Subtitling

For years the five traditional TV channels – BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channels 4 and 5 – have carried some subtitled programmes. You just needed a TV that has teletext – you select page 888.

Here we give information about:
- Digital subtitles
- Kit with direct access to subtitles
- Kit which does NOT record subtitles

Digital subtitles

Whatever TV you’ve got and whichever way you go digital, you can get subtitles on a lot more channels. And the text looks different from teletext. Each broadcaster will have chosen its own size, shape and colour.

Ofcom sets and monitors targets for broadcasters. The current 10-year target is for 80% of programming hours to be subtitled.

Here are the free-to-air channels that are currently carrying the most programming with subtitles:

BBC1 and BBC2:
about 90%
ITV1, Channel 4 and Sky News over:
about 80%
Channel 5 over:
about 66%

In fact the BBC is committed to providing subtitles on all its programmes on these channels by 2008: BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, Cbeebies, CBBC and BBC News 24.

Broadcasters are also required to raise awareness of this service and to identify subtitled programmes with 'S' in on-screen TV Guides.

Kit with access to subtitles
All the products on test apart from Homechoice (now Tiscali) and the Thomson Top-Up-TV recorder (yet to be implemented) could display subtitles when they were broadcast.

Direct Access to Subtitles
Ideally remote controls should have a ‘subtitles’ button, otherwise subtitles are switched on and off via an on-screen menu – not so convenient.

Direct access subtitle button

To see test reports on products that have this use our Product Search and select ‘Subtitle button on remote’ as a search criteria.

Changing channels - do subtitles stay on?
Once subtitles have been selected, they stay on when you change channels with all the iDTVs EXCEPT the Humax LU26-TDI and Philips 26PFL5522D/05. With the digital recorders tested, all keep their subtitles on EXCEPT the BT Vision and Sagem DVR62160 SL-T.

Kit which does NOT record subtitles
Of the digital TV recorders we've tested only the following DO NOT record subtitles:
Thomson DT16300-16 (which doesn't yet display subtitles)

Back to top