Subtitles, File Formats - OTA via HVR-1600

[Imaham]

My goal is to replace my VCRs with the HD300 Extender.

The Hauppauge HVR-1600 with WinTV 7 creates TS files from OTA ATSC broadcasts. I rip the subtitles and copy to a USB stick, which I plug into my late model Samsung TV (LN32C550). The TV then plays the TV program with subtitles. If I convert the TS to MPG (using the WinTV built-in application), the TV ignores the .srt file.

1. Does SageTV Media Center record OTA ATSC broadcasts from the HVR-1600 in compressed format (i.e. mpg) which allows ripping the subtitles to .srt files using CCextract, so that the HD300 can play them on the TV via the HDMI interface with subtitles, or is TS format required if .srt is used.

2. Does the HD300 create its own subtitles "image" from the .srt file, or does it use the subtitle fonts in the TV which are available to the USB drive. My TV-USB interface currently displays the Subtitle Fonts in white letters on a transparent background regardless of font color specified in CCextract. It would be nice to get yellow fonts, if that's possible. Or better yet, a black outlined font, white or yellow.

Jack