CaptiView Closed Caption System An opinion piece from members of CICADA, the Cochlear Implant Club and Advisory Association Queensland. The CaptiView closed caption device was introduced in Australia in response to the Hollywood movie studios’ move to digital and whereby the studios chose not to put a channel on the delivery of the digitised system that has open captions. This meant that a new system of captions on movies for the Deaf and hearing-impaired would have to be found. It was decided that the closed captioning system of CaptiView would be chosen. The CaptiView closed captioning system was introduced in Australia on about 17 July 2010 with an announcement by the major cinema chains the Big4 (Hoyts, Village, Greater Union Birch Carroll & Coyle and Reading cinemas) that by the end of 2014, 242 screens throughout Australia would have the device for Deaf and hearing-impaired patrons. The unit consists of an Organic Light Emitting Diode display on a flexible neck which attaches or sits in the cup holder of the cinema seat. The screen displays captions as three lines of high contrast green text. CaptiView can be used in any seat. The Accessible Cinema Roll Out has arguably made cinema access worse. The CaptiView device is inaccessible for many and sometimes the advertising of caption sessions is either wrong or non-existent. Movies choices are limited. What is more, there are only six devices per screen meaning people with a hearing loss cannot go to the movies as a group of more than six people. The main advantage of CaptiView is that it means that far more sessions are available than in the days of open captions. The drawback is the device itself can be awkward to use as people have to switch their focus from the device to the screen. It’s a bulky object which users have to carry in and put in their cup holder – a difficult thing when you have popcorn, drinks, handbags and children. There have been reports of captions dropping out, eye and neck strain, sore backs, the staff not knowing what CaptiView is, unsuitable for tall people, the text is either too fast or too slow, people being refused the device because of lack of proper ID, the units losing power to name a few. Overall feedback has suggested CaptiView is very unpopular and inflexible and has also been described as a stressful experience and many people would like to see the return of open captions on screen. It has to be said that it does take practice using the device with attending movies on a regular basis. Sitting at the back of the cinema and positioning the device just below the screen sometimes works – it is a matter of adjustment to suit the individual. As the theatre is dark, it has been suggested one take a small torch to see the buttons on the device as it is impossible to see the buttons in the dark and if you can’t see the buttons this results in having to leave the cinema to go outside to make the adjustment in the light and in doing so, miss some of the movie. A photocopy of your driver licence should be made in readiness (your original licence should never be handed over) as there was one report of the licence being lost and resulted in the customer having to get another licence at more unnecessary expense.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:27:02 +0000
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