Question:

Why is the closed captioning feature greyed out on my TV? How can I enable it?

Answer:

If the closed captioning feature is greyed out on your TV this means you are on an input that does not carry the CC signal. The only two inputs that carry the CC signal are the coax (RF) and the AV (composite) inputs. Any other input such as component or HDMI does not carry the CC signal so the TV cannot be set to display closed captionings. Although the TV cannot be set to to decode closed captioning any device on the market that can output through inputs other than coax (RF) and AV (composite) is required to include a decoder for CC. You can turn on this decoder in your external device and recieve CC on your TV. If you do not know how to turn on the closed captioning decoder please contact the manufacturer or service provider of that external device for further assistance.

Here is an example of the closed captioning option in the User Settings option of a Motorola set-top-box.