CEA- 608 and CEA- 708 captions are legal standards for closed captioning in the United States. Learn more about these formats and how they are streamed.

1. CEA-608&CEA-708
CLOSEDCAPTIONS
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2. INTRODUCTION
There are millions of people who consume content over the
internet every day, especially after the pandemic. Video is the
most popular online format. According to Oberle, the current
global average of video consumption per day stands around 84
minutes in terms of daily usage. The most popular video content
type is music videos, followed by comedies, memes, how-to-
videos, educational videos, product reviews, gaming videos, and
influencer videos and vlogs.
According to the WHO, over 5% of the world population, which is
about 430 million people are hearing-impaired. They fail to enjoy
the online video content thoroughly. Inclusivity starts with
adding captions and subtitles as they aid a parallel reading
version to the deaf or hard-of-hearing. Let us in this article
discuss closed captions and subtitles and the need for CEA- 608
and CEA- 708 captions in your videos to make your content
completely accessible to worldwide audiences. www.captioningstar.com

3. Captions are time-synchronized speech-to-text conversions of the
audio content. Captions, also known as timed-text files, include non-
speech elements like sound effects, music, audience reaction, speaker
identification, and other sonic information. Including these non-
speech elements in your captions increases the accuracy and
comprehension.
Captions assume that the viewer cannot hear. According to a study of
BBC television viewers, 80% of caption users are not hard of hearing
or deaf. They can be not-yet-fluent English speakers, hearing-impaired
individuals, and people with auditory processing disorders and can
experience listening fatigue. This can inhibit their understanding and
limit their participation.
Captions can be broadly classified as Open and Closed captions. Open
Captions are added to your video file or media player where viewers
have no option to turn it on and off. On the other hand, Closed
Captions can be turned on and off, and the user has full control over
his viewing experience. Most TV shows, educational videos, events,
and meetings prefer closed captions as they can be enabled and
disabled when needed. The roll-on and the pop-up captioning styles
are the two types of closed captions. Closed captions are an ideal
choice when multiple speakers appear on the screen.
What are Captions and
Closed Captions (CC)
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4. CEA 608 & CEA 708 CAPTIONS
In several countries, captions are mandatory by law. All television broadcasts,
especially those in the United States, must have closed captioning. Both CEA- 608
and CEA-708 are standards used for closed captions in broadcasting television.
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5. CEA stands for Consumer Electronics Association. This CEA is
now called CTA- Consumer Technology Association. EIA is
Electronic Industries Alliance that first developed standards
for captions. The EIA is no longer active.
Both CEA-608 and CEA-708 are legal laws governing closed
captioning of TV transmissions in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Both standards, though, are widely applied everywhere.
What is CEA?
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6. CEA- 608 CAPTIONS
The CEA-608 standard, also known as EIA-608 or “Line 21”
captions, is an earlier one that was created in response to legal
actions and legislation aimed at ensuring that TV shows are
accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Television
Decoder Circuitry Act’s enactment in 1990 solidified this standard.
For a smooth transition from 608 to 708- analog to digital, 608
captions are still in use. They can be identified with their
customary appearance, which consists of black box backgrounds
and uppercase white lettering.
608 captions are encoded in Line 21 of the analog TV signal and
are viewable with only a decoder. Broadcasters cannot customize
the font, positioning, and text sizes as they are fixed. Also, these
captions can be transmitted in two fields, which means captions
could be broadcast in two languages simultaneously. Generally,
the first channel is used for English, while the second is used for
Spanish.
As digital TV grows more widespread, CEA-608 is becoming less
common because it doesn’t follow the most recent rules in the US.
They do not comply with the FCC’s latest closed captioning
requirements that were introduced in February 2014.
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7. CEA- 708 captions are the new standard for closed captioning for
ATSC digital television streams in the United States and Canada.
The 708 captions follow more advanced standards than the 608
captions. These captions rule out the limitations of 608 captions
and also adds a new range of features to them. This contains a
larger selection of character sets, simultaneous support for
several caption languages, and caption positioning choices.
The viewer is free to choose from 8 font options, 3 text sizes, 64
different text colors, and 64 background colors. The 708 captions
do not block important on-screen information when considering
positioning, which is crucial according to FCC regulations. The
background opacity, text edges, and drop shadow can also be
customized.
These captions are embedded through MPEG-2 streams in the
picture user data of the digital television. This can also be called
as DTVCC transport stream. CEA-708 supports all special
characters and thus, captioning can be done in any language.
CEA- 708 CAPTIONS
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8. A DETAILED DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN CEA-608 AND 708
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9. CLOSED CAPTIONS AND
SUBTITLES FROM
CAPTIONINGSTAR
Looking for an accessibility partner who can support you with
CEA- 608 and CEA- 708 Captions?
Without a second thought, hire CaptioningStar for all your
captioning needs. We offer you other alternatives for closed
captions by extracting CEA- 608 and 708 from h.264 packages.
Hassle-free television broadcasts that accommodate any
caption file format of your choice, like the WebVTT or SRT
format that most video players support.
We also give you several other options to promote and
distribute your broadcasted videos. Restream on several
other platforms to broaden your audiences. Contact us if you
have specific requirements to broadcast your content. We
come up with the best solutions, technology, and tools!!! www.captioningstar.com

10. THANK YOU
108-44 63rd Rd, Queens, NY 11375
(707) 200-4628
info@captioningstar.com
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