Category Archives: Special Focus: HI/VI

Exhibition equipment addressing the needs of the deaf, hard of hearing or visually impaired communities crosses boundaries, so editorially we will often use the common industry phrase 'HI/VI'. We don't mean it to be offensive and are aware of Agreement on Terminology.

Signing at the Movies

Closed Caption Reading Device
[At right: One of two brands of Closed Caption reading devices.]

Libras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinaisis) is the acronym for the Brazilian version of sign language for their deaf community. Libras is an official language of Brazil, used by a segment of the population estimated at 5%. The various technology tools to fulfil the sign language requirements are part of the evolving accessibility landscape. In this case, as often has happened, an entrepreneur devising a cell phone app was first to market.

The option of using cell phones seems like a logical choice at first glance, but there are several problems with their use in a dark cinema theatre. They have never been found acceptible for other in-theatre uses, and this use case is no exception. The light that they emit is not designed to be restricted to just that one audience member (as the device to the right does), so it isn’t just a bother for the people in the immediate vacinity – it actually decreases perceived screen contrast for anyone getting a dose of the phone’s light. Cell phones also don’t handle the script securely, which is a requirement of the studios which are obligated to protect the copyrights of the artists whose work they are distributing. And, of course, call phone all have a camera pointing at the screen – a big no-no for the same reason, but in spades.

But, the fact is, there are problems with all the various accessibility equipment offerings.

Accessibility equipment users generally don’t give 5 Stars for the choices they’ve been given, for many and varied reasons. Some of the technology – such as the tool to the right – requires constant re-focusing back-and-forth from the distant screen to the close foreground words illuminated in the special box mounted on a bendable stem that mounts in the seat’s cupholder. Another choice – somewhat better – is a pair of specialized glasses that present the words seemingly in mid-air with a choice of distance. While these are easier on the eyes if one holds their head in a single position, the words move around as one moves their head. Laughter causes the words to bounce. Words go sideways and in front of the action if you place your head on your neighbor’s shoulder.

[That is just the start of a litany of creditible issues, perhaps to be reviewed in another article. It isn’t only a one-sided issue – the equipment is expensive to buy, losses are often disproportionate for exhibitors, and the amount of income derived doesn’t support continuous development of new ideas for manufacturers.)]

These (and other) technology solutions are often considered to be attempts to avoid the most simple alternative. Putting the words on the screen in what is called “Open Caption”. OC is the absolute favorite of the accessibility audience. Secure, pristine, on the same focal plane, and importantly, all audiences are treated the same, dragging around no special equipment…but since words on screen haven’t been widely used since shortly after ‘talkies’ became common, the general audience aren’t used to them and many fear they would vehemently object. Attempts to schedule special open screening times haven’t worked in the past for various reasons. 

And while open caption might be the first choice for many, it isn’t necessarily the best choice for a child, for example. Imagine the child who has probably been trained in sign language longer than s/he has been learning to read, and who certainly can’t read as fast as those words going by of the new Incredibles movie. But signing, probably better.  

Sign language has been done for years on stage, alongside public servants during announcements, and on screen. So in the cinema it is the next logical step. And just in time, as the studios and manufacturing technolgy teams are able to jump on the project when many new enabling components are now available and tested and able to be integrated into new solutions.

These include recently designed and documented sychronization tools that have gone through the SMTPE and ISO processes, which work well with the newly refined SMPTE compliant DCP (now shipping!, nearly worldwide – yet another story to be written.) These help make the security and packaging concerns of a new datastream more easily addressible within the existing standardized workflows. The question started as ‘how to get a new video stream into the package?’, and the choice was made to include that stream as a portion of the audio stream. 

There is history in using some of the 8 AES pairs for non-audio purposes (motion seating data, for example). And there are several good reasons for using an available, heretofore unused channel of a partly filled audio pair. Although the enforcement date has been moved back by the Brazilian Normalization group, the technology has progressed such that the main facilitator of movies for the studios, Deluxe, has announced their capability of handling this solution. The ISDCF has a Technical Document in development and under consideration which should help others, and smooth introduction worldwide. [See: ISDCF Document 13 – Sign Language Video Encoding for Digital Cinema (a document under development) on the ISDCF Technical Documents web page.]

