[mythtv-users] Help me get closed captioning to work right?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/08/2009 05:22 AM, Mike Perkins wrote:

> Marc Barrett wrote:
>
>> I would appreciate some tips on this.  I have grown accustomed to
>> watching TV with closed captioning on. Even though my hearing is
>> fine, not every character on every show enunciates perfectly all
>> the time, and it is human nature to miss something. CC allows me to
>> see what they said.
>
> Especially when they insist on playing loud music over the dialog.

Note, also, that there are often 2 sound streams in US ATSC HDTV.  One
is typically the 5.1-channel AC-3 stream.  The other is a stereo
(2-channel) stream (often still AC-3).  The audio is generally mixed
/very/ differently in the 2 streams and, if you don't actually have a
5.1-channel setup, the 2-channel stream is /much/ easier to hear
dialogue.  In the 5.1-channel stream, the music and surround audio tends
to be very loud relative to the dialogue, but in the stereo stream, the
dialogue is much louder and the rest of the audio tends to "fade to the
background."  TTBOMK, Myth will choose the "better" sound stream by
default, which may not be better for your setup.

I've noticed that often when the station/network messes up the audio
during the show (i.e. video is fine, but there's no audio or audio is
working /except/ for the track with dialog), the stereo stream is fine. 
It seems they only break the stream with surround.

Oh, and another unexpected side benefit is that many of the commercials
have no sound in the stereo stream.  Sure, if you're using commercial
skip, this doesn't help much, but for those occasions when you use the
commercial to go get some food and leave the show playing, it can be nice.

You can change the audio stream through the OSD menu during playback or
by hitting NEXTAUDIO (by default, bound to '+') or PREVAUDIO (by
default, bound to '-').

Still, even if you don't need captions, they can be fun.  Often, they
differ from the actual dialogue (or give audio information, such as
saying a certain song is playing when it actually plays a different
one), which can give a different perspective on the show.

Mike