Finding captions on VHS tapes , DVDs, Web Media, Etc.

VHS Tapes

VHS tapes may have open captions (captions that are always visible) or closed captions.

Subtitles are an example of a type of open captions. They do not have to be turned on. They also cannot be turned off. They are part of the video picture itself.

Closed captions, on the other hand, can be turned on and off. They live between the lines of the picture itself on something referred to as Line 21. In order to take the captions from where they are hiding on Line 21 and  project them onto the video, a piece of equipment called a “decoder” must be present. The decoder “decodes” the hidden captioning information and puts it together into visible captions.

If the VHS tape has closed captions, then they just need to be turned on. Typically, this is a fairly simple matter when you are showing the tape on a television set. It is often easiest to access the captions with the TV remote, but most TVs have buttons on the front that can also be used to turn on the captions.

Be aware, however, that if the tape is being shown through an overhead projector, there may not be a decoder in the circuit. If there is no decoder, you will not be able to show your closed captions. Very few overhead projectors have decoders built in. When no decoder is in the projection unit, an external decoder will be required to turn on the captions.

DVD

DVDs may have true closed captions, coded on Line 21, and in that case, you will need a decoder to see the captions. DVDs may also have  something called Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

These captions are called “subtitles” for two reasons:

1. They do not live on Line 21 as true closed captions do.

2. They are formatted like subtitles are on VHS tape (no dark background behind the words).

Even though these captions are called subtitles, they can be turned on and off. These subtitles are created with individuals who are deaf/HoH in mind, so they are word-for-word transcriptions and do contain all the soundrelated information that standard closed captions would.

Web Media

Unlike DVDs and VHS tapes, captions on the Web exist in a separate file from the video and audio files. Multimedia on the Web is comprised of a number of separate files held together by something called a SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) file. The SMIL file is like a master controller that links all the pieces together.

The first issue with Web media is to ensure that all the pieces are together in one folder. If the files become separated, the SMIL file will not know where to look for all the pieces.

Displaying captions for Web media will depend on what program you use to view the media.

Tapes Recorded from TV

If you have recorded a VHS tape of a television program, the odds are very good that it is already captioned. As long as the original program was captioned, the tape will be captioned, as well. You do not have to have the captions turned on during the recording. Television captions live on Line 21, so when you capture the video stream, you also capture the captions. All you have to do is turn the captions on.