Angel Garcia Crepo of Madrid, Spain spoke on 3-D captioning technology at SMPTC two weeks ago in NYC.Technical papers available for $35 at their website.
NATO: National Association of Theatre Owners http://natoonline.org/
SMPTE: Society of Motion Picture Technical Engineers http://www.smpte.org/
Cinemacon (formerly Showest) http://www.cinemacon.com/
We Deaf been fighting for our rights for access to movie theatres. We been filing lawsuits after lawsuits against major theatre chains. I am wondering if we are better off working with the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and the Department of Justice in achieving our goals. There is no excuse whatsoever why we can't ask for 100% of the screens to have the technology to provide captioning capability. The reason is simply that the theatre owners are now in the process of making a transition from film to digital projection. If we can required that all television sets sold to have closed-captioning chips, than I see no reason that we can't have all new digital projection system manufactured to include the captioning device. There is no need to go into the expense of providing rear-window captioning that required external modification to the theatres and equipment when digital projector already have the internal open-captioned mode which can be switched on anytime a Deaf person come to the theatres or on a scheduled basis. The hearing constitutes shouldn't complaint, after all they are used to seeing closed-captioned in bars. A status report on the need to provide greater access to motion pictures for our deaf and hard of hearing patrons, as well as the blind and visually impaired, as part of the transition to digital cinema
May 29, 2008
Letter on Access in Digital Cinema
To Our Partners in the Movie Distribution and Equipment Vendor Communities:
The need to provide greater access to motion pictures for our deaf and hard of hearing patrons, as well
as the blind and visually impaired, is very important to the exhibition industry. The transition to digital
cinema must provide greater access than that possible with today’s film systems. We provide this status
report to encourage support of this goal.
As the industry moves forward to improve access in digital cinema, special consideration must be given
to closed captions in digital distribution and playout. Digital cinema is the enabler for a new generation
of closed caption solutions that allow select patrons to privately observe captions without impacting the
movie-going experience for others.
Overall, much progress has been made. Below we highlight the on-going work in this area. Note that on
the following page we also provide more technical details of this work.
Access Audio
Access audio is defined as Hearing Impaired (HI) and Visually Impaired Narrative (VI-N) sound tracks.
As the names of these sound tracks suggest, they are intended as supplemental audio for the hard
of hearing in the case of the Hearing Impaired track, and narrative audio for the blind and visually
impaired in the case of the Visually Impaired Narrative track. When DCI-mandated improvements
are implemented in digital systems by early 2009, three standard audio formats will be supported,
each format supporting HI and VI-N access audio. At that time, the access audio tracks should be
supplied in all digital distributions.
Closed Captions
To enable closed captions in digital cinema, NATO is working inside SMPTE to produce a uniform
standard distribution format for digital cinema captions. In addition, we are working toward a
standard interface for the digital cinema player so that any 3rd party closed caption system can
simply plug in without modification. The goal is to incorporate these new standards in digital cinema
systems by early 2009, along with the DCI-mandated improvements currently scheduled.
3-D Captions
As the popularity of 3-D content grows, the need for 3-D captions becomes apparent. Such
captions must be given depth to match that of the primary images of the picture, thereby reducing
eye strain. We note that no standards work is now in process for enabling 3-D captions.
page 2
This on-going work is coordinated for NATO within SMPTE by NATO consultant Michael Karagosian. Please
contact the NATO office or Michael if further information is needed.
Best regards,
John Fithian
Attached: NATO Memorandum on Technical Information Regarding Access Audio and Captions
NATO Memorandum May 29, 2008
Technical Information Regarding Access Audio and Captions in D-Cinema
Michael Karagosian
This memo outlines the on-going work in SMPTE for Access Audio and Closed Caption distribution in digital
cinema.
Access Audio
Proposed SMPTE 429-2 DCP Constraints specifies three sound formats (tables A.1, A.2, and A.3) for digital
cinema distribution. All SMPTE-specified sound formats include channels for Hearing Impaired (HI) and
Visually Impaired Narrative (VI-N) audio.
To the manufacturers of digital cinema servers: please note that the physical output to be used for HI
and VI-N channels is NOT specified in SMPTE 429-2. For all audio formats, including future labeled-audio
formats, it is strongly recommended that HI and VI-N channels be directed, respectively, to either
physical outputs 7 and 8, or 15 and 16.
Closed Caption Distribution
Proposed SMPTE 428-10 Closed Caption and Closed Subtitle specifies the constraints to be applied to
SMPTE 429-7 Subtitle when mastering timed text for closed displays. For distribution, the Closed Caption is
wrapped using SMPTE 429-5 Timed Text Track File. SMPTE 429-12 also specifies the Composition Playlist
extensions to properly identify Closed Captions to the playout system.
Notes:
1) To support the multiple language capability of the emerging generation of Closed Caption
devices, multiple Closed Caption track files, each in a different language, may be included in a
single Composition.