One major question remains. Where is the picture derived from? The choices are, 1) to have a person do the signing, or 2) to use the cute emoticon-style of the computer-derived avatar. 

The degree of nuance in signing is very well explained, with interesting and excellent allegory to music and other art, by the artist Christine Sun Kim in the following TED talk. She shows, as do the other links, that there is a lot of nuance conveyed by the entire signing body to get ideas across. Shouldn’t be surprising, since we know that very similar nuance is delivered and received with spoken word by body contrived tools such as tone, emphasis and inflections, nuance which isn’t transmitted well in written language. And similarly as we witness with Siri and Alexa, avatars transmit a very limited set of these nuance.

The realities of post production budgets and movie release times and other delivery issues get involved. The worst case is the day and date release which doesn’t get locked product until days before the release. This compresses the amount of time that it takes to get translations and captioning done to ‘beyond belief’ short. Signing translated from foriegn languages like Brazilian would then rely upon the translations. Fortunately, some of these packages can be sent after the main package and joined at the cinema, but either way the potential points of failure increase. Point being, getting a translation and letting an automated avatar program do the work may be the only way to get the product completed in a short amount of time, or within the budget of a documentary or other small budget project.

So, workflow sortig out. Delivery mechanisms are still a work in progress. Whether there will be more pushes for this technology from other countries is a complete unknown. There are approximately 300 different sign languages in use around the world, including International Sign which is used at international gatherings. There are a lot of kids who can’t read subtitles, open or closed. Would they be better off seeing movies with their friends or waiting until the streaming release at home?  

 
To get a different framing for 
 
<div style=”max-width:854px”><div style=”position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%”><iframe src=”https://embed.ted.com/talks/christine_sun_kim_the_enchanting_music_of_sign_language” width=”854″ height=”480″ style=”position:absolute;left:0;top:0;width:100%;height:100%” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
 
 

Link to ASL page for Cinema

Signing at the Movies

Closed Caption Reading Device
[At right: One of two brands of Closed Caption reading devices.]

Libras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinaisis) is the acronym for the Brazilian version of sign language for their deaf community. Libras is an official language of Brazil, used by a segment of the population estimated at 5%. The various technology tools to fulfil the sign language requirements are part of the evolving accessibility landscape. In this case, as often has happened, an entrepreneur devising a cell phone app was first to market.

The option of using cell phones seems like a logical choice at first glance, but there are several problems with their use in a dark cinema theatre. They have never been found acceptible for other in-theatre uses, and this use case is no exception. The light that they emit is not designed to be restricted to just that one audience member (as the device to the right does), so it isn’t just a bother for the people in the immediate vacinity – it actually decreases perceived screen contrast for anyone getting a dose of the phone’s light. Cell phones also don’t handle the script securely, which is a requirement of the studios which are obligated to protect the copyrights of the artists whose work they are distributing. And, of course, call phone all have a camera pointing at the screen – a big no-no for the same reason, but in spades.

But, the fact is, there are problems with all the various accessibility equipment offerings.

Accessibility equipment users generally don’t give 5 Stars for the choices they’ve been given, for many and varied reasons. Some of the technology – such as the tool to the right – requires constant re-focusing back-and-forth from the distant screen to the close foreground words illuminated in the special box mounted on a bendable stem that mounts in the seat’s cupholder. Another choice – somewhat better – is a pair of specialized glasses that present the words seemingly in mid-air with a choice of distance. While these are easier on the eyes if one holds their head in a single position, the words move around as one moves their head. Laughter causes the words to bounce. Words go sideways and in front of the action if you place your head on your neighbor’s shoulder.

[That is just the start of a litany of creditible issues, perhaps to be reviewed in another article. It isn’t only a one-sided issue – the equipment is expensive to buy, losses are often disproportionate for exhibitors, and the amount of income derived doesn’t support continuous development of new ideas for manufacturers.)]

These (and other) technology solutions are often considered to be attempts to avoid the most simple alternative. Putting the words on the screen in what is called “Open Caption”. OC is the absolute favorite of the accessibility audience. Secure, pristine, on the same focal plane, and importantly, all audiences are treated the same, dragging around no special equipment…but since words on screen haven’t been widely used since shortly after ‘talkies’ became common, the general audience aren’t used to them and many fear they would vehemently object. Attempts to schedule special open screening times haven’t worked in the past for various reasons. 

