Solved! Question about closed caption on streamed video or DVD on LG vs Insignia TV

[Tom Seeley]

I've got a general question about how closed captioning is included and transmitted and displayed on a TV.

I have an LG TV model 42LD520 TV. Vintage 2015, non-smart TV. I use that 99% of the time. I also have a small Insignia TV, even less sophisticated, which I keep in the bonus room and use once in a while. I have a Roku express plugged in normally to the LG. It works fine. It also works fine when I plug it into the Insignia. In both cases, I connect the Roku by HDMI and by USB. The Toshiba DVD player connects to the LG TV by standard cables, not HDMI. I use a small Sony portable DVD player in the bonus room, connected by standard red/white/yellow cables.

I'm having trouble viewing closed captions on my LG TV but not on my Insignia TV, in movies I've streamed to either TV that I know include CC. When I play DVD movies that I know include CC, the CC displays correctly on the Insignia but never on the LG.

When I tried some time ago to study this I failed, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that if I'm connecting a source to the LG via HDMI, the CC signal does not get sent electronically from the source to the LG TV. But when I view the same signals on my Insignia TV every source that says it includes CC displays CC the way I want it to! And even when I play a DVD in the Toshiba DVD player, connected to the LG TV by standard cables, not HDMI, I see no CC on the LG TV but if I view the same DVD on the Insignia, with a small portable Sony DVD player, presto. CC appears normally.

It seems clear to me the problem is related to the LG TV, not to either of the sources (Roku, DVD via Toshiba or Sony). I've tried to interpret the LG user guide for how to set CC settings, but nothing I've tried has worked so far.

Any thoughts on why I'm not seeing CC on my LG even when I know they're part of the source?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Only thing I can think of with the LG is that the Closed Caption in turned off in settings. If it is on, have you tried all four of the CC set ups (CC1, CC2, CC3, CC4)? Have you tried all three of the HDMI inputs?

LG 42LD520 User's Manual Download Page
Ref Pg. 125

-Wolf sends

Edit: Fixed the link to the manual

 

[Tom Seeley]

Thx Wolf, I did cycle the Roku through all 3 HDMI inputs. In each one, the CC option was grayed out completely! When I switched the TV to the AV1 input and turned on the DVD player (but I didn’t out in a disk at the moment) the CC option was available and I could cycle through all 4 CC choices and all 4 Text choices. Strange.

 

[Wolfshadw]

https://www.lg.com/us/support/help-...s-hdtv-netcast-webos-CT10000018-1434746644580

Not sure if this applies to your TV, but check to make sure the ROKU Closed Captioning is enabled as well as your HDTV.

-Wolf sends