Sub-Title ( Closed Caption) Problems - Beyonwiz T4

[FrodoOne]

Using a Beyonwiz T4, on which the latest available upgrade of V17.5 is installed, as from Sunday 26 July 2020 it is noted that what one may describe as "Currently Generated" “Two –Line” sub-titles (as during "News" programs) received from both Channel 7 and Channel 9 (in Melbourne) are displayed with the “lines” concerned in reverse order.

To explain this further, the first line is at the bottom of the screen and the next line is above it, making it necessary to read “upwards” instead of “downwards”, as is normal in English.
(This occurs only when "Two-Line" subtitles are transmitted as a "block".
It does not occur if "two-line" subtitles "roll" - with a new line being placed on the top and the previous bottom line disappearing.)
This is occurring only on Channels 7 and 9, with the ABC, SBS and Channel 10 not affected - so far.

Further, it is noted that what may be described as “old subtitles” - such as those on some “commercials” and programs which have been recorded - are NOT (so far) affected, with these sub-titles being displayed correctly.

From this I must conclude that there has been a “technological change” in the manner in which these “sub-titles” are encoded by Channels 7 and 9 which is not compatible with the existing software of the Beyonwiz T4 (V17.5).

This problem does NOT occur on a Beyonwiz DP-P1, nor on the LG TV receiver which I am using when directly viewing the channels concerned, nor does it occur on several other (Panasonic) recorders used by acquaintances of mine.

While I do not know if it will be required that a modification be made to the Beyonwiz T4 software or that Channel 7 and 9 should go back to their previous encoding practices, I would hope that this problem might be resolved as soon as possible.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Using a Beyonwiz T4, on which the latest available upgrade of V17.5 is installed,

There's much newer firmware available, the 19.3-series 20191106, available from here - https://beyonwiz.com.au/downloads/
Save your settings prior to flashing via USB, and restore them afterwards.
I've no idea if this'll fix your subtitle issues though.

[prl]

I couldn't replicate the problem yesterday afternoon on the Canberra Seven News on Prime7 on on the Nine News on Nine, using firmware 19.3 20200504 (current beta).

But that might be due to either (or both) broadcast or firmware differences.

[raymondjpg]

From this I must conclude that there has been a “technological change” in the manner in which these “sub-titles” are encoded by Channels 7 and 9 which is not compatible with the existing software of the Beyonwiz T4 (V17.5).

This problem does NOT occur on a Beyonwiz DP-P1, nor on the LG TV receiver which I am using when directly viewing the channels concerned, nor does it occur on several other (Panasonic) recorders used by acquaintances of mine.

While I do not know if it will be required that a modification be made to the Beyonwiz T4 software or that Channel 7 and 9 should go back to their previous encoding practices, I would hope that this problem might be resolved as soon as possible.

I've seen this in videos played on MPC and Potplayer and IIRC it arises when the two lines are encoded with the same time stamp. I do not know why the second line appears first, but the fix for these players is to merge lines with the same time stamp using a utility such as Subtitle Edit.

That fix is not available to you in the T4 so the best course of action would probably be to see if a firmware update resolves it. The fact that it does not occur on a DP-P1, LG TV receiver or Panasonic recorders suggests that this two line issue has been around for a while and other devices can cope with it.