And while open caption might be the first choice for many, it isn’t necessarily the best choice for a child, for example. Imagine the child who has probably been trained in sign language longer than s/he has been learning to read, and who certainly can’t read as fast as those words going by of the new Incredibles movie. But signing, probably better.  

Sign language has been done for years on stage, alongside public servants during announcements, and on screen. So in the cinema it is the next logical step. And just in time, as the studios and manufacturing technolgy teams are able to jump on the project when many new enabling components are now available and tested and able to be integrated into new solutions.

These include recently designed and documented sychronization tools that have gone through the SMTPE and ISO processes, which work well with the newly refined SMPTE compliant DCP (now shipping!, nearly worldwide – yet another story to be written.) These help make the security and packaging concerns of a new datastream more easily addressible within the existing standardized workflows. The question started as ‘how to get a new video stream into the package?’, and the choice was made to include that stream as a portion of the audio stream. 

There is history in using some of the 8 AES pairs for non-audio purposes (motion seating data, for example). And there are several good reasons for using an available, heretofore unused channel of a partly filled audio pair. Although the enforcement date has been moved back by the Brazilian Normalization group, the technology has progressed such that the main facilitator of movies for the studios, Deluxe, has announced their capability of handling this solution. The ISDCF has a Technical Document in development and under consideration which should help others, and smooth introduction worldwide. [See: ISDCF Document 13 – Sign Language Video Encoding for Digital Cinema (a document under development) on the ISDCF Technical Documents web page.]

One major question remains. Where is the picture derived from? The choices are, 1) to have a person do the signing, or 2) to use the cute emoticon-style of the computer-derived avatar. 

The degree of nuance in signing is very well explained, with interesting and excellent allegory to music and other art, by the artist Christine Sun Kim in the following TED talk. She shows, as do the other links, that there is a lot of nuance conveyed by the entire signing body to get ideas across. Shouldn’t be surprising, since we know that very similar nuance is delivered and received with spoken word by body contrived tools such as tone, emphasis and inflections, nuance which isn’t transmitted well in written language. And similarly as we witness with Siri and Alexa, avatars transmit a very limited set of these nuance.

The realities of post production budgets and movie release times and other delivery issues get involved. The worst case is the day and date release which doesn’t get locked product until days before the release. This compresses the amount of time that it takes to get translations and captioning done to ‘beyond belief’ short. Signing translated from foriegn languages like Brazilian would then rely upon the translations. Fortunately, some of these packages can be sent after the main package and joined at the cinema, but either way the potential points of failure increase. Point being, getting a translation and letting an automated avatar program do the work may be the only way to get the product completed in a short amount of time, or within the budget of a documentary or other small budget project.

So, workflow sortig out. Delivery mechanisms are still a work in progress. Whether there will be more pushes for this technology from other countries is a complete unknown. There are approximately 300 different sign languages in use around the world, including International Sign which is used at international gatherings. There are a lot of kids who can’t read subtitles, open or closed. Would they be better off seeing movies with their friends or waiting until the streaming release at home?  

 
To get a different framing for 
 
<div style=”max-width:854px”><div style=”position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%”><iframe src=”https://embed.ted.com/talks/christine_sun_kim_the_enchanting_music_of_sign_language” width=”854″ height=”480″ style=”position:absolute;left:0;top:0;width:100%;height:100%” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
 
 

Link to ASL page for Cinema

ADA Proposed Rules re: CC and Audio Description

It is just a proposed set of rules, but years after the drama of public hearings and the settling of lawsuits and the installation of thousands of pieces of equipment for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or those with low vision, the ADA has finally said they are ready to set the rules.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title III of the ADA to Require Movie Theaters to Provide Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description

 


 

Questions and Answers about the Department of Justice’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title II

Here is a…perhaps the…takeaway sections of the FAQ that the DoJ put out.

4.) Under what circumstances does the rule propose to require movie theaters to provide closed captioning and audio description?

The proposed rule does not interfere with a theater owner’s choices as to which movies to exhibit. Whenever a theater intends to exhibit a movie that is available with captions and audio description, then the proposed rule would require the theater to acquire and then exhibit that movie with captions and audio description at all scheduled screenings, unless doing so would result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration. If a particular movie is not produced with captions or audio description, then the proposed rule would still allow a theater to exhibit that movie. The rule does not require movie theaters to add captions or audio description to movies that are not otherwise produced or distributed with these features.

