closed captioning ahead of audio

@Bulkington

Definitely, and more often than not the PBS programming.

@XfinityStephanieB
 
I sent a Direct Message as you described, and chatted with a rep there. A message was left yesterday saying "the ticket is still open and being worked on." I just checked the movies that had the issue I described, and so far nothing has changed. Meanwhile I got an email "Reminder To Accept Solution" telling me to go here and click "Mark as Accepted Answer". I find that irritating, given that the issue is as yet unsolved.

I just want to remind you and Xfinity as well that this issue doesn't just affect me... it effects EVERY XFINITY CUSTOMER that uses closed captions... and I imagine that must number in the thousands. I'd bet my life that others have called or chatted to complain, but hit a brick wall when no solution via those channels was available. I know because that's the first avenue I tried, and got nowhere - those reps treat problems in flowchart fashion as if the problem exists somewhere in the customers' homes or equipment. But as I have described, in this case it's a supreme waste of time because the problem exists not on your customers' end but on YOUR end.

I will NOT mark this as the Accepted Answer until someone gives me an answer that's acceptable... which obviously won't happen until the problem is FIXED.

Hi David, I wanted to follow up and let you know the ticket is still open. We will continue to follow up. 

@XfinityAshley  - above you will see that I was initially directed to start a chat via Direct Message, which I did. So far that has yielded no results. Several people have responded to that thread, but no one appears to be doing anything about it. The most recent rep, Amir, said, "After looking into this on my end I am not seeing that this is a wide spread problem so it's safe to say you and maybe a small handful of customers are/have experienced this, with that being said I'd like to isolate this problem so that we can find out what's causing the delay. To begin our journey could you please provide me with your full name and street address here?" I did provide that info, but as I said, that won't do any good. The problem is not in my home or on only my equipment. The problem is system wide. The problem is on YOUR end, not your customers' end. It's systematic. Anyone who turns on captions for certain On Demand programs is having the same issue. They begin in sync, and as the program proceeds, the captions get further and further ahead of the audio.... several seconds ahead. Go see for yourself. Watch "The Little Things" On Demand - turn on the captions, watch the beginning, then skip ahead to the end. Then tell me if I'm wrong.

Amir seems to think only "maybe a small handful of customers" have experienced this. But I'd bet that's because you've heard only a few complaints about it. And I would bet that the reason for that is because if they bothered to call or chat with customer service to fix it, they would have reached a dead end. And that's because your customer service assumes the customer's complaint is due to customer error or a problem with the equipment in the customer's home. They troubleshoot in flowchart fashion to try to solve the problem, but since this issue is YOURS and not your customers', that turns out to be an utter waste of time... which this has been for me so far: an utter waste of time. But I just figure I've come this far, so I might as well continue following up until something solves the problem.

@XfinityAshley I went to my computer, selected "The Little Things" On Demand, fast forwarded it to later in the movie, and took a video of it on my phone with the captions on so that you can see how far out of sync it is. Apparently this bulletin board doesn't allow attachments, so I had to upload it to Google Drive. Here's the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wDg9SBWdR2SbSCVSL5iuXjkOFl_klqaY/view?usp=sharing

Now try it on your end. If it happens on your end, too, then the problem can't be only mine... EVERYONE would have the same problem. I'm just apparently the only one who's trying to get you to do something about it.

I am so sorry, @user_cb0ef6 I am not quite sure what you mean. You are trying to watch live tv at someone else's home? What do you mean by "another provider" exactly? If you would like to talk to me directly, you can also send me a DM to let me help you. 

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@XfinityJosephB it's quite obvious that what user_cb0ef6 meant by "another provider" is another service provider; i.e., one of your competitors, such as Verizon Fios. And he's right... we pay a small fortune for Xfinity services, and you should be able to correct such issues.

Here's the latest, by the way. I used the Direct Message feature in the upper right as I was instructed. From August 6 to the present they have been ZERO help. Over a dozen different reps have seen the thread, and not a one of them were helpful.

I get that you've all been trained to follow a certain protocol in flowchart fashion, but sometimes you have to think and act outside the box.

One thing was clear: I would make no progress until I had a tech out to my home to see it for themselves. So, today a tech came, I showed him, he was pretty shocked, he tested my theory at other locations and found out I was correct: Xfinity has a system wide issue with CC getting several seconds ahead of audio on certain On Demand programs.

I've done about all I can now. I guess I'll just have to check in from time to time to see if the problem has been fixed.

@Bulkington , that's a good question.

Hey, @XfinityJosephB and @XfinityAshley and @XfinityStephanieK ...we, and probably hundreds of others, would like to know what progress has been made on this issue that affects ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS who turn on captions when they watch HBO On Demand. So far it appears nothing's been done.

@Bulkington i have same exact issue....i watch on my laptop, with headphones because it is easier to hear and see...this is beyond frustrating

@m4creations thank you, but don't get your hopes up. Reps in this thread @XfinityJosephB and @XfinityAshley and @XfinityStephanieK are ignoring me. Earlier on I was told to start a "direct message", which I did, and I've gotten nothing but lip service. 15 different reps have responded in that direct message thread, and every one of them acts like they're seeing it for the first time, saying they're sorry for my inconvenience and can they have my name and service address. Actual service on the issue has been non-existent.

@user_dc16f2 I am very sorry to hear you are having troubles with the closed captioning as well. We are here to assist. Are you still experiencing issues on AMC today? 

Hello! I am very sorry about the issues you have been experiencing. I'm happy to look into this for you! Could you please send me a private message with your full name and full address? Our team can most definitely take a further look at this issue.

