The “Subtitles” function (the morally outdated name is “Teletext”, although some interpret the term somewhat differently) is widely used in modern television. Usually, a test that duplicates human speech, sounding in the original language (different from the language selected by the user as the main one in the settings of the television receiver), is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Subtitles often show the name of the current program and its summary, announce future TV shows.
Displaying subtitles in general is a very handy tool that allows some categories of users to make it easier to watch video content. For this reason, almost all models of modern TVs are equipped with similar functionality. Although subtitles are not to their liking, they cover part of the screen, distracting from viewing. The problem is that not everyone knows how to turn on and off the display of text. We intend to close this knowledge gap for those of our readers who are interested in it.
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How to show subtitles on TV
When a new film comes out, getting it translated is not an easy task. It is even more difficult to voice it in your native language, so often new films are first provided with subtitles, and only then dubbing appears. Although many moviegoers prefer watching it in the original language in order to feel the emotions and play of the actors. Some people improve their knowledge of English in this way, because there is no better practice than listening to speech from native speakers.
Subtitles are the only option for people with hearing aids. Finally, subtitles can be present as a way of dubbing TV programs in the state language.
Controlling subtitles on most modern TV receivers is simplified as much as possible, you can change the display status in a few clicks using the remote control buttons. However, the problem is that, firstly, many simply do not know about such a possibility. Secondly, there is no generally accepted standard in this matter, and each manufacturer solves the problem in its own way.
Usually on the TV remote there is a separate button that allows you to turn off / on the subtitles on the TV, be it LG, Philips or Samsung, with one press. But it can be called in different ways. More often – Subtitle, there is also a variant of Sub-t or just Subt. Using this button, you can not only turn on / off, but also adjust the subtitles on the TV. For example, enable the automatic dubbing function if there is a track in a foreign language in the video file you are watching. As a rule, when you press the button, a submenu appears, in which you can set the default subtitle language, configure the display settings (size, font type, where to display the screen).
If you have a Smart TV, these settings are available in the menu, usually the menu item is called “Additional controls”, where you should look for the sub-item “Subtitles”. Here you will have additional options for managing text content for maximum comfort while watching TV.
Whether to use these opportunities or not is up to you. As we have already noted, some do not like this function, and if subtitles were enabled by default or by someone else, the opposite problem arises – how to disable the display of subtitles.
How to remove subtitles on the TV screen
On old TVs, you just need to press the corresponding button on the remote control. On new ones, the button may not be there, so the function must be disabled through the menu, but it is different for all manufacturers. But what about the manufacturers – for different models it can differ dramatically!
And even for a specific model, it all depends on the firmware version, which for top models of popular brands is updated with enviable regularity. So after the next firmware, a situation may well arise when you need to deactivate the display of subtitles, but how to do this, you need to find out in a new way because of the changed control program.
Therefore, we will consider how to perform this action on TVs of popular brands.
How to Disable / Enable Subtitle Display on Samsung TV
There is no single recipe. The easiest and most obvious way is to use the Subtitles button. If there is none (or instead of the inscription on the remote control there is a pictogram, the meaning of which is not obvious), you can try to use the following recommendations:
- we use the TV remote control to call the menu;
- arrow to the right go to the item “System”;
- in the new menu, select the “Subtitles” tab;
- a slider will appear that needs to be switched to the Off position.
The effectiveness of this method for TVs of this brand is about 90%. If you are watching a movie that was previously downloaded via torrents and recorded on a USB flash drive, then the TV menu will not help here. To remove subtitles, you must use a dedicated application. If the text is embedded in the video sequence, then such subtitles cannot be disabled on the Samsung TV – just look for the same file, but without them.
How to turn off subtitles on LG TV
On TVs of another well-known South Korean brand, subtitles are turned off in the same way: either by pressing the remote control or by activating the corresponding menu item. The latter option is only available for Smart models.
The button only allows you to turn on and off the display of text at the bottom of the screen, no additional functions are provided. But they are available through the menu, for which you need to click on the left arrow icon (it is located on the right side of the screen in the central part of it). A menu should appear with basic TV controls. We are looking for the SUB item, click on it and select the “Disable” option. Here you can, in addition to enabling / disabling teletext, control the color and font size, customize the target language, and even synchronize it with the video sequence in case of mismatch.