For background on this long involved process, following are links to articles in this journal very particularly on the DoJ topic. (Yes, I clicked on the Search button above and come up with these.)

Questions from DoJ Request for Comment; Movie Captioning, etc.

Transcript DoJ hearing 16 Dec, 2010 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings-Wash

NATO | HoH Representatives in Chicago DoJ Hearing.pdf

NATO Verbal Testimony to DoJ Chicago Hearing | 18 Nov 2010

San Francisco | DoJ Hearings | Highlighted Cinema-centric comments

DoJ Transcripts: Official Submissions

There are more if you hit search above.

ADA Proposed Rules re: CC and Audio Description

It is just a proposed set of rules, but years after the drama of public hearings and the settling of lawsuits and the installation of thousands of pieces of equipment for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or those with low vision, the ADA has finally said they are ready to set the rules.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title III of the ADA to Require Movie Theaters to Provide Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description

 


 

Questions and Answers about the Department of Justice’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title II

Here is a…perhaps the…takeaway sections of the FAQ that the DoJ put out.

4.) Under what circumstances does the rule propose to require movie theaters to provide closed captioning and audio description?

The proposed rule does not interfere with a theater owner’s choices as to which movies to exhibit. Whenever a theater intends to exhibit a movie that is available with captions and audio description, then the proposed rule would require the theater to acquire and then exhibit that movie with captions and audio description at all scheduled screenings, unless doing so would result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration. If a particular movie is not produced with captions or audio description, then the proposed rule would still allow a theater to exhibit that movie. The rule does not require movie theaters to add captions or audio description to movies that are not otherwise produced or distributed with these features.

For background on this long involved process, following are links to articles in this journal very particularly on the DoJ topic. (Yes, I clicked on the Search button above and come up with these.)

Questions from DoJ Request for Comment; Movie Captioning, etc.

Transcript DoJ hearing 16 Dec, 2010 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings-Wash

NATO | HoH Representatives in Chicago DoJ Hearing.pdf

NATO Verbal Testimony to DoJ Chicago Hearing | 18 Nov 2010

San Francisco | DoJ Hearings | Highlighted Cinema-centric comments

DoJ Transcripts: Official Submissions

There are more if you hit search above.

ADA Proposed Rules re: CC and Audio Description

It is just a proposed set of rules, but years after the drama of public hearings and the settling of lawsuits and the installation of thousands of pieces of equipment for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or those with low vision, the ADA has finally said they are ready to set the rules.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title III of the ADA to Require Movie Theaters to Provide Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description

 


 

Questions and Answers about the Department of Justice’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Under Title II

Here is a…perhaps the…takeaway sections of the FAQ that the DoJ put out.

4.) Under what circumstances does the rule propose to require movie theaters to provide closed captioning and audio description?

The proposed rule does not interfere with a theater owner’s choices as to which movies to exhibit. Whenever a theater intends to exhibit a movie that is available with captions and audio description, then the proposed rule would require the theater to acquire and then exhibit that movie with captions and audio description at all scheduled screenings, unless doing so would result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration. If a particular movie is not produced with captions or audio description, then the proposed rule would still allow a theater to exhibit that movie. The rule does not require movie theaters to add captions or audio description to movies that are not otherwise produced or distributed with these features.

For background on this long involved process, following are links to articles in this journal very particularly on the DoJ topic. (Yes, I clicked on the Search button above and come up with these.)

Questions from DoJ Request for Comment; Movie Captioning, etc.

Transcript DoJ hearing 16 Dec, 2010 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemakings-Wash

NATO | HoH Representatives in Chicago DoJ Hearing.pdf

NATO Verbal Testimony to DoJ Chicago Hearing | 18 Nov 2010

San Francisco | DoJ Hearings | Highlighted Cinema-centric comments

DoJ Transcripts: Official Submissions

There are more if you hit search above.

Cinema Accessibility to Inclusion – A White Paper

Cultures and technologies advance, not always simultaneously nor without mess excitement interesting times.

