Ever since I got my DVR, I've become a big fan of BBC America. Doctor Who, Torchwood, etc. What's not to like? The problem is that sometimes I don't quite catch all the words-- after all, they are speaking British. ;)
The BBC America PSA's suggest, in a way that is both helpful and cheeky, using closed caption to help decode the various dialects and accents. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Invoke the closed caption option on my TV, leaving the audio on, and all's well.
Except, ever since I had to redo the connection between my TV, DVD player and the DVR unit, I've never been able to get the closed captioning on my television to work properly. I think part of the problem is that I've got the audio portion of things routed through my DVD player's Dolby 5.1 speaker system rather than through the TV-- and the other part is that you need to be able to drill down in the TV menu settings to toggle the caption feature, but the "universal" remote doesn't seem to let me get into the TV menu. Or, if it does, I haven't found out how to do it with this particular remote.
The good news is that I have found a pretty slick workaround. One of the caption options on my television is "Activate CC w Mute"-- in other words, whenever the TV gets muted, the closed captioning comes on. There is actually a mute button on my universal remote, and that does "talk" to the TV set. It doesn't actually do anything, because remember that the sound is channeled through my DVD player now. So, now, whenever I hit the mute button on my universal remote, I get closed captioning.
Not too shabby, I guess. Although I have to admit it is a rather a clumsy workaround in terms of the label being misleading and all.