I bought one of these last year and love it. But yesterday I was recording to the HDD when the closed-captioning appeared on the screen - and the recordings. Anyone know how to disable this? I don't recall enabling it and I can't find anything on it in the manual.

Sounds like your TV's CC is on since they won't display unless TV CC decoder is on.

While on the subject of Pioneer DVD recorders, does anyone know if the Canadian Pioneer DVR-560/660 models have line 21 closed captioning decoders? The specifications I have seen for these units do not mention closed captioning.

As wajo says, display of closed captions is done by the TV set, not the DVD recorder. So either the station was broadcasting hard captions (ie, they're actually embedded as a part of the picture that was broadcast) or your TV has somehow decided to start showing them. Most TV's automatically show closed captions when you use their "mute" button.

Note that closed captions are different than DVD subtitles. The display of DVD subtitles is turned on and off at the DVD player, not the TV. The Pioneer will display DVD subtitles from pre-recorded discs, but you can't record them.

Since no one knows yet if the the TV tuner on the new Pioneer 560/660 series of HDD/DVD recorders recognizes closed captioning in analog TV broadcasts and, therefore, on VHS tapes recorded from material with closed captions, I will make my guess on the first poster's problem. The 550 owner should pull out the unit's plug from the wall, to discharge any static electricity buildup in the unit. Unless someone else has been fooling around with the unit or the TV, closed captions should not start appearing on their own.

The overseas model Panasonic EH-67 I have won't record the closed caption information on old VHS tapes I made which have closed captioning. The Made in China Pioneer 2008 units may not have the ability to record closed captions, a fact I want to find out about.