Why do the captions appear after the words are spoken?
Realtime captions will always be delayed a few seconds. The network sends a live feed out to the caption writer, who creates the captions using stenography machines and sophisticated software. The captions are then sent back to the network to be added to the video signal and broadcast to the viewer. Because the writer is listening and then typing, there is an inevitable delay. Offline captions for pre-recorded TV shows are created with frame accuracy and should be synchronized with the dialogue as it is spoken. However, the video signal passes through many devices on its way to your eyeballs, and each one is capable of delaying the captions a few frames. And if the program is edited before the captions are synchronized with the master tape, that can throw off the caption timing. If there is a repeated issue, contact the network or cable provider and ask them to look into it.