2) Proposed SMPTE 429-12 also specifies the Composition Playlist (CPL) MainCaption extension to
properly identify Open Captions to the playout system. The Open Caption is mastered using
SMPTE 428-7 Subtitle, with or without the constraints specified in SMPTE 428-10, and wrapped for
distribution using SMPTE 429-5 Timed Text Track File.
Closed Caption Device Support
All Closed Caption devices, including Rear Window and the emerging generation of Closed Caption
devices, will be driven by a standardized interface at the digital cinema server. This work is in progress
within the SMPTE DC28.30 Closed Captions Ad Hoc Group
May 29, 2008
Letter on Access in Digital Cinema
To Our Partners in the Movie Distribution and Equipment Vendor Communities:
The need to provide greater access to motion pictures for our deaf and hard of hearing patrons, as well
as the blind and visually impaired, is very important to the exhibition industry. The transition to digital
cinema must provide greater access than that possible with today’s film systems. We provide this status
report to encourage support of this goal.
As the industry moves forward to improve access in digital cinema, special consideration must be given
to closed captions in digital distribution and playout. Digital cinema is the enabler for a new generation
of closed caption solutions that allow select patrons to privately observe captions without impacting the
movie-going experience for others.
Overall, much progress has been made. Below we highlight the on-going work in this area. Note that on
the following page we also provide more technical details of this work.
Access Audio
Access audio is defined as Hearing Impaired (HI) and Visually Impaired Narrative (VI-N) sound tracks.
As the names of these sound tracks suggest, they are intended as supplemental audio for the hard
of hearing in the case of the Hearing Impaired track, and narrative audio for the blind and visually
impaired in the case of the Visually Impaired Narrative track. When DCI-mandated improvements
are implemented in digital systems by early 2009, three standard audio formats will be supported,
each format supporting HI and VI-N access audio. At that time, the access audio tracks should be
supplied in all digital distributions.
Closed Captions
To enable closed captions in digital cinema, NATO is working inside SMPTE to produce a uniform
standard distribution format for digital cinema captions. In addition, we are working toward a
standard interface for the digital cinema player so that any 3rd party closed caption system can
simply plug in without modification. The goal is to incorporate these new standards in digital cinema
systems by early 2009, along with the DCI-mandated improvements currently scheduled.
3-D Captions
As the popularity of 3-D content grows, the need for 3-D captions becomes apparent. Such
captions must be given depth to match that of the primary images of the picture, thereby reducing
eye strain. We note that no standards work is now in process for enabling 3-D captions.
page 2
This on-going work is coordinated for NATO within SMPTE by NATO consultant Michael Karagosian. Please
contact the NATO office or Michael if further information is needed.
Best regards,
John Fithian
Attached: NATO Memorandum on Technical Information Regarding Access Audio and Captions
NATO Memorandum May 29, 2008
Technical Information Regarding Access Audio and Captions in D-Cinema
Michael Karagosian
This memo outlines the on-going work in SMPTE for Access Audio and Closed Caption distribution in digital
cinema.
Access Audio
Proposed SMPTE 429-2 DCP Constraints specifies three sound formats (tables A.1, A.2, and A.3) for digital
cinema distribution. All SMPTE-specified sound formats include channels for Hearing Impaired (HI) and
Visually Impaired Narrative (VI-N) audio.
To the manufacturers of digital cinema servers: please note that the physical output to be used for HI
and VI-N channels is NOT specified in SMPTE 429-2. For all audio formats, including future labeled-audio
formats, it is strongly recommended that HI and VI-N channels be directed, respectively, to either
physical outputs 7 and 8, or 15 and 16.
Closed Caption Distribution
Proposed SMPTE 428-10 Closed Caption and Closed Subtitle specifies the constraints to be applied to
SMPTE 429-7 Subtitle when mastering timed text for closed displays. For distribution, the Closed Caption is
wrapped using SMPTE 429-5 Timed Text Track File. SMPTE 429-12 also specifies the Composition Playlist
extensions to properly identify Closed Captions to the playout system.
Notes:
1) To support the multiple language capability of the emerging generation of Closed Caption
devices, multiple Closed Caption track files, each in a different language, may be included in a
single Composition.
2) Proposed SMPTE 429-12 also specifies the Composition Playlist (CPL) MainCaption extension to
properly identify Open Captions to the playout system. The Open Caption is mastered using
SMPTE 428-7 Subtitle, with or without the constraints specified in SMPTE 428-10, and wrapped for
distribution using SMPTE 429-5 Timed Text Track File.
Closed Caption Device Support
All Closed Caption devices, including Rear Window and the emerging generation of Closed Caption
devices, will be driven by a standardized interface at the digital cinema server. This work is in progress
within the SMPTE DC28.30 Closed Captions Ad Hoc Group
Since there are so much technical details, I recommend that you check out these websites:
CINEMACON: http://www.cinemacon.com/
SMPTE: http://www.smpte.org/
I hope you benefit from these sources.
This is Smokey, stay tuned for the next episode of Deaf Anthology. Good night, Deaf America!
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