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  1. Member
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    I need a DVD player that will feed the right kind of signals to my Denon receiver and then to my SONY XBR TV. I know that HDMI cables don't carry the captions. The DVD box says French language captions are included on my DVDs from Canada but I can not access them.
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    if you connect your dvd player straight to your TV, do you get closed captions ??
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  3. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    You need (beside the DVD that says to have closed captions):
    1. A dvd player that specifically supports captions and has analog outputs (either S-Video or Composite).
    2. Analog video cabling, to...
    3. A TV with analog video inputs, that specifically supports closed-captioning.
    4. A way to turn on and choose the captions (usually via the TV's remote/onscreen menu).

    Closed-captions on DVDs are the digital equivalent of the analog spec for NTSC. On the DVD they are stored in an auxilliary segment in the MPEG2 video data stream or as line21 (hidden vertical interval) digitized signals. They are embedded into the video signal.
    This is different than the DVD type of subtitle, which is a graphical overlay in its own set of streams, multiplexed (woven) along with the video and the audio.

    Both types are optionally turned on/off, but the CC is almost always only turned on/off via the display, while the subs are ALWAYS turned on/off via the DVD player.

    You mention Denon receiver - does it have analog video INs and OUTs? Does your TV have analog video INs?

    If you don't have these things, it is possible to extract the CCs to turn them into subs that you can later incorporate into a newly-remade custom-authored DVD, but the process is complicated.


    Scott
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    Originally Posted by mrquebec View Post
    I need a DVD player that will feed the right kind of signals to my Denon receiver and then to my SONY XBR TV. I know that HDMI cables don't carry the captions. The DVD box says French language captions are included on my DVDs from Canada but I can not access them.
    I don't recall seeing a DVD player that decodes closed captions and overlays them on the picture for output over HDMI. I think that with most DVD players, those who need closed captions must use the DVD player's SD analog connections (composite or S-video) and turn on their TV's closed caption feature.

    However, I have a Sony UHD Blu-ray player made for the USA which has the ability to decode and overlay DVD closed captions on the picture so they are available even if using HDMI. I believe at least some current regular Sony Blu-ray players (which have no analog connections) also have this ability. Find one that you like and download the PDF manual, then search for "closed captions" to see if they are supported.

    [Edit]If closed captions are overlayed on the picture by a Blu-ray player or UHD Blu-ray player for output over HDMI, they become an integral part of the picture, and passing the HDMI signal through an audio receiver doesn't affect the closed captions. However, the fact that the closed captions are an integral part of the picture also means that the TV remote can't be used to turn the closed captions on or off. They must be turned off by the disc player and the remote for the player may not have a dedicated CC button. For example, I need to select "Closed Captions" from my UHD Blu-ray player's Options menu to select which of the available closed caption to display or to turn closed captions on or off.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 9th May 2022 at 19:45.
    Ignore list: hello_hello, tried, TechLord, Snoopy329
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  5. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Yes, @usually_quiet, there are a few BD/UHDBD models out there that do this, and I wish there were more. They are the exception rather than the rule.

    However, since both DVD and BD/UHDBD subs are much more flexible and powerful than CCs, it is understandable that the industry has moved towards just providing that method.


    Scott
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    I took a look at the manuals for a few Blu-ray players listed on Best Buy's website. According to their manuals, the following players have the ability to decode and display closed captions:
    Sony BDP-S1700, Sony BDP-BX370, and Sony BDP-S6700
    LG BP350 and LG BP175
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 9th May 2022 at 22:32.
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  7. Formerly 'vaporeon800' Brad's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by mrquebec View Post
    The DVD box says French language captions are included on my DVDs from Canada but I can not access them.
    Before acquiring new hardware to play these specific DVDs, I would verify that they really do include the captions in the first place. It's not unheard-of for tech specs on a DVD box to simply be wrong.

    If they're listed on a site like DVDCompare.net I would trust that. Alternatively, with the appropriate software you can verify yourself if you have (or have admin access to) a computer with a DVD drive.
    My YouTube channel with little clips: vhs-decode, comparing TBC, etc.
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