As you've noticed, some programs, especially if the characters speak with an accent, have really funny captions. Live events are almost always gobbledygook. My biggest frustration is when the captions appear on top of the actors' faces. Overall, though, CC has enhanced my enjoyment. In fact, sometimes the captions are taken from the script and additional information becomes available, like the unseen side of a telephone conversation that wasn't heard in the actual program.

Yes! Covers up the faces, sometimes. I don't like that. I love that it gets the background conversations too. I forgot about that.

Personally I don't like it. I can't truly enjoy the show, if I have to read. For me it is hard not to read, when it is on the screen. Does not matter which of my two languages it is... My friend and I just nixed two shows, we saw pre views for, cause we rather "just enjoy the show" than read the lines. Oh, yeah, those were not cc, but translations.

Moni

I turn on CC when I realize that I am not hearing the dialogue. But once it is on, it's hard for me to listen and not read.

It is frustrating when sometimes there is one snippet of conversation that you don't quite hear.

DH needs CC for all TV, especially British productions. I like the instant replay button for missed words. We have always noticed that the clarity of their sound systems is a tad less than network sound systems here. However, we rarely watch network TV these days except for news programs.

I use it now and again.......but only when streaming something on my laptop. The volume is not very high and while I do have a speaker that amplifies the sound, I've not yet hooked it up. And I don't think I'd like to haul it around with me.

They do bother me, not because they obscure the screen - they don't - but because they tend to be inaccurate. BritBox is notorious for this. I think they must hire ESL people to caption! In fact, sometimes it is so far off it amazes me and I'm sure must muddy up the story line for those that have to rely on it. I've even gone to the trouble of contacting BritBox about it but no response.

On most system you can specify what area of the screen the captions appear. What's really fun is to see what the caption says compared to the sound on another language.

I rely heavily on closed captioning. My hearing has gotten very bad and my hearing aids give me a severe headache when I try to use them to watch TV. I'm not sure why this is, when I first got them I wore them all day every day. Now they are more of a hindrance than a help. Guess I need to get my ears checked again, and probably replace the aids.

Back to closed captioning. There are some voices and programs that I can hear and understand quite well, others I can't. I haven't noticed any 'gobbledegook', but occasionally words are misspelled, and sometimes, too, misinterpreted. This seems to happen most often with names rather than words. But my biggest complaint is that in some programs it scrolls by much too fast to read. And I am a fairly fast reader. But over all, it is a big help to me.

Rusty

I sometimes have a hard time understanding what the Brits are saying in many of the British series I follow, cc helps a lot.

I love it and rely on it. I use both headphones and closed captioning.

What I would find far more useful than closed captioning would be a zoom feature. Whenever they show cell phone text messages or written material on the screen, it is far too small for me to read easily and so whatever impact that adds to the story line is lost on me.

I try to pause to have more time to read but the printing is still too indistinct. Irritates the heck out of me!!

Yeah, I have noticed that too, Gardengal.

Re hearing the TV, my mom got wireless headset to work with her tv and it improved her ability to hear it a lot. A lot of these TVs, in order to keep the total unit smaller, have lousy sound systems. We also have one that has a "conversation" audio mode which seems to emphasize the conversation and minimize the background sounds which makes it much easier to hear. A lot of DVDs I notice blast the music so loud that, to watch a movie, I'm constantly adjusting the volume down for music and up for conversation...most annoying.

If you're listening to audio through an AVR, many of them have a feature called "dialogue lift" or something similar. It simply lifts the dialogue above surrounding sounds. We find that helpful when watching some movies.

If you're using TV speakers, the option on Sony is "Voice Zoom". Works like dialogue lift on an AVR. Sony also offers "Night" for clear sound at a low volume level.

Hope this is helpful.

Hubby and I learned to use when watching British shows. It makes a huge difference, since the dialogue is so varied.

What's an AVR?

AVR = Audio Video Receiver

An audio/video receiver (AVR) is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them to drive loudspeakers and displays such as a television, monitor or video projector.

AV receiver - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › AV_receiver