PHOnos's profile

Scholar

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95 Messages

Thursday, December 8th, 2011 3:08 AM

Closed Captions freezing and then disappearing

Howdy all-- I am at wits end with my problem. I sent the following to ATT Closed Captioning e-mail and got an autobot reply to use the online tech service. I did so, and they walked me through a "disaster recovery" reset (not using the reset button, but dowloading and flashing the operating system software for the box) with them finally referring me to ATT ICU (what the heck is ICU, Intensive Care Unit?) Any Ideas from forum people appreciated greatly.

 

Hello: I am profoundly deaf and must use closed captioning on my televisions. I have had and currently have a serious and annoying problem with one of the set top boxes (Motorola HD DVR). The closed captioning begins and runs for any where from 1-10 minutes, then freezes (sometimes in mid-sentence) and does not pick up again. The Philips HD TV is connected to the set-top box by means of a HDMI cable. The only way to regain the closed captions are to either switch channels and then switch back to the channel I was watching; or do a quick (7-second) backspace of the program, then captions will be there for the part that was not captioned. It will then run captions for a while, then freeze again. I can record a few minutes of a program and then replay it. However, the recorded closed captions will eventually freeze and disappear even in recorded programs. As I said, I know the captions are being sent by the programmers and by the U-verse system because they are being recorded. I also checked some local channels using my antenna when the U-Verse captions disappear and they are being sent and read by the over-the-air television HDTV tuner.

 

The following have not solved the problem -- - turning on both digital (high definition) and analog (standard definition). - turning captioning to digital off and analog on and vice versa. - re-setting the set-top box. - restarting the set-top top box by disconnecting and reconnecting power. - resenting/restarting U-verse 3800HGV-8 modem. - calling ATT help line and re-performing the above steps several times. - having a service call by ATT U-verse technician, xxxxxx xxxx who again performed the above steps.

 

He then did the following -- - determined that there could be a low signal problem with the Time Warner Cable installation which was used when the system was installed over a year ago. - replaced the RG television cable connected the set top box that was having problems with a direct connection to the modem by means of an Ethernet CAT-5 cable ($55 service installation charge) and replaced the second set top box (Motorola) (which was not having problems) with a Cisco, wireless set top box (which works well) with the Cisco transmitter connected directly to the modem. - returned the next day, when notified that all his work on the system was for naught, and personally saw the problems for himself. He then obtained a new work order from his supervisor and replaced the Motorola HD DVR. We then watched and waited until the same freezing and drop out again. We check the over-the-air signal and found that the captions were being transmitted by the station and could be seen on the U-verse system if the program was re-wound 7-seconds. We both then agreed there was nothing more he could do to solve the problem and that he would report it to ATT. I said I would also report it, which I am doing in this e-mail.

 

I really know little about how the system works, but offer the follow information and suggestions -- - the problem appears to only occur on the one set top box (Motorola VIP1225/297; (Current Serial No. Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, bootstrap ROM 1.1027, TV2 Client Version 2.1.2295.10), not on the second SDTV installation using the Cisco box. - because the captioning signal is present on the U-Verse feed, the problem appears to be in the hardware software/firmware in the set top box that uses the signal and is probably present in all boxes of the same Motorola model available to ATT service in this area. With my very limited knowledge of digital electronics, hardware, software/firmware, programming, etc., I suggest it could be a glitch not allowing the used captioning to be dumped and thus loads up the buffer until it can store no more captioning data. I am very anxious to have this problem solved ASAP.

 

Please forward this e-mail to the appropriated department for resolution.

 

Thank you very much, in advance, for your prompt attention to this problem.

 

-PHOnos

 

Edited for easier reading

Contributor

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1 Message

12 years ago

My father and I both experience the same problem with the CC dropping out. We're in the San Francisco Bay Area, have the Motorola DVRs/STBs, run an HDMI connector to the TV, and have CC on all the time. I've had U-Verse since 2009 and have never had this problem before - it just appeared recently. HD ABC (1007 in our area) is the worst offender, but we've seen it in on Fox (1002) and other channels as well.

 

Keep this thread alive and let's get AT&T to fix this!

Teacher

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13 Messages

12 years ago

Sorta the same problem in Houston, the CC goes off and will come back for a short while if you press replay. but does go off again, until you press replay again. has been doing this for several weeks now.

