QuickTime and Closed Captioning

August 08, 2006

Buried among the announcements for Leopard, the upcoming release of Mac OS X, is the news that the next version of QuickTime — probably either 7.5 or 8.0, depending how Apple decides to number it — will add support for analog closed captioned tracks (CEA-608).

If Apple’s smart, they will also add a simple mechanism for toggling text tracks on and off, much like the CC button on a remote control. Currently the user has to jump through hoops to change the visibility of text tracks, and it’s up to developers to provide custom fixes (like a button in a sprite track). A standard solution for this would be fantastic.