[johnsmale]

We recently purchased a new 32" Oceanic Plasma TV which operates well except for one really strange problem. We have both free to air TV as well as Pay TV which comes through a decoder box to the TV. After the TV was installed and up and running I noticed that when I changed channels to a Pay TV (Austar) channel that had closed captions or sub titles they appeared on screen. Thinking this was a decoder problem I phoned Austar and advised of my problem. Over the phone they lead me through various things to cure the problem all to no avail. An Austar serviceman has made two calls, replaced the decoder box and the Austar remote control and finally arrived at the conclusion that for some very strange reason the TV was 'picking up' the closed captions from Austar. At first this seemed impossible but he did prove to me (I think) that this what the problem is. His proof was to run the TV on a Pay TV channel and with captions and then with Austar remote turn the closed captions ON, when he did this 2 sets of captions appeared on screen with slightly different fonts, when he turned the captions OFF one set was gone. This only happens on Pay TV channels that have closed captions and does not occur when the F T A channels have closed captions. I have spoken to a few experienced TV servicemen and none have heard of this problem. Can someone please help. ??

[Drabdr]

That is an odd one. Have you checked the settings on the TV itself? It possibly has a closed caption option.

Does your "free" air channels and your "pay" channels come in on the same input? Maybe your TV has the choice to turn off/on based on the input.

Not really much help, here. Sorry But I should think you can turn that option off, and it should not be appearing.

[johnsmale]

Thanks Drabdr for your prompt reply. Yes a real odd one. The TV menu has an option for closed captions which is OFF. The TV has only one 75 Ohm VHF/UHF input which is the one being used. Next to this antenna input is one marked :- Coaxial (in DTV mode). I'm not sure what this for and it appears to accept the same type of plug as on the normal red, white and yellow audio cables but is colour coded black. The TV was not expensive and the operators manual leaves a lot to be desired. To further add to the confusion if I use a VCR to tape a Pay TV channel program the closed captions do not appear.
Both the TV and the decoder box have S Video sockets that are not in use.

From 'Alice in Wonderland' -----
“Alice: It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.”

[buffoon]

Originally Posted by johnsmale

Thanks Drabdr for your prompt reply. Yes a real odd one. The TV menu has an option for closed captions which is OFF. The TV has only one 75 Ohm VHF/UHF input which is the one being used. Next to this antenna input is one marked :- Coaxial (in DTV mode). I'm not sure what this for and it appears to accept the same type of plug as on the normal red, white and yellow audio cables but is colour coded black. The TV was not expensive and the operators manual leaves a lot to be desired. To further add to the confusion if I use a VCR to tape a Pay TV channel program the closed captions do not appear.
Both the TV and the decoder box have S Video sockets that are not in use.

From 'Alice in Wonderland' -----
“Alice: It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.”

Reckon the Austar captions are coming in at a certain frequency via the 75 Ohm from your box and the TV's off function doesn't extend to that frequency. Whether something is faulty or the TV's tuner won't do it by default I dunno. If both decoder and TV have S-Video you should try that.
S-Video splits signals up better whereas the VHF/UHF cable just pumps in a great soup.

Looks like your VCR flters it better.

The black coded DTV coax socket is either for an external input or an output to external, provided the external unit has the same connection.
It's digital.

[johnsmale]

Didn't have a S-Video cable so bought one, hooked it up with great hopes but alas no result. From here not sure what next other than a fire-cracker in each ear then I will really appreciate the closed captions. It's not going to beat me/us so will carry on.

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it.
Agatha Christie.