Tivo? Should I try to track one of these boxes down on ebay and install that to resolve my problems?

Thanks very much!

1. no
2. I get CC on 3 of the 4 big networks in mpeg-4 HD and 4 of the 4 in D*mpeg-2 HD Why should there be a discrepency if the source is the same NY station?

D* reps are basically making stuff up because they are not knowledgable with regards to these issues. Your local digital networks are most likely CC. One way to find out is to sample the OTA feed, if possible.

3. I don't think HDMI has much to do with it. It's the box.

4. The DirecTV HD DVR (HR10-250/DirecTiVo) is better at CC but you won't get your mpeg-4 HD.

I have found with the latest update my CBS mpeg-4 HD CC is still garble city. I checked out TNT HD last night and the CC was shooting up the screen super fast and in a totally unreadable way. It was laughable, and sad.

I would be patient with the box. There isn't much of a choice.

 

[jd001982]

My only real issue with the HR20 is the closed captioning. I have a hearing impaired person in the house, so it's a huge problem. I called and was shuffled around by DTV tech support, where the support reps didn't even have an HR20 so that they could walk me through some things.

CC on HR20 works for most channels. My only problems is when watching sitcoms and soaps, the CC text get garbled, but all other types of programs work fine, even live news & sporting events.

The scrolling speed is a big problem, and I doubt anyone at DTV is looking at this due to other bigger problems (e.g. recording), so try to turn on your TV's CC feature in the mean time.

 

[Capmeister]

CC on HR20 works for most channels. My only problems is when watching sitcoms and soaps, the CC text get garbled, but all other types of programs work fine, even live news & sporting events.

The scrolling speed is a big problem, and I doubt anyone at DTV is looking at this due to other bigger problems (e.g. recording), so try to turn on your TV's CC feature in the mean time.

I have complained about this. They are looking at it, but taking it in stages. Garbling problems first, then perhaps speed, and then placement. Granted, it shouldn't have left their workbench like this, but...

RedSox, one thing you can do is use the RCA (yellow, white, red) jacks into a different input, and watch all your SD channels on that. It will pass normal closed captioning to the TV. Just turn off CC on the HR20 and do that for SD tv. It won't help for HD channels, sorry to say.

By the way, my HR10-250's closed captioning works well, and the HD over-the-air broadcasts are closed captioned well, except for FOX which has a problem with the captioning being out of synch. Fox is blaming this on DirecTV's HR10-250, which I find suspect, but I guess we'll see.

I also have a deaf person in my house, so this is an important issue to me.

 

[Marwood]

I have noticed no difference in the captioning through the receiver and the captioning on the tv. If I watch a program through my distribution system, I either turn off the cc on the receiver or the tv. The few times I forgot to before I went upstairs I compared the captioning (both tv and receiver captioning were on screen) they are identical. The only thing that really bugs me is I have my background box set to transparent and it only works part of the time.

 

[IneedCCs]

...(2) Three out of four of my local market HD Channels (Boston, channels 5, 7 & 25) do not include closed captions at all on the HD channel but the standard definition channel does have captions. Direct TV told me that this is because the broadcasters do not transmit captions with their HD programming. Does anyone successfully receive closed caption on any of these channels?

(3) The tech on the phone at DTV also suggested maybe my problems stem from the fact that I am using component cables instead of HDMI. Anyone know if that would make a bit of difference?

(4) I keep asking DTV if there is an older model of their HD receiver that may not have this issue with the captions. They tell me there are none. Does anyone have any experience with the previous version that had Tivo? Should I try to track one of these boxes down on ebay and install that to resolve my problems?

Thanks very much!

I'm sure your locals carry captions with their HD programming. If you're not getting CCs, it's a DTV problem.

I doubt that HDMI versus component cables is gonna make a difference.

I have an HR10 and am having all kinds of captioning problems. If you come away with anything from this post, it is this: Don't buy an HR10, it isn't gonna solve your problem. If and when DTV decides to take corrective action your (and my) problems will be solved.