Three's Company, HDMI, and Other Mysteries of Life

So last weekend I bought all 8 seasons of "Three's Company", fulfilling a lifelong ambition. I also purchased all 9 seasons of "The King of Queens" for like, $37 bucks, but that was secondary to my quest. It was "Three's Company" that was the prize!

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I was checking them out, only to find out - to my annoyance - that none of those sets have subtitles. Now this is a big deal in my house, because English is not my wife's first language. And I've come to love subititles, because they're great for watching stuff with volume low after kids have gone to bed. I'm so used to them now that shows and movies seem weird without them.

But not to worry, because they have Closed Captioning. At least, I thought they did. And they do, except that I discovered an uncomfortable truth: HDMI cables don't transmit Closed Captions.

It seems that there's no industry standard for HDMI to transmit Closed Captioning, so for the most part, CC doesn't work through HDMI. I tested this with my LG Blu-Ray player and HDTV, and found it to be true.

Undaunted, I dug through a bunch of old wires in my closet, rigged them up behind my TV, and found a solution. Here's what to do to get those pesky Captions to work:

1. Run old-school A/V cables (the red, white, and yellow) from your Blu-Ray player to your TV. I used an A/V switch as well, since I'm sharing that imput with a Wii.

2. Temporarily disconnect your HDMI cable from the Blu-Ray player, so the TV won't recognize that input.

3. On the TV, select A/V as the input. Then go into the settings and turn the captions on. And Voila! Closed Captions.

Then when you're ready to use the HDMI again, just plug the HDMI cable back into the blu-ray player, select that input, and you're good to go.

I was very happy to get those working again. The captions don't show the theme song though, so I'll just have to sing that out loud:

"Come and knock on our doooooor... We've been waiting for youuuuuuu...."

LOL

So problem solved, and all is right in the world. I'm glad that I can have it both ways, choosing between HDMI and non-HDMI.

This kind of reminds me of the time when John Ritter's ball sack got exposed on one episode, and wasn't noticed until a viewer spotted it on a Nick-at-Nite rerun 17 years later. I'm not kidding. I originally had the picture posted below, but that seemed a bit much, so you can just check out Snopes.com yourself if you really want to see it :)

Because of that, the network edited the episode, trimming out the unwanted testicle shot. And John Ritter's response to the controversy?

"I've requested that [Nickelodeon] air both versions, edited and unedited. Because sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't."

No word yet on whether or not the Scrotum-Sighting made it onto the DVD, but I will watch the set and keep you guys posted. Stay tuned.