Caray, Caray!

Thank you Ferro!

from viewer of Univision on Cablevision in Dutchess County, NY
 

Ferro: Thanks for making this more public. I'm on DirecTV and captions work on just about everything but the novelas I watch on Uni.
 

I'm on AT&T Uverse, so far we have three different providers all with the same problem. Any Comcast viewers out there having issues?
 

I haven't had captions on Univision even when I was with Time Warner.(they seemed to have disappeared about a year ago) Now with ATT and STILL no captions. But Telefutura has them. I am pretty annoyed with Univision!
 

By the way, I forgot to mention that I get ATT from Austin, TX.
 

I get Dish Network on satellite here in Albuquerque/Santa Fe area and the captions on Univision are sometimes delayed in the last few months. But with the digital broadcasting changes I wonder if there is a connection with those changes. Is Univision having trouble? I have been frustrated with Telemundo forever, they appear in blocking garble virtually all the time.
 

Cheryl that's true - I have had problems getting anything but random symbols on Telemundo on both Comcast and Uverse. It doesn't seem like it should be so hard, but I don't know anything about caption technology.
 

Yep, I've got Comcast and I'm watching the Boston (really Worcester, I think) station WUNI 27.

The captions are nuts during MEPS, at least, for a week or two. I'm not sure how long. I taped the Pobre Millonaria final on March 9 and those captions are fine, so either the problems are very recent, or not all shows have been affected.
 

I noticed it starting this Monday, March 16.
 

I'm on Comcast in Baltimore. My captions on Univision are about 10 seconds behind, and they leave out a lot. Last week (3/13) they were fine, and I don't usually use them, so I don't know when this started, but it could have been 3/16. However, Telemundo is also about 10 seconds behind. Telefutura works fine.
 

I have Comcast and for me it's just been this week that the captions have been consistently awful and incomplete. In the past, it was just occasionally that I would have no captions for one day which may have just been something glitchy with my cable service or settings or something.
 

I agree with the caption problem. I have DirecTV in California. The Univision captions are terribly delayed and whole sentences deleted. It wasn't like that for FELS; I only notice it recently on MEPS. I have NEVER had any problem at all with Telemundo captions; they work perfectly.
 

I watch via Time Warner Cable, the Univision station is in Fayetteville NC. My captions haven't been working correctly for months, and now they are useless.
 

Here are some of the comments the last two days on the subject:

I'm also waiting for your recap cuz I don't have captions so I don't know if I understood everything.
Liena, FL
==========
There were little things here and there I missed, what with the captions being so messed up.
==========
It's so muffled, though, it's a wonder any of us understood any of it!! Very frustrating!! 10 sentences behind and half of those go missing anyway, and then crummy acoustics and all. Tonight was even worse! I have to go back two or three times over a scene when normally I never have to anymore. GRRR!
==========
I've given up on the CCs for now. Thanks Looney-vision.... (NOT!)
==========
I will probably be a better person after this novela is over if the captions continue to have dementia. Meanwhile, I’m wading through it all without my safety net.
==========
The caption situation has gotten so bad that I'm just going to turn them off tonight and see how well I can live without them. There's no point in waiting for the caption for what you just heard if reading it means that you won't hear what they're saying... and a lot of lines are just getting dropped anyway.
==========
I've been leaving the captions on but not relying on them because it's too distracting and annoying.
==========
Thanks recappers--especially during these days of crappy captions!
==========
Recapping without working captions? Te saludo, Pasafino and the rest of the recappers.
 

I forwarded this list to an engineer at my local univision in fayetteville, he says he'll try to find out what's going on. In the mean time, if anyone else can post locations and providers with messed-up captions, that would be helpful.
 

Comcast in Nashville, TN ... Univision captions have been awful for the past week or two. Fallout from the economic crisis? Can't pay the caption people?
 

I live in New York City and get Univision via Cablevision. I didn't notice there was a problem, a delay, until today as I can follow the novelas fairly well now without the captions. But if I were recapping, I'd be screwed.
 

I'm guessing that we all get the same closed captions. Since these shows are taped, I would think there would not be a problem with the CCs being synchronized with the dialog. In fact I believe many times the CCs are made from the written script as frequently the CCs don't exactly match what is being said. Now of course the CCs of live broadcasts such as the news it's a different matter. I'm amazed how well the CCs track with the broadcast. The CCs are very useful but since I discovered them only relatively recently, I consider them something of a luxury or bonus. In any event, the current situation is an annoyance.

For an interesting experience, some night watch Jay Leno with the Spanish CCs(CC2). At times the translations are hilarious.

Carlos
 

I've been in contact with William Acevedo, a very helpful engineer at Univision in Fayetteville. He is forwarding our complaints on up the company chain and hopefully somebody can explain what's going on. In the mean time, if you Google "univision captions," THIS POST by Chris comes up first!! Heh.
 