Expert

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24.3K Messages

12 years ago

It's really getting annoying!  I'm still seeing it on the 4 big networks, and tired of going to another or last channel to get it back. Smiley Mad

Teacher

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13 Messages

12 years ago

I have read reports that they promised to fix the 22 stroke CC problem, but could not prove it by me. Think the only one who reads these commments are the ones with the problem.

Scholar

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95 Messages

12 years ago


bwhou wrote:

 

. . . Think the only one who reads these commments are the ones with the problem.


There are a few good people who try to help, including the service techs, but ATT engineers, I don't think so

Expert

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24.3K Messages

12 years ago

It's probably not in the Job Description. Smiley Happy

 

Something else I noticed today when playing a Network recording, the CC is on at first, but disappears after about 5 min. into the show.  That happens even before a commercial comes on.  Some of the Twilight Zone Marathon shows I recorded (SyFy Channel) had no problem keeping the CC on live or recorded.

Master

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5.7K Messages

12 years ago


@PHOnos wrote:

@bwhou wrote:

 

. . . Think the only one who reads these commments are the ones with the problem.


There are a few good people who try to help, including the service techs, but ATT engineers, I don't think so


 

Actually there are some very good/helpful AT&T engineers working for/with U-verse. When there were CC problems (garbled/unreadable text) with the MTV Networks (Viacom) I worked with some of these engineers and had a chance to see them working behind the scenes. Sam, an ex-engineer and member of David's team along with Social Media, always kept me abreast of their progress. The engineering staff did an excellent job in fixing these problems.

 

But unfortunately the engineers can only work on problems/fixes where the management staff sets the priorities. Who knows how important it is to management to fix the problems with the closed captions freezing/shutting off along with finding an easier CC access? It currently doesn't seem very high on their list of priorities.

 

BTW PHOnos, you may be interested this CC freezing/disappearing problem was brought up in the CC access thread. You're the "someone" from Irving, CA, in the below post. Smiley Wink

 

http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/Closed-Caption-Access-Formal-Complaint/m-p/3016185#M21399

 

Spd, your recordings sound just like what I'm seeing where the CC's disappear on the local networks after about 3-5 minutes when watching them live. Believe shows like the Twilight Zone have a private company install the CC's where there may not be any problems. Same is true for most movies on the U-verse HD channels where the CC's are installed ahead of time. And as I mentioned before shows like "30 Rock" use a very good private CC company where I didn't see any of these CC freezing/shutting off problems.

 

Expert

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24.3K Messages

12 years ago

TZs were all done by the DOE.

 

I was thinking it was more of a live thing, too, but when I watched House the other night (re-runs), it was happening there as well.  I didn't catch who the company was.

 

As noted before, I don't watch that much non-Premium TV; and it's probably why I didn't notice this new issue until it was brought up. Smiley Sad

Scholar

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95 Messages

12 years ago

bwhou wrote:

 

. . . Think the only one who reads these commments are the ones with the problem.


There are a few good people who try to help, including the service techs, but ATT engineers, I don't think so


 

But unfortunately the engineers can only work on problems/fixes where the management staff sets the priorities. Who knows how important it is to management to fix the problems with the closed captions freezing/shutting off along with finding an easier CC access? It currently doesn't seem very high on their list of priorities.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Yea, it is always management who performs the triage.  I guess none of them are deaf or they don't watch HD.  They could make me real happy by just sending me an e-mail saying they are aware of the problem and are working on it or it's in the cue.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

BTW PHOnos, you may be interested this CC freezing/disappearing problem was brought up in the CC access thread. You're the "someone" from Irving, CA, in the below post. Smiley Wink

 

http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/Closed-Caption-Access-Formal-Complaint/m-p/3016185#M21399

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Yep, that's me.  Actually I'm in Orange, CA.  The guide says it is version IRV-2 which I assumed is Irvine, showing the L.A.-Orange County locals.

 


 

Expert

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24.3K Messages

12 years ago

I was watching each of the 4 (incl. Fox) big networks yesterday earlier today, and the CC was on and stayed on!  It even came back after commercials and didn't drop off.  Even some of the commercials had CCs!

 

Maybe this means they're working on it, or it was a fluke.

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