Is it possible? With analog cable my TV would decode the Closed Captioning info, but with digital cable I don't suppose that signal makes it to the TV (I'm using a component connection from my PVR). Assuming that CC is a mandated service, there *must be* a way to get Closed Captioning (or, better yet, subtitles if they are available) to display by setting some configuration in the 8300.

I have not figured it out yet and I'm too lazy to go hunting for the Manual (it's probably still packed up after the move).

1. The TV should decode CC for SD signals (including digital).

2. CC is enabled on the SA83000HD by hitting the Settings button ONCE and scrolling up to CC and turning it on. It will CC any programme that has CC, including HD.

See also the Digital Home FAQ "Tips for SA STBs" (under help).

The reason the TV will not decode CC for SD channels is probably because the STB is currently set to output only 1080i or something. The display on the front panel indicates the output format.

It's a good thing we're not too lazy to answer your questions. ;)

Well, that didn't work. Maybe the show I was watching (a re-run of Scrubs on NBC-HD) didn't have Closed Captioning?

Anyhow, my PVR is set for pass-through, so an SD channel will be 480i to my TV. I could not get any CC to show up on my screen using either the TV or the PVR. Again, it may be that I was watching a show with no CC. On the small TV upstairs, hitting Mute kicks in the CC on the TV itself, so I know there are channels with CC info.

For the SA8300HD - Most programmes have CC. Did you try another programme? Are you sure you turned CC on? It typically takes a few seconds to activate, so give it a minute.

For the TV - Did you check the ouput of the SA8300HD (front display) to ensure it's sending 480i? If it is, it's possible the TV only does CC on the material received on the internal tuner. Sorry.

I've tried different channels/programs in the past. The CC setting is fairly straightforward on the PVR (Off, On, On when mute), and I'm sure at one point in the past I put it on and left it like that for days. On my TV (a Hitachi rear-projection CRT, so perhaps you can relate) the CC setting is controlled by a fairly complicated menu, and although I tried all combinations that made any sense at all, it's entirely possible (although unlikely) that I did not try all. But, yes, I did verify that it was receiving 480i on the SD channels.

Since I record most of what I watch, another question is -- does the CC info get recroded and can CC be, then, turned on for recorded material?

The CC information can be recorded, no problem.

The CC setting is fairly straightforward on the PVR (Off, On, On when mute)
I'm confused by your comment that ON THE PVR you can select "on-with-mute". My firmware doesn't allow this on the PVR, only on my regular SA3250HD. The setting on the SA8300HD is only ON or OFF. There is no "ON with mute" setting on my PVR*.

Try a cold reboot of the SA8300HD (unplug for a few seconds, replug, wait 5 minutes) and then try enabling CC on the SA8300HD again, using quick settings. (press settings button ONCE, scroll up to CC, scroll right to turn it on, hit select to confirm).

Let me know if you have the option "on with mute" on your SA8300HD. I do not.

I just tried CC a few minutes ago and it's working fine.

PS, on my Hitachi, there's a CC button on the remote - the menu items simply allow you the option of how to display it. (I hope you're catching the distinction between the STB and the TV)

On the SA8300HD if you press settings TWICE, there are also options on how to display CC, but let's get the CC working using the STB quick settings only first...

* Edit, we learn later in this thread from CW that "CC on mute" works when you set audio to variable instead of fixed. Unfortunately, if you're using an A/V Receiver using the SA Remote for volume control, this doesn't help provide CC on mute. It's fine if you're controlling the volume with the SA83000HD itself.

You made me feel special -- I've got three options: Off/On/On with Mute. This is in the first Settings menu (press Settings once, up twice, then right to select one of the three options).

Since you mentioned the second Settings menu, I checked it out, and there are several CC settings there -- one of them is Source, which leads to a 2-column menu: one column for Standard and one for Digital. I selected CC1 in the Standard column and Digital 1 (the existing settings were different) and, voila, I've got Captions.

Now I'm left to wonder a couple of things:
1. Why do I have 3 settings while you insist there should only be 2? Do I have some non-standard firmware? If anyone else from Ottawa is reading this -- do you have Off/On/On with Mute options available for CC or just On/Off?
2. What are all those choices in the CC Source menu (second Settings menu)?

Which firmware version do you have? See the diagnostics in the Digital Home FAQ "Tips for SA STBs" (under help), page 3 of the diagnostics for firmware.

I have: 1.87.16.a11

Those choices in the Settings menu allow you to customize how the CC is displayed in terms of background, placement, size, etc. If you want to find out what they do, make note of the current settings and try changing them to see what happens.

Glad you got your CC working. Someone must have changed those settings, they mustn't have been the "defaults".

I wish I had CC with mute because I use that on my SA3250HD all the time.

I'm confused by your comment that ON THE PVR you can select "on-with-mute". My firmware doesn't allow this on the PVR, only on my regular SA3250HD. The setting on the SA8300HD is only ON or OFF. There is no "ON with mute" setting on the PVR.


Have you tried switching between variable and fixed audio in your 8300HD? I believe that setting it to fixed doesn't allow for "CC on mute". If you're using fixed, you're expecting the TV or a receiver adjust the volume.

Thanks CW, that does the trick and brings up CC on mute, however, since I'm using my AV receiver to control volume, pressing mute on the SA8300HD remote doesn't affect the STB - it affects my AV receiver, therefore I don't actually get the CC on mute...

Learn something new every day...

A Harmony remote would likely allow you to get around this situation by muting the receiver and the STB... Then you'd have to also unmute...

