The InqScribe blog has moved. Newer posts are here.

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.