Flashing Close Captions

[Diane MacMartin]

We have an approx 1.5 year old Pioneer Elite large rear projection tv
(maybe 58", HDTV-ready).

For about 4 months now, every few minutes on some channels, whether
watching satellite or antenna, the closed captions flash on and off
very briefly. It tends to happen much, much less on digital channels,
and very frequently on off-air channels.

There is separate cabling for our satellite receiver and our antenna.

It never happens on DVDs (but the subtitling mechanism must be totally
different, in any case).

The repair guy just said it is coming from the signal but I DON'T BUY
THAT! If I am watching a show that I've taped, and it happens, and I
rewinde the tape, I don't see the flashing happening in the same
place.

Any ideas? Weak connections somewhere? (we have a couple of splitters
in the line, but why should this start happening on both satellite and
antenna at exactly the same time.) I'd like to get the repair guy
back, but without more information he won't have a clue what to do.

Thanks so much!
Diane
d_macmartin at yahoo dot ca

 

[Elmer Bataitis]

We have an approx 1.5 year old Pioneer Elite large rear projection tv
(maybe 58", HDTV-ready).

For about 4 months now, every few minutes on some channels, whether
watching satellite or antenna, the closed captions flash on and off
very briefly. It tends to happen much, much less on digital channels,
and very frequently on off-air channels.

Hmmm, have you tried putting a piece of tape over the tv set's IR
receiver to eliminate IR noise as a possible cause?

**********************************************************
Elmer Bataitis "Hot dog! Smooch city here I come!"
Planetech Services -Hobbes
585-442-2884
"Proudly wearing and displaying, as a badge of honor,
the straight jacket of conventional thought." - C.
Cagle
**********************************************************

 

[Bill Jr]

You may be best served to contact a local authorized Pioneer service center.
Give them the model number and a description of the symptoms and see if they
have any service bulletins related to this behavior. Sometimes this is the
only way to get your problem resolved.

Good Luck,
Bill Jr

 

[Diane MacMartin]

Hmmm, have you tried putting a piece of tape over the tv set's IR
receiver to eliminate IR noise as a possible cause?

Well we don't really watch enough TV to really test things out. The
problem may happen every 10 minutes, or sometimes not all evening.

Do you mean the remote-control sensing area? We'll try that - but the
captions flash far more quickly than would be possible using any known
buttons on the remote; the only signal to turn them on (other than
mute but the sound doesn't mute) goes through a couple menu items. And
then off again, doesn't seem possible.

Also there are no other issues. If spurious noise were a problem
(intriguing idea) would we not notice channels flipping or sound
up/down or something?

 

[Diane MacMartin]

You may be best served to contact a local authorized Pioneer service center.
Give them the model number and a description of the symptoms and see if they
have any service bulletins related to this behavior. Sometimes this is the
only way to get your problem resolved.

Thanks - the repair guy was an authorized Pioneer serviceman (it's
still under warranty) and didn't seem to know that much. We'll follow
up though.

 

[David]

Do you have ANY closed captioning feature turned on?
Does that set have the XDS extended data service feature built in that shows
the channel network and program material on screen? If yes the cable signal
is causing the problem due to what the tv stations are sending out, or you
have ghosting images in your antenna system.

David