[MPlayer-users] IVTV and Closed Caption

[Bryan Henderson]

In a web search, I just came across a posting of mine to this list from
February 2008, and for the benefit of others who may be searching the web,
I'd like to add the answer to my question to the list.

I said: 

> I'm trying to find a way to see the closed captions in the TV shows I
> record.  I've read all the Mplayer documentation and searched the web,
> but information on this is spotty.
> 
> IVTV devices are capable of embedding CC data in the MPEG streams they
> produce, in some format.  Is Mplayer capable of using that?

The basic answer is pretty simple: No, Mplayer does not recognize the IVTV
MPEG embedded closed caption information.

Mythtv appears to be the primary consumer of this data.  Ccextractor also
understands it and can extract it into a subtitle file that Mplayer can use,
so you can get the information onto an Mplayer screen that way.

But after ascertaining this, I went ahead and wrote a lot of code to make
Mplayer recognize the format in an MPEG stream and display the information
like a TV would (As opposed to as Mplayer subtitles).  In addition to the
captioning, it displays some of the XDS information (program name, length,
channel, etc.).  I have been using this in my custom-built TV recorder.

I am happy to share this Mplayer patch with anyone, but there are no plans
for it to be in future Mplayer distributions.

-- 
Bryan Henderson                                   San Jose, California