Accessibility option for toggling CC

[mnwxman132]

Excluding using the channels API, which works nice if you have a setup that can take advantage of that, I wish there was a simpler UI for toggling closed captions in the main UI for use with a IR remote.

As it stands, in order to automate turning on and off CC you need to create 4 separate sequences of key presses to turn on and off CC depending whether you are watching a recording or watching live tv.

Turn on CC while watching a recording
Turn off CC while watching a recording
Turn on CC while watching live TV
Turn off CC while watching live TV

I have implemented these on my harmony remote and it works OK - but it is clunky…. I have to remember which pair of on and offs are for live TV and which pair are for watching recordings.

Just wish there were a simpler place in the UI to toggle this….

[racameron]

If you are using a device and remote that can accept keyboard commands, the C key will toggle captions.

[mnwxman132]

Nah
Using the good old harmony 600/650…

[Fofer]

Same Harmony 650 remote here, with my bedroom TV, where Closed Captions get used most. And I feel your pain, been dealing with the same issue!

I was wishing that "Toggle Closed Captions" could be added to the "Remote Shortcuts" list, now that "Toggle Picture in Picture" has been added there too, in this thread:

Quicker way to get the closed captions on

Since my bedroom TV (where I use mute and closed captions most) has an IR remote, I was bummed by this answer back in August, but of course, understood your rationale. I hadn't returned to the Remote Shortcuts section in Settings since then. Today I scrolled all the way down, to happily discover additional commands have been added. I now see that "Toggle Picture in Picture" in the list of options, which is totally awesome! Thank you, this is a huge jump forward in usability. I…

Chime in and agree, maybe this can be added to help folks like us out.

[mnwxman132]

Yes I totally agree! Currently I use all four of the remote shortcut assignments and find them very handy.

I’m using red for live tv, green for toggle pip, yellow for guide, and blue for library. I use my red “ live tv” assignment the least, and would GLADLY replace that with a toggle CC option.

BTW, if you have an iOS device, l one thing I did was use the channels API interface. I created a toggle CC iOS shortcut for use with Siri on my iPhone. This works fantastic via voice command as long as the phone is on my local WiFi network.

This works great for me, except for the use case when I need to keep everything quiet in the room, like when I’m using headsets and not to disturb others. Yes, I could run the shortcut on my iPhone or iPad silently, but who wants a second “remote” to deal with.

[tmm1]

FYI you can also use the iOS remote app widget which lets you do track selection

[Fofer]

@mnwxman132

Yes I totally agree! Currently I use all four of the remote shortcut assignments and find them very handy.

I’m using red for live tv, green for toggle pip, yellow for guide, and blue for library. I use my red “ live tv” assignment the least, and would GLADLY replace that with a toggle CC option.

Well it appears my day has been made... hopefully yours too

@tmm1

Added for next testflight build.

Channels DVR's developers ROCK!

[mnwxman132]

Wow. That’s awesome. Made my day as well.

Thanks wholeheartedly @tmm1

[mnwxman132]

@tmm1 @Fofer I tried out the new tvOS TestFlight build and found the toggle cc option in the remote shortcut menu list. i was able to assign it, but I think the menu selection is actually assigned to the “guide” shortcut.

Thanks for such amazing developer responsiveness.

Edit: I thing there may be something else going on,, the toggle cc shortcut jumps to the guide guide when watching live TV, but it exits the recording when watching a recording, without jumping to the guide.

Hope this helps

[tmm1]

Okay, maybe works better in next TestFlight build.

[mnwxman132]

Tried latest build. When hitting the shortcut button on remote, there is a slight shudder of the video (just like turning on and off cc does by using the upper menu in the UI). However, still no toggle,

Also I upgraded to latest prerelease on the server (Mac mini running high Sierra)

Hope this helps

[mnwxman132]

@tmm1 @Fofer tested latest TestFlight 9.8.1542 with new cc toggle. Still has issues. Once hitting the shortcut, there is a pause in video up to a second or 2, but no toggle.

I also tried upgrading the server to latest prerelease.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help further. Keep up the great work.

Btw - I love the new on later features, especially the on later for a given channel via highlighting the channel logo the Apple TV guide.

[Fofer]

I get a very brief video pause (a second or two) but the new CC toggle shortcut does work.

I think a lot of this depends on the channel you’re on, and if the content has good/consistent CC data? Also sometimes the CC takes a few seconds to display after toggling it, but not always. Sometimes it’s immediate. But that was my experience with previous CC activation methods too.

[mnwxman132]

Hmm. So your seeing the toggle work. Are you on the latest server build? For that matter, for the TestFlight app should we always update the server to the latest pre release to do these tests?

I’m less concerned with the delay, which I have seen with manually turning on and off cc. But I can’t seem to get it to toggle at all. My other shortcuts, like toggle pip for example all work great..

[Fofer]

Yes I am using the latest prerelease of the DVR Server and the latest TestFlight of the client app on tvOS. And the new CC toggle, assigned to Yellow, is working for me.