Thanks to Banjo's World, I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Thanks to Bill Creswell, I sent off a complaint to HDMI Licensing, LLC.
I did all this at six a.m. because I'm fed up.
Last night, I spent an hour trying to resolve our captioning issue. We have an LG TV that has the ability to change font sizes and styles on the captioning. The current captions are pretty small and because our 40 year old eyes are getting weaker, it's becoming harder to read the tiny captions. Deaf and hard of hearing friends who come over end up complaining about the small font. The problem is, we cannot access those font/size features on the TV-- it is grayed out. So there I was last night, talking to LG on the videophone and typing to Dish Network on the live chat. LG pointed the finger to Dish Network. Dish Network pointed the finger back at LG.
However, Dish Network mentioned that for $149 for an upgraded, HD receiver and an extra ten dollars a month, we'd be able to access small, medium and large captions. All I have to do is fork over some extra money to access THEIR captions. Because you see, I'm not getting the captions from the TV, I'm getting them from Dish Network. At least, that's how I understand it. Frankly, I think Dish Network should fork over the receiver and waive the monthly charges so that we can access captions that we can read. Or there should be some way for us to access the full features of the LG TV. I don't have an answer yet. Dish is sending a technician out later this week to see if they can help resolve the issue. In the meantime, we've pushed a chair up close to the TV so that my mom can read the captions while she's visiting.
Now, back to Banjo's World. Go visit his video/blog (It is done in ASL but captioned and includes a written explanation) which explains why HDMI cables do not transport closed captioning through the wires. Apparently, when HDMI cables were made, FCC and the HDMI manufacturers forgot about including closed-captioning. So consumers are getting their captions from DVD players and cable/satallite providers, but not from the TV's themselves. So if you have five minutes today (that's all it takes, five minutes), go file a complaint with the FCC and then hop over to the HDMI people and tell them you want them to manufacture all future HDMI wires to be able to transport closed-captions.
Just five minutes of your time to make a change in the world. Take another minute to leave a comment telling me that you did it. You'll feel great knowing that you helped to make another accessible change in this world.