@ef2000 yup.... the longer the affected program, the more out of sync the captions get. I'm sorry I'm not here to tell you it's been fixed. I've gotten the runaround about it for months now. I'm told their working on it, and I understand they probably have bigger fish to fry and are short-staffed like everyone else, but for it to play out for this long and not set expectations with customers is completely unacceptable. At the very least they should include some message on our monthly statements explaining they're aware of this issue and it may take some time to resolve.

Meanwhile I suggest you set your DVR to record it instead of watching it OnDemand. Affected programs that I have watched appear to be unaffected during the course of real time programming. The Sopranos is one such program, but HBO ran a marathon of the entire series to promote "The Many Saints of Network", so we managed to get all episodes on our DVR. It used surprisingly little space, and the captions are perfect. Also, apparently captions are supposedly in sync when you watch them on demand within the production company's app (in this case HBO... in your case AMC if they have their own app) vs. Xfinity OnDemand. I hope that helps.

I'm truly sorry to hear this is happening @user_2138dc.

The best thing we can do is to gather information from the customers experiencing this issue so that we can create tickets, it's documented and the teams that work on the captions and/or syncing can do so. We want to get this resolved for you and everyone in this thread! We understand how important the closed captions are! 

If anyone in this thread has not already tried the following steps, please do so: 

Audio Doesn't Match Picture

To troubleshoot this issue:

1. Verify/disable the SAP/MTS switch for the TV, DVD, VCR or other connected device.
   • Locate the device's SAP or MTS setting. This could be:
     • A button on the device's remote (not the universal remote).
     • For TV Adapters using the TV Adapter Remote, press the LANG button.
     • For TV Adapters using the XR2 remote, press the xfinity button, highlight Audio Preferences, then press OK to change the language preference.
     • An SAP, MTS, Stereo/SAP, or Stereo setting in the device's onscreen guide or menu selection.
     • An SAP or MTS toggle switch on the TV, VCR, etc.
   • For SAP or MTS, change the setting to Off or Normal.
   • For Stereo/SAP or Stereo, change the setting to Stereo or Normal.
   • If you have multiple devices connected between the TV Adapter or TV Box and the TV, it may be necessary to check the settings on each connected device.
2. If the issue is still occurring, verify the Default Audio Track setting on the video device guide.
   • For TV Boxes:
     • Go to the Main Menu.
     • Select Setup.
     • Select Audio Setup.
     • Set the Default Audio Track to the desired language.
   • For TV Adapters with an on-screen guide:
     • Press the INFO button.
     • Highlight Setup and press 5 or ENTER.
     • Highlight Audio Setup.
     • Select the desired language.

If these issues do not resolve the syncing issue, please use the instructions listed earlier in this thread to send us a direct message so that we can begin the process of opening a ticket. 

@XfinityGina firstly, I appreciate your offering a fix. However, your replying only to this one user in the thread means he/she's the only one who saw it. I started this thread, and I'm only just seeing your solution for the first time. Next, your solution is to make changes on the set top box. But as I have said many times, it's not just the set top box, and it's not just any one person's home. The issue is not just on TV set top boxes... it's everywhere: on phones, on tablets, on computers... everywhere. This has already been verified by me and even by Xfinity employees. I demonstrated it at an Xfinity store on YOUR own system. Everything about this issue suggests that it's system wide, and not a problem that your customers can fix on their end. You (Xfinity) have to fix it on yours, period. Stop putting the onus on us to fix it, because we can't. If you really want to help, then read the entire thread to know what's going on, and see the Direct Message thread I already started months ago (that's also going nowhere) for more details.

@fish3792 thanks for the kind words. Much to my surprise, I see that the issue has finally been fixed on two movies ("Let Him Go" and "The Little Things") that I had initially specified as examples of the issue. The last time I checked them was not more than a few weeks ago, so it's a recent fix. But I have no idea as to the how many programs have been fixed overall.

Hi, @fish3792. I am sorry to hear your issues are still ongoing. Are you noticing this with all content, certain shows, movies etc? Have any of steps listed on this thread helped at all? 

@user_91f566

That’s great that two of the programs you specified have cleared up! Will you let us know if you continue to see this on other programs, please?

@XfinityDevinC as a matter of fact, yes... I noticed the issue yesterday with "Hitman" OnDemand.

Forgive me for saying that Xfinity reps here... and in Direct Message where I also have a very long thread on this issue... are handling this issue all wrong. I've seen you all putting the onus on your customers to troubleshoot and correct this, and to report the issue because, as I've seen reps say, the more tickets, the more action. It is not your customers' responsibility to fix your issues. The responsibility is yours.

I can't be more clear about what the problem is. I can't be more clear about the fact that the issue exists not just on my own personal set top box, but also on every device, and not just in my home, but everywhere. I HAVE PROVEN THIS TO XFINITY EMPLOYEES. The issue is SYSTEM WIDE. There is NOTHING your customers can do to fix it. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN FIX IT. It affects ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS, and I'm sure that THOUSANDS of them turn on closed captions while watching OnDemand. Just because you're only hearing from a few of us, doesn't mean the problem is only happening for us. It's happening for everyone.

Go see for yourself. Watch "Hitman" OnDemand here https://www.xfinity.com/stream/entity/4974792491557135112 - you'll see that at the start of the movie caption are in sync, but as you go closer to the end the captions get several seconds ahead of the audio. How am I supposed to fix that on my end? I can't. Xfinity has to track down the problem, and fix it themselves.

@user_91f566

Thank you for reaching out to our Xfinity Support team, here, on the community forums. We always want to foster a positive and kind atmosphere here in the Xfinity Forum. Please keep the first rule of our forum guidelines in mind when posting.

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@MissZari

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