Burned dvd -no captions when I ask the TV; but ok when i ask dvd player

[rambler]

I use anydvd and clonedvd, then dvd shrink and imgburn.

This is a problem because i generally use the dvd player in my humax tivo, which unlike most dvd players does not seem to have option to display captions. So i can only ask my tv to show the captions. And they don't seem to be there. When I use same dvd in another player, they are there.

Ideas? Thanks.

[CobraPilot]

Are you differentiating between "Closed Captions" and "Subtitles"? Maybe confusing the two?

[edDV]

Have you tried the real DVD?

[rambler]

Are you differentiating between "Closed Captions" and "Subtitles"? Maybe confusing the two?

The button on the TV remote says captions; so does the button on the dvd player remote. I just need to be able to read what is being said.

[rambler]

Have you tried the real DVD?

Yes the originals show the captions/subtitles both ways. My issue is with many dvd's I am backing up, not just one.

[CobraPilot]

The reason I asked about subtitles vs. closed captions, is that I have a TV series on DVD that has no subtitles (i.e., I cannot select subtitles with my DVD player) but has closed captioning (only viewable by selecting that option on the TV remote).

I also have some DVDs that have BOTH subtitles and closed captioning which seem NOT to be the exact same layout/color onscreen.

I infer from both these cases that subtitles and closed captions are not one and the same.

From http://hardware.mcse.ms/message328852.html (reliability unknown):

""Closed captioning" is an American subtitling standard where digital
subtitling data is embedded in the VBI (vertical blanking interval) of
analog video signals.

Decoding this digital data and displaying the CC subtitles as text
superimposed on the video typically requires a TV set with a built-in CC
decoder. Built-in CC decoders are required by law in the US as they are
seen as an important accessibility feature.

(As far as I know, American CC subtitles are typically intended first
and foremost for the hard of hearing and may contain textual
descriptions of sounds [such as "PHONE RINGS"]. Those learning English
as a second or additional language are probably another large group that
uses them. This is different from some other countries which primarily
use subtitles/captions as means of language translation for the "normal"
viewers.)

A DVD player _could_ have an option for displaying the Closed Caption
data as text on the screen. As far as I know, they usually don't.
Instead, the CC data, if present, is embedded in the VBI and it is up to
the tv set to decode it. If the tv set does not have a CC decoder..
well, though luck."

[usually_quiet]

When DVD video is re-encoded, the user data (thats where the closed captions are stored) is generally lost in the process. You may be re-encoding when you shrink the DVD. It is possible to extract closed captions and add them back as subtitles with free software, but it takes some time to do that. The last time I looked into it, adding them back as closed captions requires using some fairly expensive software.

Another possibility is the DVD player is set up to use progressive output, which removes the CC data, since the VBI is only sent when interlaced output is used. I guess it is also possible that some DVD players strip out the VBI closed caption data regardless of whether they use interlaced or progressive output.