Closed caption on SageTV 9

[cerickso88]

Hello All,

I'm thinking of turning off Mytv and goint to SAGETV for a few reasons. However, in my testing, I am not able to get Closed Captions to work. Can someone provide any further help?

Here are my details:
My source is an HD Homerun device and it does have subtitles that Mythtv process fine.
SageTV 9.1.8.770 on Windows 10 (both the client and the server)
Installed on windows 10 I've tried 2 decoders... the nvideo Pure decoder 1.00.0000 and Intervideo WinDVR 3 with both EVR and VMR9 but no joy.
I also tried the ATI mpeg decoder and a Cyberlink demo.
I have edited the SageClient.properties file and added cc_option_enabled=true. (I've noticed that after i make this change and come back to this file, my changes have been removed. Must be a dynamic file)

At some point, I was getting 'garbled closed captions' but I'm not any more (not sure what I did to have that stop).

What could I be missing?

I'm also testing the Android mini client with similar results. I since have read that as of late 2016, the android mini client didn't support closed captioning. Is that still the case? If I get it working on Windows 10 only, will it work on the android mini client?

[egeller]

I may not be able to help solve the problem, but I can help with the triage.

Do a web search for "mediainfo". You will find it on Sourceforge.net. It is a tool that you can run against your media, from SageTV, and it will confirm that the text streams are there (or not).

It's been my experience that many client properties are transient, so it's rare that I find changing them to be the answer to any question I ask.

Try reviewing this link and this link. They may be discussing the same issue you are seeing.

[cerickso88]

My source is a HDHomeRun that definately has close captions. It works on Mythtv fine. For grins, I removed version 9 and install SageTV version 7 and they worked. i will do an in place upgrade and see if they still work after the upgrade. Some have reported that they have done this successfully.

How about the Android client? Does it have close caption support now? I read that as of the end of 2016, it did not.

Thanks
-clayton

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by cerickso88

I have edited the SageClient.properties file and added cc_option_enabled=true. (I've noticed that after i make this change and come back to this file, my changes have been removed. Must be a dynamic file)

So I was just about to explain how to change the SageClient.properties file by stopping the SageTV service, make the file change, then restart the service. I then realized that I can't get the closed captions showing on my V9 Client either. Hmmm. The option is there, and I've attempted to select CC1 and CC2, with no captions appearing. MediaInfo clearly indicates captions exist, and I can show captions on my HD200 or HD300 extenders. Just the PC Client that doesn't seem to work.

[KryptoNyte]

Although the options exist in the Miniclient, I can't get cc to show there either. I recall Stuckless mentioning that would be quite an undertaking and not on the radar.

[wayner]

stuckless wrote the Android client - he would know the situation.

I tried watching some OTA and cable content that should have CC but I couldn't get anything to display on either Placeshifter or an HD200 extender so it may not work at all in V9.

[FriscoJohn]

The ATI decoder works flawlessly for me for CC on MPEG2 video. My problem is that Xfinity has recently started switching channels to H.264. I haven't found any H.264 decoder that works in Sage for CC. I can play Sage recordings of these channels on VLC and it renders the CC without problems so the CC are these, Sage just can't show them.

[gordyp]

Originally Posted by FriscoJohn

The ATI decoder works flawlessly for me for CC on MPEG2 video. My problem is that Xfinity has recently started switching channels to H.264. I haven't found any H.264 decoder that works in Sage for CC. I can play Sage recordings of these channels on VLC and it renders the CC without problems so the CC are these, Sage just can't show them.

FWIW, on the channels where Xfinity is now using H.264, I have just been using the Subtitle function. Sometimes I get weird results (The Magicians seems to want to show English and Spanish), or I have to adjust the timing, but it is working well enough for me...

[FriscoJohn]

Thanks gordyp for the tip. Doesn't work for me. When I'm watching H.264 video and pull up the Options menu there is no entry for Subtitles, just for Captions and neither CC1 or CC2 works.

Could you let me know what video renderer and what H.264 Video Decoder Filter you are using in case this is a factor. I'm using EVR and ffdshow video decoder currently.

Best.

[gordyp]

Originally Posted by FriscoJohn

Thanks gordyp for the tip. Doesn't work for me. When I'm watching H.264 video and pull up the Options menu there is no entry for Subtitles, just for Captions and neither CC1 or CC2 works.

Could you let me know what video renderer and what H.264 Video Decoder Filter you are using in case this is a factor. I'm using EVR and ffdshow video decoder currently.

Best.

Sorry for not replying sooner. I am also using EVR and the ffdshow decoder for H.264. There is something you have to do in order to get the 'Subtitles' option to show up when right-clicking on a program, see attachment (and, unlike CC, it must be re-checked every time you open a file for viewing; in addition, it is only available for (certain) recordings; it is not available for Live TV or if you are watching something while recording it until afterwards), but I can't think of it right now, sorry. It's either an option that has to be enabled or a plugin that needs to be installed.