This white paper describes the film to digital transition with focus on the evolution of equipment that assists the deaf, blind, hard of hearing and partially sighted cinema patron. It includes the background cultural and legal trends in Australia, England, and the United States. It includes an Equipment Table for Closed Captions and Assisted Listening Equipment.

Please address any questions or comments to the editor of DCinemaTools, C J Flynn, who is responsible for the contents of this document.

Accessibility to Inclusion in Cinema – White Paper

Cinema Accessibility to Inclusion – A White Paper

Cultures and technologies advance, not always simultaneously nor without mess excitement interesting times.

This white paper describes the film to digital transition with focus on the evolution of equipment that assists the deaf, blind, hard of hearing and partially sighted cinema patron. It includes the background cultural and legal trends in Australia, England, and the United States. It includes an Equipment Table for Closed Captions and Assisted Listening Equipment.

Please address any questions or comments to the editor of DCinemaTools, C J Flynn, who is responsible for the contents of this document.

Accessibility to Inclusion in Cinema – White Paper

Promoting Open Subtitles in the Cinema

Even the Trailers are being promoted~!

Subtitled Trailers! at Your Local Cinema .com – Subtitled and Audio Described cinema

In the US, the Department of Justice ruling on how to handle the situation is still expected this year (1012), according to this document.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ) Statement of Regulatory Priorities January 20, 2012

Go to Page 4 unless you are interested in other agenda items.

Promoting Open Subtitles in the Cinema

Even the Trailers are being promoted~!

Subtitled Trailers! at Your Local Cinema .com – Subtitled and Audio Described cinema

In the US, the Department of Justice ruling on how to handle the situation is still expected this year (1012), according to this document.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ) Statement of Regulatory Priorities January 20, 2012

Go to Page 4 unless you are interested in other agenda items.

Post CinemaCon HI/VI Review–Sony CC Glasses

They did this by putting the letters into a small, see-through portion of both lenses and with a little magic sauce the words are suspended in the void between the viewer and the screen. The distance and font size and lateral position were all adjustable. And they were wonderful. But they needed refining and productization. The pairs that USL showed were made with 3D casting techniques that are not fit for production (fragile and expensive.) But the nice part was that they worked with the other equipment that USL has sold for years to the hearing and sight impaired audience members and the theaters who installed them.

At CinemaCon 2011 there was a wonderful off-the-exhibit-floor display of vendors who supplied equipment to the accessibility community. USL was positioned very close to the entrance of the room, but alongside Sony…who were showing a very refined version of the glasses technology that USL had been developing. What appeared to be happening was an interesting combo for exhibitors; the Sony glasses were receiving their signal from USL’s transmitter. But the glasses were light and nicely shaped and amazingly one could see the letters against the screen even in a bright room.

Expectations were that the system would be available around the end of the year…which came and went without any announcements. There were pictures that were smuggled out and passed around the community, but went unpublished even with the news that other vendors were taking orders around the globe. Some examples are the government grants purchasing equipment for hundreds of theaters in Australia and the recent announcement of complete fitting out of closed caption and descriptive audio or audio enhancement equipment at the complete chain of Marcus Theaters (675 screens in 56 theater locations.) Marcus Theatres(R) Completes Rollout of CaptiView(TM) and Fidelio(TM) Systems. Harkness and AMC have made announcements as well.

But Regal was quiet until they made the announcement at CinemaCon with Sony that they would be installing the new Sony glasses and audio system at all their theaters, with the intention of having closed captioning and assisted listening screenings at every show in every theater. Generally speaking this is not impossible but there are still difficulties on the distribution side. The greatest difficulty lies in the narration track which often isn’t completed until after the main movie is ready for shipping. Who wants to take responsibility for missing a release date because the narration track isn’t done? and how many languages are you going to hold the movie for?

Two years ago this dilemma was on no one’s radar. The promise of digital was gaining momentum everywhere but in the accessibility field. The basic standard was set out in the specifications, but they were made without any equipment being made to test whether the ideas worked in reality. Real world experiments proved that the smooth work flow that gave captions and audio in the analog world of film…with equipment that not only wasn’t available but wouldn’t work if it was…was capable of inconsistent jumbles in the digital world. USL’s engineers worked with engineers of other equipment manufacturers to work out compatibility problems during the times of transition between TI’s Series One and Series Two methods of creating letters and shapes accurately positioned on the screen from data files of text. Hundreds of hours of plugfests with no other manufacturer of HI/VI equipment showing up.