Awesome. I hope I can raise awareness of this tragedy that has befallen us. I'd suggest making ribbons to wear to awards ceremonies to show how much we care, but there aren't any colors left.

Seriously though I will be extremely proud of myself if my griping started a chain of events that solves the problem.
 

Wow, Chris - good work! You're going to be a hero!!
 

Melinama and Ferro:

¡Muchos, pero muchos abrazotas a los dos! Thanks, Big Time!
 

I'm on Comcast in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area (Univision). Same problems. And the thing is, when I change channels, the crap continues with other shows.

WTH?
 

And thanks, Ferro and Melinama, for getting conversation going on this.
 

Thanks, everyone, I thought it was just me! I just got Tivo and I thought maybe that was the problem. Yes, bigtime delays here and a lot of stuff just chopped off or incorrect. Usually I try to wean myself off the captions anyway, I guess I'll just have to fast-track that this time. It's hard with MEPS, though, the actors talk so fast! I have Directv, so it's not just a cable issue. Hope they resolve it soon!
 

Same thing here in Hampton Roads, VA where we have Cox Communications as cable service provider.

And, hey, ya know what, Cox, Comcast, DirectTV, AT&T, et al.? No man with a new baby in his house needs this hassle!!

Hint, hint, Chris. How's the little one doing?
 

Wow...I thought it was just me. I am on the East coast with DirecTv. Captions work fine on every channel except Univision. They really are missing a lot of what is being said; and it's so hard for me to follow with the captions being so delayed from the conversations.

I hope they can correct this soon. This is too good of a story to have these interruptions. Thanks for sharing.
 

Susanna Jay: I did wonder if my DVR (similar to your TIVO) was part of the problem. I was very happy to find that it's not. :)

Some companies take care of their own captions, while some hire subcontractors to do the captioning for them. So it's really strange how this problem we're all having is SO widespread... ? Hm.
 

I have Comcast in Maryland. As I recall, when I started to watch MEPS, the captions were timed perfectly, but soon after that, there started to be a substantial delay. However, I've noticed that some of the commercials on Univision during MEPS have captions that are still perfectly timed (e.g., commercials for Old Navy and for Budweiser).
 

I have TimeWarner Cable in Rockingham, NC, with TW headquarters in Charlotte, NC. My captions on Univision are lagging at least 10 sec. or more behind. The show has already moved to the next scene before the captions are finished for the previous scene.
UniV is the only Spanish station we have; I haven't tried other channels to see if the same problem exists.
La Paloma
 

The little one is doing great, thanks for asking! She is almost 3 months old (born 12/31/08) and has the biggest cheeks ever. She just rolled over from her front to her back three times in a row today, so that milestone has been reached. She loves listening to music and of course Daddy is her favorite person ever (Mommy might not agree with that statement).
 

Awwwwww, Ferro. What a sweetie. :)
 

I'm on DirecTV in Seattle, and same problem---captions behind, whole sentences missing, or just plain WRONG...never seen anything like this. Budget cuts at Univision perhaps?

btw: Thanks to all the recappers. I've been a lurker for a couple of years (starting with Heridas de Amor), enjoying the amazing wit of all the contributors on Caray. But it took this caption issue to get me to post something.

Sonya
 

Sonya: Thanks for posting. Hope you'll post on the one of the recap pages, too.
 

Yes, Time Warner Columbus OH...exact same problem. Lagging captions, sentences missing.

And so happy to hear that the baby is doing well ,Ferro, and that you are her favorite person.

Have to see that my first grandchild, a little girl, showed a clear preference for men from the get-go. No strange woman could ever pick her up without a fuss but a guy, no problem! Now she's got a little brother and he seems to be more of an equal opportunity fella....except his favorite person in the whole world is his big sister.
 

I watched without captions last night, so I didn't check till now. Our captions (Time Warner NYC) are all messed up on Univision and affiliates, but not on other channels.
 

Hi,

I'm in the SF Bay Area and have Comcast, and starting Mar. 16 I've had the same problem with the captions--significant delays and missing sentences on the 2 Uni novelas I'm watching, Cuidado and Juro Que Te Amo. I ended up turning the captions off last week.
 

I think we can safely narrow down the beginning of the great Univision captions crash of '09 to Monday March 16. Melinama, this info might be useful to your contact. Obviously something changed in their caption tech or procedures that day and it screwed them up nationwide.
 

Adding frequency, Univision captions are delayed for me by almost 10 seconds, via Comcast in Seattle, WA.
 

We are in Portland Oregon, have Comcast. Univision caption has ben gone since at least mid March 09. Telemundo's caption is OK.