What Is Closed Caption On TV

Turn On Closed Captions On Your Windows 10 Computer

To turn on closed captioning:

How To Turn On Closed Captions And Sdh In The Apple TV App

In general, when you watch movies or shows through the Apple TV App, you will be shown subtitles by default. However, if you would like to enable Closed Captions or SDH so that they are also will be used by default, you need to look at the instructions below:

On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

• Go to Settings > Accessibility
• Scroll down to Hearing and tap Subtitles & Captioning
• Enable Closed Captions + SDH

• Enable it by ticking the box beside Prefer closed captions and SDH

On your smart TV, streaming device, or gaming console:

• Go to the Apple TV app and choose Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles & Captioning
• Enable Closed Captions and SDH

Once youve set up your subtitles, closed captions, or SDH, you can now customize everything and watch your favorite movies comfortably. To do this, tap on the speech bubble icon on the lower right of your screen at any time. A popup menu will appear showing Audio & Subtitles options.

What is more, you can even find subtitles in various languages. If you can see CC or SDH is indicated on the right side of the language it means that the accessibility feature is available in that language. You can also turn closed captioning off through here by choosing Off.

Should Every Video Have Subtitles And Closed Captions

Whether you choose to use subtitles or closed captions depends on the audience you have in mind for your video projects. However, both are becoming increasingly important as the internet connects your footage to the entire world.

Its not only a question of languages, but also the importance of web accessibility and ensuring nobody is excluded from your brand. Its the digital equivalent of having wheelchair access to your business property, and theres a case to argue every video should come with subtitles and closed captions, rather than choosing between the two.

Whatever you decide is best for your project, our expert team here at Matinée Multilingual will be ready to assist you with all your subtitling and closed captioning needs.

You May Like: How To Hook Up Internet To TV

Why Is Closed Captioning Important

Closed captioning increases the videos potential audience. It allows content owners to reach viewers that might be hard of hearing or deaf, for example, but also just those who might struggle hearing the content and would choose to watch something with captions over something without. The audience size for this is projected to be pretty sizable as well. In fact, 15% of American adults, a population size of 37.5 million, report some trouble hearing.

There is also just the nature of online viewing, which, as previously discussed, sees a lot of video content watched while muted. In this scenario, captions are a way to connect better with an audience that is electing to watch video without any audio.

Depending on your use case, though, there might also be legal motivations as well. A famous example is the federal lawsuit filed by the advocates for the deaf against M.I.T. and Harvard. Filed in February of 2015, the lawsuit was for the violation of anti-discrimination laws. The lawsuit is directed toward the libraries of online content, from lectures to courses, that did not offer closed captions.

Now legislation, called the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, has been in place around closed captions since January of 2012. However, it has been worded in a way that relates only to televised content, stating:

programs shown on television with captioning will be required to include the captioning when they are re-shown on the Internet.

Legislative Development In Australia

The government of Australia provided seed funding in 1981 for the establishment of the Australian Caption Centre and the purchase of equipment. Captioning by the ACC commenced in 1982 and a further grant from the Australian government enabled the ACC to achieve and maintain financial self-sufficiency. The ACC, now known as Media Access Australia, sold its commercial captioning division to Red Bee Media in December 2005. Red Bee Media continues to provide captioning services in Australia today.

Also Check: How To Use iPhone As Apple TV Remote

Edited And Verbatim Captions

Captions can be produced as either edited or verbatim captions. Edited captions summarize ideas and shorten phrases. Verbatim captions include all of what is said. Although there are situations in which edited captions are preferred for ease in reading , most people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing prefer the full access provided by verbatim texts.

Closed Captions And Subtitles In Action

The most common use for subtitles would be a form of translating video footage for audiences of another language. The original audio is preserved, but viewers can understand the dialogue and still hear the soundtrack as it was intended.

You can probably guess by now that captioning is typically used for hearing impaired audiences, or situations where audio cant be played. In this case viewers need more description to help distinguish between different people talking, emotional changes in their voices or non-vocal audio, thats relevant to the story, for example.

Read Also: How To Get Network TV Without Cable

What About Live Broadcasts

Now, you may be wondering about live television and broadcasts. Obviously, a live event does not have pre-made captions that can be transmitted. This is where things get interesting. You might be surprised to learn that a live broadcast is actually captioned live, in real-time, by an actual person. Using a special kind of typewriter called a Real-Time Captioning Console , a person will listen to the live broadcast and caption it on-the-fly. If you think it takes incredible speed and accuracy, you’re absolutely right! A captioning stenographer needs to type 225 words-per-minute to be certified.