Against this background, USL becomes one of a million companies who help shape a technology and get the arrows of the pioneer as the reward. Sony announced that their clients preferred an all Sony implementation rather than a mixed vendor version. The new glasses system are sold with a receiver that also includes an audio jack so that this rechargeable receiver can also provide audio from the stereo assisted listening or the mono narrative tracks. But, they won’t supply the glasses and the audio headsets (not shown at the demo) at the same time.

Notwithstanding, a nice implementation. And yes, before you ask, 3D lenses can be used in combination with the glasses. The implementation shown at CinemaCon had a Regal logo centered on a flat set of lenses that were made to fit (if somewhat clumsily) into invisible grooves in the glasses frame.

Like Doremi, USL also makes a device that is mounted on a goose-neck that fits into the cupholder. As nice as these units are, and as nice as they have worked to block the light from interfering from adjacent seats…these are Model T implementations compared to the Sony glasses. There is no comparison to the comfort of not having to constantly look down and refocus to read the lines of text. Once an audience member gets used to using these glasses, that’s it. They will only go to a theater that supports them. In the United States, this is a good thing, since Regal has nearly 7,000 screens.

Regal has also put a lot of effort into working with CaptionFish, an online group who can guide the audience to open and closed caption screening times as well as note what type of narration equipment is available. Some narration equipment is able to work with the hearing aids of the user, and some users have purchased their own headsets.

It remains to be seen whether audience members will be able to buy their own glasses and listening device, letting the theater be responsible for the transmitter and link to the movie. One would think that it would be a great opportunity for a sponsor to get involved with partial or complete funding. They are more used to working with this model in the legit theater, which also supplies multiple languages for the scenes in opera or during plays.

All in all this is a wonderful time for accessibility in the US. In England, Your Local Cinema has helped the industry move along for some time there, but there is no great motion anywhere else in the EU…and the growth in accessibility seems stalled even in England. No one is talking of universal accessibility the way that Regal is. Perhaps it was the way that the lawyer who had lawsuits against them put it, when he gave his public presentation to the US Department of Justice. (In it he pointed out how minuscule the cost of accessibility equipment would be compared to the previous year’s corporate dividend.) Who knows? But it is a great thing to have happen after so many promises were broken for so long. In the end it is a mutually beneficial enhancement.

References:

Digital accessibility: Exhibition industry aims to deliver entertainment for all – Film Journal, 18 August 2011

Sony Closed Caption Glasses

 

 

Multiple HI/VI equipments

Post CinemaCon HI/VI Review–Sony CC Glasses

They did this by putting the letters into a small, see-through portion of both lenses and with a little magic sauce the words are suspended in the void between the viewer and the screen. The distance and font size and lateral position were all adjustable. And they were wonderful. But they needed refining and productization. The pairs that USL showed were made with 3D casting techniques that are not fit for production (fragile and expensive.) But the nice part was that they worked with the other equipment that USL has sold for years to the hearing and sight impaired audience members and the theaters who installed them.

At CinemaCon 2011 there was a wonderful off-the-exhibit-floor display of vendors who supplied equipment to the accessibility community. USL was positioned very close to the entrance of the room, but alongside Sony…who were showing a very refined version of the glasses technology that USL had been developing. What appeared to be happening was an interesting combo for exhibitors; the Sony glasses were receiving their signal from USL’s transmitter. But the glasses were light and nicely shaped and amazingly one could see the letters against the screen even in a bright room.

Expectations were that the system would be available around the end of the year…which came and went without any announcements. There were pictures that were smuggled out and passed around the community, but went unpublished even with the news that other vendors were taking orders around the globe. Some examples are the government grants purchasing equipment for hundreds of theaters in Australia and the recent announcement of complete fitting out of closed caption and descriptive audio or audio enhancement equipment at the complete chain of Marcus Theaters (675 screens in 56 theater locations.) Marcus Theatres(R) Completes Rollout of CaptiView(TM) and Fidelio(TM) Systems. Harkness and AMC have made announcements as well.

