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Closed Captions freezing and then disappearing
Howdy all-- I am at wits end with my problem. I sent the following to ATT Closed Captioning e-mail and got an autobot reply to use the online tech service. I did so, and they walked me through a "disaster recovery" reset (not using the reset button, but dowloading and flashing the operating system software for the box) with them finally referring me to ATT ICU (what the heck is ICU, Intensive Care Unit?) Any Ideas from forum people appreciated greatly.
Hello: I am profoundly deaf and must use closed captioning on my televisions. I have had and currently have a serious and annoying problem with one of the set top boxes (Motorola HD DVR). The closed captioning begins and runs for any where from 1-10 minutes, then freezes (sometimes in mid-sentence) and does not pick up again. The Philips HD TV is connected to the set-top box by means of a HDMI cable. The only way to regain the closed captions are to either switch channels and then switch back to the channel I was watching; or do a quick (7-second) backspace of the program, then captions will be there for the part that was not captioned. It will then run captions for a while, then freeze again. I can record a few minutes of a program and then replay it. However, the recorded closed captions will eventually freeze and disappear even in recorded programs. As I said, I know the captions are being sent by the programmers and by the U-verse system because they are being recorded. I also checked some local channels using my antenna when the U-Verse captions disappear and they are being sent and read by the over-the-air television HDTV tuner.
The following have not solved the problem -- - turning on both digital (high definition) and analog (standard definition). - turning captioning to digital off and analog on and vice versa. - re-setting the set-top box. - restarting the set-top top box by disconnecting and reconnecting power. - resenting/restarting U-verse 3800HGV-8 modem. - calling ATT help line and re-performing the above steps several times. - having a service call by ATT U-verse technician, xxxxxx xxxx who again performed the above steps.
He then did the following -- - determined that there could be a low signal problem with the Time Warner Cable installation which was used when the system was installed over a year ago. - replaced the RG television cable connected the set top box that was having problems with a direct connection to the modem by means of an Ethernet CAT-5 cable ($55 service installation charge) and replaced the second set top box (Motorola) (which was not having problems) with a Cisco, wireless set top box (which works well) with the Cisco transmitter connected directly to the modem. - returned the next day, when notified that all his work on the system was for naught, and personally saw the problems for himself. He then obtained a new work order from his supervisor and replaced the Motorola HD DVR. We then watched and waited until the same freezing and drop out again. We check the over-the-air signal and found that the captions were being transmitted by the station and could be seen on the U-verse system if the program was re-wound 7-seconds. We both then agreed there was nothing more he could do to solve the problem and that he would report it to ATT. I said I would also report it, which I am doing in this e-mail.
I really know little about how the system works, but offer the follow information and suggestions -- - the problem appears to only occur on the one set top box (Motorola VIP1225/297; (Current Serial No. Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, bootstrap ROM 1.1027, TV2 Client Version 2.1.2295.10), not on the second SDTV installation using the Cisco box. - because the captioning signal is present on the U-Verse feed, the problem appears to be in the hardware software/firmware in the set top box that uses the signal and is probably present in all boxes of the same Motorola model available to ATT service in this area. With my very limited knowledge of digital electronics, hardware, software/firmware, programming, etc., I suggest it could be a glitch not allowing the used captioning to be dumped and thus loads up the buffer until it can store no more captioning data. I am very anxious to have this problem solved ASAP.
Please forward this e-mail to the appropriated department for resolution.
Thank you very much, in advance, for your prompt attention to this problem.
-PHOnos
Edited for easier reading
spd2demun
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242 Messages
13 years ago
It's probably not in the Job Description.
Something else I noticed today when playing a Network recording, the CC is on at first, but disappears after about 5 min. into the show. That happens even before a commercial comes on. Some of the Twilight Zone Marathon shows I recorded (SyFy Channel) had no problem keeping the CC on live or recorded.
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Uniblurb3
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69 Messages
13 years ago
Actually there are some very good/helpful AT&T engineers working for/with U-verse. When there were CC problems (garbled/unreadable text) with the MTV Networks (Viacom) I worked with some of these engineers and had a chance to see them working behind the scenes. Sam, an ex-engineer and member of David's team along with Social Media, always kept me abreast of their progress. The engineering staff did an excellent job in fixing these problems.
But unfortunately the engineers can only work on problems/fixes where the management staff sets the priorities. Who knows how important it is to management to fix the problems with the closed captions freezing/shutting off along with finding an easier CC access? It currently doesn't seem very high on their list of priorities.