Note that the button responsible for turning off subtitles (it may be called Subtitle, less often – Sub-t) is not available on all remotes for TVs of this brand.
How to turn off subtitles on a Sony TV
Again, it is easiest to use the Subtitles button if you have one on your TV remote. If it is old, it is likely that you are using a non-native remote control – in this case, the functionality of the button is not guaranteed.
If you are viewing content recorded on a flash drive, the remote control button will also be useless. But the situation is manageable: you just need to stop the video sequence by clicking on the pause icon, then select the Title List item and turn off the subtitles, and then continue watching by pressing Play.
This method will not help if you are watching content from streaming services like Youtube or Netflix. But even here the situation is not hopeless, you just need to use the menu of the application itself, in which there should be a way to turn off the teletext display.
It must be admitted that on Sony Bravia TVs, the ability to turn off subtitles is not implemented in software for all types of video files. This is mainly due to the restrictions regarding the region of viewing the content, the peculiarities of regional legislations in this matter.
How to remove subtitles on Xiaomi TV
The young Chinese brand only produces Smart-TV, so you won’t see conventional remotes with many buttons. This means that switching off the teletext function is only possible via the menu. It is performed as follows:
- call the settings menu (gear icon);
- in the TV item we run all the channels down to the stop until the Subtitles item appears;
- press the OK button;
- a new menu will appear, in which we are interested in the sub-item “Main subtitle language”, select it;
- now you need to scroll down a decent list of available languages, at the end of which there will be the coveted “Off” option.
This is an example of disabling digital subtitles on Xiaomi TVs. With regard to analog, then the corresponding item must be found in the “Teletext” submenu. There is another archaic way to disable it – go into TTX and dial 100 (to enable – 888) and then press TTX again.
How to turn off subtitles on your Toshiba TV
The TVs of this brand use their own original way to turn subtitles on / off. This can be done in two ways – with the remote control and directly on the control panel.
The latter method is rare, so let’s start the description with it:
- on the switched on Toshiba TV, switch to the channel on which the program with subtitles is currently being played;
- look for the C button on the front control panel, usually located directly under the screen; if the inscription CAPT 1 appears, it means that you have turned on the display of the text “;
- when pressed again, “CAPT 2” may be displayed, indicating that you have chosen to turn on subtitles in a language other than the first. Unfortunately, which language will be used, you can find out only when you exit the settings;
- press the C. CAPT button again until the OFF appears, which means that you have turned off the teletext display.
If your TV receiver does not have a C. CAPT button, you can do the same with the remote control:
- again, on the TV turned on, we are looking for a channel with subtitles;
- we are looking for the CAP / TEXT button on the remote control, press it;
- if the inscription CAPTION CH1 appeared on the TV screen, we turned on the display of text in the first available language;
- you can select another language by pressing the button again, or by pressing numbers 1 or 2;
- to turn off subtitles, press the CAP / TEXT button until the text disappears from the screen.
Disable subtitles on Philips TVs
On regular Philips TVs, you need to use the Subtitle button on the remote to cancel the teletext display. The name may be different, depending on the country for which the TV was produced. You can clarify this point by looking at the documentation.
As for new models, including those with the Smart prefix, here to disable subtitles, you need to do the following:
- go to the TV settings through the Menu button;
- using the arrow to the right, look for the Features item (if the menu is in Russian – “Functions”);
- a vertical menu will appear, which we scroll to the Closed Captions item;
- go to the right, and then with the down arrow select one of two possible values: On, if you need to enable subtitles, and Off – to disable them;
- Press the Menu button to memorize the setup and exit the Philips TV setup mode.
As you can see, despite some differences, the essence of the algorithm for enabling / disabling the display of subtitles is the same on all TVs, you just need to find the corresponding item in the menu if there is no special button on the remote control.
As for TVs of other brands, it is not a pleasant experience to provide a description of the procedure for numerous Chinese brands, including young and little-known ones. It is hoped that you will be able to figure this out on your own, including with the help of the user manual.
If you did it, share your experience with others, we only welcome such comments. And for those who have not been able to enable or disable subtitles, we also advise you to take the opportunity to describe the problem in the comments indicating the brand and model of your TV, and you will certainly be helped.