DVDs and captions

A DVD is like a CD that stores information in digital form. It can hold the video and audio of an entire feature movie at higher quality than VHS videotape can. DVD players can be connected to your television like a VCR and some computers also have built-in DVD players.

One of the best things about DVDs is that many of them give you the ability to select to view with English language subtitles or captions. This option is usually listed on the back of the DVD slick, similar to the following:

How do DVD captions differ?

The most obvious difference in appearance between DVD captions and TV captions is that DVD captions are usually white only. Unfortunately, the DVD format doesn’t allow for coloured captions (although the new technology called Blu-ray may change this). But unlike teletext captions, it is possible to use italics or indeed any font (style of lettering) on a given caption.
Captions often use positioning to indicate who is speaking or may have all the captions centred in the middle of the screen and/or use a dash at the start of the line to indicate a change of speaker.

How do I watch a DVD with captions?

As the captions are an integral part of the DVD, you do not need any special kind of decoder to watch them, just a standard DVD player. The captions are just a feature that you call up using the menu function of your DVD, usually in the language or special features menu. To turn the captions off, you can enter the set up menu again to switch them off.

DVD players

DVDs with captions/subtitles can be accessed from any DVD player. DVD players can be hooked up to your television like a VCR and some computers also have built-in DVD players.
DVD players do not have teletext in them, so you cannot watch captioned television programs via your DVD player and DVD players will not play closed-captioned (CC) videos.

DVD recorders

DVD Recorders record programs from TV onto a DVD. DVD recorders will only record captions if you are using a digital set-top box which is compliant with Australian Standard 4933, or if the recorder has an internal digital tuner. When the captions are switched on, the digital signal  includes the captions and will be recorded by your DVD Recorder.

If you are having trouble recording captions, you can email Media Access Australia  info@mediaaccess.org.au or call them on (02) 9212 6242 for help.

What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray is the new standard for high-definition DVD content. Blu-ray has five times more storage capacity than DVD, allowing for higher quality audio and video, as well as extra features.

To watch Blu-ray you need a specific Blu-ray DVD player. These players often play standard DVDs as well.

For best audiovisual results, a Blu-ray DVD player should be connected to a high definition television set. They can be connected to a standard definition television set as well and still provide superior quality audio and visual compared to a DVD.

From an access point of view, Blu-ray is particularly interesting for the possibilities it opens up for subtitling and captioning. In conventional DVDs, subtitles and captions are stored as part of the audio/video stream, which limits the number of languages and display styles which can be made available. With Blu-ray discs, the subtitles and captions are stored on a separate part of the disk. This means it is possible to produce disks which give the viewer a choice of font styles, sizes, and colours, and the ability to change the position of subtitles or captions on the screen (while the video continues to play). Subtitles can also be animated, scrolled, or made to fade in and out.

Related articles

• Captions on your television
• Cinema captioning
• Captions in schools
  

Information provided by:




Reproduced with permission.
Date reviewed: 12.11.2008