Subtitles- BBC-Iplayer

I'm confused so you are watching iplayer but don't have a smart tv? How? Or am i missing something.

tanith one does not need a smart TV to watch i player. Everything else, yes as far as I know.

Thanks Charleygirl we learn something new every day

Sometimes sub-titles are just not available. I was watching The House of Maxwell last night and couldn't find any subs.
Also, I hate it when subs are not blocked with a black background. Recently watched the french spy drama The Bureau (Now tv) and we had to sit a metre from the tv. To display unblocked subs across someone with a white shirt is horrendous to read.

Pepper. Try this. Bring up the playback menu by pressing enter/select, play/pause or arrow/direction buttons on your remote. Do you see a square speech bubble in the corner of your screen? When I watch iPlayer via Freeview it's top left on my screen but sets may vary. Use the arrow key to tab to the speech bubble and press enter. Choose which size and set to on. I hope this works for you.

Hi Oak, that was part of the instructions given on the 'Help' section, but no speech bubble and definitely no subtitles. I take it I will just have to learn to lip read. I am fortunate I am not totally deaf, but what about people who are? Yet another moneymaking ploy to get us all to buy Smart TVs, well they can s** off. It cost me enough when they got rid of analogue services.

No, Pepper. It's not about smart TVs. That's why I made a point of saying I was accessing iPlayer via Freeview. You don't need a smart TV to watch iPlayer. It could be a couple of things. You may need to retune Freeview or, if your set is old, it could be that the manufacturer is no longer providing updates to the Freeview software. Until fairly recently, I had an old Sony set which, when I bought it was state of the art and one of the first Freeeview ready sets. Twenty years on, I could only tune to a fraction of the Freeview stations available because Sony had stopped writing the software updates to support older sets. I couldn't even get iPlayer, for example.

I don't understand what you mean when you say it cost you when they got rid of analogue services. Those channels are now digital (DTV) but still come via a TV aerial or a freesat receiver. Do you mean you had to buy a receiver?

These might help:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/accessibility/using-subtitles

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/features/accessibility

Thank you all for your suggestions. The I-Player pages say they provide subtitles for some programmes. Fat lot of use that is. However, will just have to turn volume up and struggle. Nothing else to do. I do appreciate all your suggestions though.