BTW PHOnos, you may be interested this CC freezing/disappearing problem was brought up in the CC access thread. You're the "someone" from Irving, CA, in the below post.
http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/Closed-Caption-Access-Formal-Complaint/m-p/3016185#M21399
Spd, your recordings sound just like what I'm seeing where the CC's disappear on the local networks after about 3-5 minutes when watching them live. Believe shows like the Twilight Zone have a private company install the CC's where there may not be any problems. Same is true for most movies on the U-verse HD channels where the CC's are installed ahead of time. And as I mentioned before shows like "30 Rock" use a very good private CC company where I didn't see any of these CC freezing/shutting off problems.
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spd2demun
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242 Messages
13 years ago
TZs were all done by the DOE.
I was thinking it was more of a live thing, too, but when I watched House the other night (re-runs), it was happening there as well. I didn't catch who the company was.
As noted before, I don't watch that much non-Premium TV; and it's probably why I didn't notice this new issue until it was brought up.
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PHOnos
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47 Messages
13 years ago
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spd2demun
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242 Messages
13 years ago
I was watching each of the 4 (incl. Fox) big networks
yesterdayearlier today, and the CC was on and stayed on! It even came back after commercials and didn't drop off. Even some of the commercials had CCs!Maybe this means they're working on it, or it was a fluke.
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PHOnos
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47 Messages
13 years ago
I thought your were right for about an hour this morning. Watching GMA on KABC - 7HD (1007). But then I tried recording it and the live captioning failed in about a minute. Tried watching the recording and captioning failed in about 5-minutes (the captioning had been there when I was watching the live (on-tape on the West coast) broadcast. After the failure I stopped the recording and went back to live-on-tape of Kelly and the captioning would not stay up.
No joy in The O.C., fluke here.
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spd2demun
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242 Messages
13 years ago
This morning, it was just like before, but seemed to stay on a bit longer. I give up on trying to figure this one out.
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PHOnos
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47 Messages
13 years ago
Well, the wireless Cisco 7500 can keep the captioning up, but . . . it has a bad habit of suddenly going black screen (twice today) and then reboots (or at least trys to) itself. Sometime it can, sometimes it cannot and we get the message that we do not have U-verse TV and to call ATT service. That has already been tried and all they can do is replace the STB with one that acts the same way. We can do a manual reset and get the video back but then there is no audio (According to the last tech this is a problem with no resolution for Sharp and Philips HDTV's). Audio can be restored by power cycling the STB. Others have reported the same black screen failure
So, at this point, after 4 service calls with 3 different techs over the last 5 or 6 weeks and no resolution we have decided that, in our opinion, ATT has released onto the public a system that should have remained experimental until it was fully developed. We will be arraging for some TV service (and probably internet DSL access) other than ATT U-verse next week.
"There is never enough time to do something right the first time, but there is always enough time to do it over."
See ya'
edit: summarize issues
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Uniblurb3
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69 Messages
13 years ago
Well, leaving U-verse service doesn't seem like much of a solution but understand your frustration and good luck.
Since I'm still seeing the CC's freezing, but mostly shutting off altogether, I'll consider this issue/problem unresolved from my viewpoint.
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spd2demun
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242 Messages
13 years ago
(sad smiley)
(edited)
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PHOnos
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13 years ago
OK, Time Warner Sucks (TWS) so still here.
Questions -- If I disconnect HDMI cable and use component cables will I still get 1080i and/or 720p video output from the STB? If I do, can I use audio cables, turn off all STB captioning and turn on the HDTV captioning? Could this be the solution to the captioning being dropped by the DVR (it works on the SDTV using AV cables), and a fast way to access captioning? What d' ya' all think?
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Uniblurb3
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69 Messages
13 years ago
Believe we discussed this same connection your are suggesting in this post. You may want to read the post by SomeJoe over at UU which was included as a link in my post.
While component cables will carry the HD signal, just like HDMI, neither will allow CC pass-through when a STB/DVR is turned off. You can pass through the signal to a SDTV on most programming, with the box off, in using composite cables (red/white audio, yellow-video). Believe you already discovered this but you can't do this on a HDTV with component or HDMI video connections. Sorry.
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aviewer
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13 years ago
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PHOnos
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13 years ago
It sure ain't the HD I'm paying for!
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Uniblurb3
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13 years ago
May want to read the below thread as an update to this same problem with the CC's stopping/disappearing.
http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/Disappearing-Captioning/m-p/3057665#M21886
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