I suppose you could set up a special button for "CC Mute" on the Harmony.

So is the reason that the 8300SD lacks any Closed caption options because you're expected to use the TV's or what? It's somewhat annoying because I run the box through a video input card and the software's closed captioning sucks :-p

So is the reason that the 8300SD lacks any Closed caption options because you're expected to use the TV's?
Yes. Also the SA8300HD does CC because that's the only way to get CC on HD channels since TVs cannot CC HD inputs.

This is my first post, so please excuse me if I'm in the wrong place, or am not quite as clear as I would like to be, but I would really appreciate your help.

I have a Sharp Aquos LC52D82U and a SA Explorer 8300 HD PVR that I just got yesterday. Videotron is my service provider.

I tried connecting the TV to the STB via HDMI. Couldn't even see the configuration possibilities in the Set-up section of the TV's menu (through which one can usually change font size and colour of Close Captioning). Every time I pressed on the CC button of my TV remote, all that came up was input 6 (to which I had connected the HDMI).

Then, I tried connecting via composite. Same thing, except that, now, there was, in the menu the possibility of configuring cc font size, etc. Still no CC, however, on any TV channel.

(I tried finding the threads you mention, 57, in Digital Home Help, but was unable to find the topic you refer to, here. I'm probably not looking properly, but I did try to look them up, before this appeal).

The only way I can get CC, but am sacrificing HD, of course, is through the video, with the yellow, red and white rca cables, connection.

Sharp tells me CC must be set in the STB. Like someone else I read, here, however, if I press once on the settings button of the 8300 remote, and scroll to my close captioned option it also says "Off, On, On when mute", and I don't know how to just turn CC on.

The Videotron technician I spoke to tried his 8300 on a Samsung TV connected to the STB via HDMI with CC-Source on the STB set at STD CC1, Digital 1 and CC turned on in quick settings. He says that is working perfectly. His STB, however, only had CC on/off option in the quick settings and no mention of mute... (He couldn't understand why I the option that shows up for me has the added mute).

Is there any way I can just access the 'on' fuction of that particular CC option in quick settings?

When I first hooked up the STB, the Videotron technician made me go through a set up process to ensure (I think) that the ouput of the SA8300HD was set at both 1080i and 480i.

Is it the Sharp TV? Should I replace the Sharp with a Samsung?

Or am I unable to do this because I am just inept? :confused:

Whatever help and expertise you can give me with all of this are deeply appreciated, because I just feel like turning my back on the whole thing...

if I press once on the settings button of the 8300 remote, and scroll to my close captioned option it also says "Off, On, On when mute", and I don't know how to just turn CC on.When you're at that selection hit the right arrow. It will then change the selection on the right side to the one you need (ON for example instead of off) then hit select (the round button in the middle).

As noted in this thread the TV will not decode incoming HD signals for CC, this needs to be done by the STB. It may take a few seconds for the CC to start and some programming doesn't have CC, but most does.

Here are the FAQs:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

Here's a direct link to the SA one:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719

Please put your location and service provider into your UserCP Profile (location). It'll help us help you.

PS. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the "on with mute" function is only available if you set the audio to "variable" in the settings menu - press settings twice. If the audio setting for the STB is "fixed", you cannot get "on with mute". This explains the difference between you and the tech, although he should have known this.

When we are on the subject, when I set the font and stuff for the CC, why does it stick with some channels and not with others, any ideas

When we are on the subject, when I set the font and stuff for the CC, why does it stick with some channels and not with others, any ideas
In my case, none of the CC options seem to work on SD channels (I only have an SD TV).

Did I miss something?

I believe the CC is only available on the HDMI and Component Video outputs.

There are several options for CC under the Settings menu - Press the settings button twice and scroll to the various CC options. These are usually best left in the "default" setting, however, you can play with these to make CC look the way you want. Sometimes you can't get them to do what you want due to their initial nature.

Just make sure when you change the options that you don't put "clear" CC on top of a "clear" background because then you can't see the CC at all, although you can go back to the default position if you "screw up". Good Luck

Edit, this may depend on the programming as I just tried making several changes and nothing seemed to change. Play around with it on several channels and let us know if you see any changes. If not, perhaps these settings don't do much. Perhaps someone else who uses CC a lot has some other suggestions. I just have it display when I mute the TV or use it occasionally if I miss a word, or the movie characters have a very thick accent and I leave it in default.

For HD signals, the CC has to be done by the STB, however, for 480i signals, the TV can do the CC and perhaps there are better/different options there. The STB obviously needs to be configured to send 480i (for the SD channels)

Note that in the CC options, you need to set this to "by user" not "by programme".

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719 SA Tips.

(This post was in response to a post that was since deleted.)

I want to adjust the text color of closed caption because the text looks
huge and very bright when displayed on my 55 inch TV.

I did some general settings on my remote , I want to change the text size to
smaller and text color to cyan, which is not irritating to my eye.

The new settings become effective in HD channels like in #514,#515,
but not work in stardard definition channels, like in #3 , #4 ....., hundred of chnnels

Up to present Rogers technical support team have not solved the problem
. The technician tried on his home digital box , he experienced the same problem as me.
If you have Rogers Digital box , could you try it if it works on you side.
I use the best digital box from Rogers called HDPVR 8300

I'd appreciate any digital electronic guy could point reasons behind the problem.
Is it possible to solve the problem ?

Have you tried the CC on the the TV instead of the Rogers box? The TV should be capable and there may be some settings for CC on that. There may also be separate settings for HD and SD on the Rogers box.