But Regal was quiet until they made the announcement at CinemaCon with Sony that they would be installing the new Sony glasses and audio system at all their theaters, with the intention of having closed captioning and assisted listening screenings at every show in every theater. Generally speaking this is not impossible but there are still difficulties on the distribution side. The greatest difficulty lies in the narration track which often isn’t completed until after the main movie is ready for shipping. Who wants to take responsibility for missing a release date because the narration track isn’t done? and how many languages are you going to hold the movie for?

Two years ago this dilemma was on no one’s radar. The promise of digital was gaining momentum everywhere but in the accessibility field. The basic standard was set out in the specifications, but they were made without any equipment being made to test whether the ideas worked in reality. Real world experiments proved that the smooth work flow that gave captions and audio in the analog world of film…with equipment that not only wasn’t available but wouldn’t work if it was…was capable of inconsistent jumbles in the digital world. USL’s engineers worked with engineers of other equipment manufacturers to work out compatibility problems during the times of transition between TI’s Series One and Series Two methods of creating letters and shapes accurately positioned on the screen from data files of text. Hundreds of hours of plugfests with no other manufacturer of HI/VI equipment showing up.

Against this background, USL becomes one of a million companies who help shape a technology and get the arrows of the pioneer as the reward. Sony announced that their clients preferred an all Sony implementation rather than a mixed vendor version. The new glasses system are sold with a receiver that also includes an audio jack so that this rechargeable receiver can also provide audio from the stereo assisted listening or the mono narrative tracks. But, they won’t supply the glasses and the audio headsets (not shown at the demo) at the same time.

Notwithstanding, a nice implementation. And yes, before you ask, 3D lenses can be used in combination with the glasses. The implementation shown at CinemaCon had a Regal logo centered on a flat set of lenses that were made to fit (if somewhat clumsily) into invisible grooves in the glasses frame.

Like Doremi, USL also makes a device that is mounted on a goose-neck that fits into the cupholder. As nice as these units are, and as nice as they have worked to block the light from interfering from adjacent seats…these are Model T implementations compared to the Sony glasses. There is no comparison to the comfort of not having to constantly look down and refocus to read the lines of text. Once an audience member gets used to using these glasses, that’s it. They will only go to a theater that supports them. In the United States, this is a good thing, since Regal has nearly 7,000 screens.

Regal has also put a lot of effort into working with CaptionFish, an online group who can guide the audience to open and closed caption screening times as well as note what type of narration equipment is available. Some narration equipment is able to work with the hearing aids of the user, and some users have purchased their own headsets.

It remains to be seen whether audience members will be able to buy their own glasses and listening device, letting the theater be responsible for the transmitter and link to the movie. One would think that it would be a great opportunity for a sponsor to get involved with partial or complete funding. They are more used to working with this model in the legit theater, which also supplies multiple languages for the scenes in opera or during plays.

All in all this is a wonderful time for accessibility in the US. In England, Your Local Cinema has helped the industry move along for some time there, but there is no great motion anywhere else in the EU…and the growth in accessibility seems stalled even in England. No one is talking of universal accessibility the way that Regal is. Perhaps it was the way that the lawyer who had lawsuits against them put it, when he gave his public presentation to the US Department of Justice. (In it he pointed out how minuscule the cost of accessibility equipment would be compared to the previous year’s corporate dividend.) Who knows? But it is a great thing to have happen after so many promises were broken for so long. In the end it is a mutually beneficial enhancement.

References:

Digital accessibility: Exhibition industry aims to deliver entertainment for all – Film Journal, 18 August 2011

Sony Closed Caption Glasses

 

 

Multiple HI/VI equipments

Sony Solves Caption Glasses

Sony developing ‘subtitle glasses’ for cinema use | News | TechRadar UK
Deaf film lovers rejoice

[Your editor saw these at CinemaCon and was very impressed.]

“What we do is put the closed captions or the subtitles onto the screen of the glasses so it’s super-imposed on the cinema screen, so it looks like the actual subtitles are on the cinema screen,” explains Sony Digital Cinema, Tim Potter.

Complications

What’s more, Sony reckons the glasses could hit UK cinemas in early 2012, although it’s not clear how well – if at all – the specs would work with a 3D film. [Clip-on glasses have been mentioned. – ED]

Sony is eyeing future possibilities for its glasses tech too – like simultaneous conversation transcription so that deaf people could read what’s being said to them during the course of a conversation.

From the BBC