Captions on your television

Australia follows the European model by broadcasting television captions as teletext data encoded into the television signal. Viewers who choose to see the captions may display them on a teletext television (or other teletext decoding device). Viewers who do not need the captions need not see them. 



Captions are available on all TV programs shown between 6.00 -10.30pm on all free-to-air networks. Captions are also available on many pay television programs and on many videos and DVDs.


Accessing captions

TV captions are called closed captions because they only become visible with the use of teletext. To view television with captions you can use a teletext TV or if you live in an area of Australia which receives digital broadcasts, you can use a digital television or set-top box.

Digital television is a replacement technology for free-to-air analog services, and exists in most areas of Australia. Analog television will eventually be switched off starting from 2010 and completed across the country by 2013.

Most major television retailers sell digital and teletext televisions and digital set-top boxes, and have a range of different brands. Digital tuners have a number of advantages over teletext televisions, so if you are considering buying new equipment in order to receive captions, digital tuners are the better option.
 Media Access Australia recommends that you tell the salesperson that you wish to watch TV with captions and ask for a demonstration of the captions in the store.

How do you get captions using a teletext television?

1. Captions use lines of text at the bottom of page 8-0-1. To access closed captions: 
2. Choose the channel you desire. 
3. Press the text button on the remote control. A black strip will appear at the top of the screen. (If you are watching the Seven Network, a full menu of Austext will appear.) 
4. Press 8-0-1. This will reveal page 801 and captions will be superimposed over the TV picture, usually at the bottom of the screen. You may need to wait a few seconds for the teletext system to turn to page 801. 
5. Page 8-0-1 is available on all free-to-air TV channels.
6. To turn the captions off, you need to press the text button again. To change channels, you will need to turn the captions off, change the channel, then turn the captions back on again on the new channel.
   

How do you get captions using digital television or a set-top box?



To access closed captions:

1. Press the menu button on the remote control for your digital TV or set-top box.
2. You need to access the set-up menu, then find the option for Closed Captions or Subtitles and turn them on. 
3. Many digital TVs and set-top boxes have different menus, so it is a matter of finding where these options are located on your model.
   

Your instruction manual should have detailed information on how to do this.

Recording programs with captions

One of the advantages of a digital tuner is that you can connect to any VCR, DVD or hard drive recorder and record captioned programs. (It is not possible to record captioned programs straight from a teletext television to a VCR or DVD.)

If you want to watch one program and record another with captions and don’t have a teletext television, you will need to purchase a digital tuner with twin digital tuners.

If you have created a DVD with captions, the captions may only be displayed on the recorder they were recorded with. You can only play the uncaptioned version of the DVD on other DVD players.

There are many digital tuners on sale ranging form $50 - $1,600 (the more expensive ones have twin tuners and hard disk recorders incorporated.) They are available from any electrical retailer. It is a good idea to tell the salesperson that you want to use captions.

If you want to watch subscription (pay) television services such as Foxtel or Austar, the subscription decoder box will allow you to select captions as a menu item. You can also include a hard drive recorder (Foxtel’s is called iQ) as part of a subscription package. This allows you to record captioned programs (including while you are watching another captioned program).

For more information on digital set-top boxes and digital recorders that display captions, visit the Media Access Australia website.

Related articles

• Reception problems and captions
• DVDs and captions
• Captions in schools
• Legislation on captioning
  

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Reproduced with permission.
Date reviewed: 12.11.2008