While automated speech-to-text continues to improve, it is still too slow and inaccurate for live captioning.

Why Are Captions Closed

Closed captions are a text version of the spoken part of a television, movie, or computer presentation. Closed captioning was developed to aid hearing-impaired people, but it’s useful for a variety of situations. … Open captions, in contrast, are an integral part of a transmission that cannot be turned off by the viewer.

You May Like: How Does Apple TV Work With Spectrum

Is Closed Captioning The Same As Subtitles

You can turn on closed captioning on Samsung TV if you wish to. To do this, go to the home screen and choose Settings. Select Accessibility > Caption Settings. Once the caption settings are set, choose Turn on Closed Captioning. Once it is on, close the captions menu and select your preferred subtitles. Closed captioning will now be displayed in the video.

Getting started with closed captions on your Samsung Smart TV is easy. You can customize the captions by setting the language and font to your liking. By default, captions are displayed in English. However, you can change the font, size, and color if you wish. Samsung TVs are also compatible with separate closed captions, which allow you to control the subtitles separately. Closed captioning is not a substitute for subtitles, but can be just as useful in some circumstances.

If you want to watch videos without subtitles, you can turn off the SAP feature on your TV. The CC settings are available under the settings section. Select the subtitle language and then press OK. Once this is done, you can watch subtitle-free videos. To enable the subtitle option on your TV, you must turn off the SAP feature. The settings screen will indicate which languages are supported.

The Difference Between Closed Captions And Subtitles

Although closed captions and subtitles look similar, theyre designed for two different purposes. Subtitles provide a text alternative for the dialogue of video footage the spoken words of characters, narrators and other vocal participants.

Closed captions, on the other hand, not only supplement for dialogue but other relevant parts of the soundtrack describing background noises, phones ringing and other audio cues that need describing.

Essentially, subtitles assume an audience can hear the audio, but need the dialogue provided in text form as well. Meanwhile, closed captioning assumes an audience cannot hear the audio and needs a text description of what they would otherwise be hearing.

Also Check: What Is Best Streaming TV Service

Subtitles For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing

Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing or SDH are subtitles in the language being spoken that do include non-speech elements, like audio sound effects & speaker identification. Displayed in the same format as typical video subtitles, SDH are intended to provide an accommodation for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers on devices where closed captions are not supported.

What Is Closed Captioning

You’ve probably heard of closed captioning at some point, or seen the familiar “CC” icon on TV and web broadcasts. But what exactly is closed captioning? You might think of it as simply subtitles, but it’s actually more than that. In this article, we will explore the details of what closed captioning actually is, how it works, and how it differs from subtitles.

In the United States and Canada, closed captioning is a method of presenting sound information to a viewer who is deaf or hard-of-hearing. This is the main difference between captioning and subtitles. Captioning conveys sound information, while subtitles assist with clarity of the language being spoken.

For example, in addition to the spoken dialog, captions will also include other sounds, such as birds singing, dog barking, and other ambient sounds, as well as sound events like a door being shut, glass breaking, etc. These indicators help the deaf or hard-of-hearing person to understand the full context of the scene.

Recommended Reading: Is Disney+ On Apple TV

What Is Live Caption Samsung

Live Captioning is a new feature available on Samsungs Galaxy S lineup. It enables users to view videos in a foreign language. The feature works on Samsung Galaxy S10, S20, and Note series phones. If youre not sure whether your device supports this feature, check with your devices manufacturer.

Live Caption is a useful feature for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. It works without a data or Wi-Fi connection. To activate Live Caption, you can go to your devices settings and toggle the feature on or off. It also allows you to hide sound labels, so you can only see the text captions.

Samsung phones automatically detect speech in videos and media and provide subtitles. You can turn off Live Caption by tapping the volume slider or moving the black caption bar to another part of the screen. The Live Caption switch is located in the quick settings panel.

Funding Development In New Zealand

In 1981, TVNZ held a telethon to raise funds for Teletext-encoding equipment used for the creation and editing of text-based broadcast services for the deaf. The service came into use in 1984 with caption creation and importing paid for as part of the public broadcasting fee until the creation of the NZ on Air taxpayer fund, which is used to provide captioning for NZ On Air content, TVNZ news shows and conversion of EIA-608 US captions to the preferred EBU STL format for only TVNZ 1, TV 2 and TV 3 with archived captions available to FOUR and select Sky programming. During the second half of 2012, TV3 and FOUR began providing non-Teletext DVB image-based captions on their HD service and used the same format on the satellite service, which has since caused major timing issues in relation to server load and the loss of captions from most SD DVB-S receivers, such as the ones Sky Television provides their customers. As of April 2, 2013, only the Teletext page 801 caption service will remain in use with the informational Teletext non-caption content being discontinued.

