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Glasses

Closed caption Glasses
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(+6)
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Closed captioning is a wonderful tool for those who are heraring impaired- but these folks can't go see a movie because there is no closed captioning. They have to wait for the video.

What if there were a way to put some type of filter in regular eyeglasses that could reveal hidden closed caption text on the big screen?!

derrickm, Feb 08 2002

Self-explanatory idea names. http://www.halfbake...tory_20idea_20names
Something this idea is NOT. [StarChaser, Feb 09 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

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       Yay (for the long version)!
reensure, Feb 08 2002
  

       At the IMAX at the Smithsonian in DC, hearing-impaired viewers can borrow a pane of glass that mounts in a special part of the armrest. If the viewer mounts the glass so that they watch the movie through it and adjusts it properly, the glass will reflect an image of the text shown on a large LED screen at the back of the theater.   

       I.e., baked.
supercat, Feb 08 2002
  

       [supercat]: I do not consider the teleprompter-like setup you describe to be much like the steganographic-decoding glasses described in this idea. Somewhat related?  Yes.  Baked?  I say no.
bristolz, Feb 08 2002
  

       At the very least, cinemas should have a hearing loop installed.
DrBob, Feb 08 2002
  

       or a heraring loop. On a hearing aid - there are three positions, (O)ff - (T)elephone - (M)issionary - no wait - (M)icrophone. (T)elephone is also for theatres, churches, etc.. I never use mine.
thumbwax, Feb 08 2002
  

       please describe the telephone position a little fuller, please
po, Feb 08 2002
  

       'Steganographic' - by far, the best word I will read today.   

       How could this be done?
waugsqueke, Feb 08 2002
  

       This could be done with polarizing filters.   

       Normal light is randomly polarized. The naked eye cannot tell polarized light from unpolarized (well, some birds can, but that's a different thing).   

       Here's how you do it: The scene is projected normally, except for the areas that are parts of text on the screen. The areas of the film cell that are parts of text on the screen will be polarized horizontally.   

       To the naked eye, the text will be invisible. To someone wearing lenses that are vertically polarized, the horizontally polarized areas will be black. Therefore, by wearing the lenses you see the scene with black subtitles.
mwburden, Feb 08 2002
  

       Why not just put a second screen below the first?
Mayfly, Feb 08 2002
  

       That's what they do for opera, isn't it, surtitles?
pottedstu, Feb 08 2002
  

       The idea of using polarization might be reasonable if a few little issues could be dealt with. Of these, the most significant is the fact that any practical projector light source will emit non-polarized light, and polarizing it will result in the loss of half the projector's light output. Not only will this require the bulb to be twice as bright, but will also generate an incredibly huge amount of heat in the polarizer.   

       Additionally, while polarization of light is not in and of itself visible to the naked eye, the only way I can think of to have parts of the picture selectively polarized differently without affecting the brightness would be to pass the light through an LCD panel that had one of its polarizers removed. Because such a panel could not be in the same plane as the film [because it would get in the way] it would be necessary to add another set of lenses to the projector. Feasible, but expensive.   

       Finally, even if all those obstacles are dealt with, the text produced in this way would only be visible in parts of the screen that were light. In many cases, the only light parts of the screen are parts that one doesn't want to have covered up by subtitles.   

       For all these reasons, I think using a viewing glass to see an LED lightboard is a more practical approach.
supercat, Feb 09 2002
  

       why missionary, thumbwax?
technobadger, Feb 09 2002
  

       technobadger: It's a "position" that starts with the letter "m".
supercat, Feb 10 2002
  

       The theater I was in tonight advertised both closed captioning (for the hearing impaired) and video description (for the visually impaired). Maybe they already have something like that? (I found this site by googling to find out how it works. I would have asked the manager, but I had complained to him before the movie, so didn't think he'd feel like talking about a device I obviously didn't need.)
Piquan, May 27 2003
  

       //cinemas should have a hearing loop installed.//   

       Many do.   

       It's only a matter of time before some malicious joker finds a way of combining a pocket-sized hearing loop transmitter and a modem handshake tone or the sound of fingernails being dragged down a blackboard.
FloridaManatee, May 27 2003
  
      
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