Recommended Reading: Can I Add Channels To Sling TV

How Do I Close A Caption

How to Turn Off Closed Captioning On Samsung TV? Closed captions can be a huge help to those who cant hear. To disable it, follow the instructions in your televisions troubleshooting guide. If you cant find this in your TVs troubleshooting guide, you can try searching for closed captions by typing in samsung tv or CC.

Samsung TVs dont use a remote control to control closed captioning. Instead, they use a physical Menu button on the back, side, or bottom of the television. To access this menu, press and hold the volume buttons together. You will then be presented with the Closed Captioning menu. Once there, you can turn it on or off. Then, you can choose a subtitle format that you prefer.

You can also turn off subtitles by using your television remote. First, you need to open the menu system. Click the Accessibility tab. From there, select the Closed Captioning option. Click the green or grey dot to turn off subtitles. You can also click the Menu button on your TVs remote to turn off subtitles. After youve turned off subtitles, you can switch back to closed captions.

In The Accessibility Settings

Good to know

If you enable closed captioning, you can change the display in the Closed Captioning Options.

In the Closed Captioning Style field, select Custom to set your own options or select Auto Detect to display the most readable closed captioning.

Read Also: How Do I Register My TV On Amazon

What Is Digital Closed Caption Mode

Typically, digital networks provide one or more closed captioning settings. The CC1 option often shows a tiny banner with a written version of the TV program soundtrack. The remaining CC modes show data supplied by the broadcaster. The text version of the audio is shown in the same language as the audio in CS1 mode.

What Is Closed Captioning On TV

Closed captioning is a service that provides a text version of the spoken portion of a media program. The purpose of this service is to help people with hearing impairments enjoy television and other media content. It is available in both quiet and noisy environments, and is particularly useful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. As of 1993, televisions manufactured in the United States must come with a built-in caption decoder.

Closed captions are created in advance of broadcast and are placed on the master videotape. A decoder then renders them visible. The content of the captions must be time-synchronized with the audio, which can take anywhere from five to 10 seconds. When live captions are displayed, they have a five to ten-second delay, but this may vary within a particular program. In addition to synchronization, closed captions must be displayed at a speed that viewers can easily read them.

Closed captions are available on TVs and online. These captions appear a few seconds after the action begins. These captions are created by stenographers who listen to a live broadcast and type their words into a computer program, which then adds them to the television signal. The stenographer must be fast and accurate to provide accurate captions.

Read Also: How To Power On Samsung Smart TV Without Remote

What Are Closed Captions

Closed captions are a text version of the spoken part of a television, movie or computer presentation.

Closed captioning was developed to aid deaf and hard-of-hearing people, but it’s useful for a variety of situations. For example, captions can be read when audio can’t be heard, either because of a noisy environment, such as an airport, or because of an environment that must be kept quiet, such as a hospital.

What Are The Closed Captioning Requirements

The FCC requires that all English and Spanish language video programming that aired on television with captions must also be captioned when uploaded for distribution online.

Additionally, the video programming must be captioned if it is “substantially similar” to the program that aired on TV.

This includes live and near-live programming, user-generated content that is similar to professionally produced content, and archival or library content.

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act also requires that any newly created or edited video programming must be captioned if it is “substantially similar” to the program that aired on TV.

All prerecorded video programming that is shown on television with captions must be captioned when offered online unless an exception applies.

Also Check: How To Get Beachbody On TV

Digital Television Standard Captioning Improvements

The CEA-708 specification provides for dramatically improved captioning

• An enhanced character set with more accented letters and non-Latin letters, and more special symbols
• Viewer-adjustable text size , allowing individuals to adjust their TVs to display small, normal, or large captions
• More text and background colors, including both transparent and translucent backgrounds to optionally replace the big black block
• More text styles, including edged or drop shadowed text rather than the letters on a solid background
• More text fonts, including monospaced and proportional spaced, serif and sans-serif, and some playful cursive fonts
• Higher bandwidth, to allow more data per minute of video
• More language channels, to allow the encoding of more independent caption streams

As of 2009, most closed captioning for digital television environments is done using tools designed for analog captioning . The captions are then run through transcoders made by companies like EEG Enterprises or Evertz, which convert the analog Line 21 caption format to the digital format. This means that none of the CEA-708 features are used unless they were also contained in CEA-608.