LED Boards in Attractions

[guwag]

Hi Guys,
A little question for you all.

I have noticed in some attractions such as the Timon & Pumbaa film in The Land, EPCOT and the Muppet 4-D show at MGM that, on the back wall behind the audience, there is an LED board that has a script that seems to follow that of the show. It is, however, backwards - all the letters are reversed.

Does anyone know what it is for and why it is backwards??

Thanks,
Craig

 

[AliciaLuvzDizne]

maybe some kind of closed captioning device?

i always wondered that too, cuz its not like its for the characters

thats all i can think of

 

[guwag]

They must give deaf people backwards pointing periscopes :lol: :lol:

 

[PuertoRekinSam]

It is called reflective captioning.
It works like Closed captioning, but only for one person.
The guest who needs the asistance, is given a stand which it basicly a piece of acrilic which is angled at the screen. the lights reflect off the acrilic in proper order so the guest who needs it can see it. This is perfered over CC so the words do not cover part of the screen and distract the other guest.

 

[guwag]

Now that you've said that it all falls into place, at least I know that there is a reason for the boards.
Why don't they use the usual system of the IR LED matrix above the stage and the special recieving headphones though?

 

[darkpenguin19]

I would imagine its costs and upkeep of the equipment for the transmitters and receivers. My local movie theatre has this setup and my friend who needs hearing impaired items had to get three different receivers before he even found one that worked. The backwords LED method is less obtrusive and more reliable IMO.

dp19

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by guwag
Now that you've said that it all falls into place, at least I know that there is a reason for the boards.
Why don't they use the usual system of the IR LED matrix above the stage and the special recieving headphones though?

Why would deaf people want headphones?

 

[djmatthews]

Hello Craig - you ok? Interesting topic, can't say I've noticed them though!

 

[guwag]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
Why would deaf people want headphones?

That was actually a stupid comment by myself :lol:
I meant for the hard of hearing, not totally deaf people but didn't say that, whoops

Darren, I'm fine thanks, you? I first saw the boards last summer and was totally confused as to what they actually were for, I can now sleep as I know what they do now!

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by guwag
That was actually a stupid comment by myself :lol:
I meant for the hard of hearing, not totally deaf people but didn't say that, whoops

That's what I figured. I think that is why they just have the stands and LED boards, so they don't have to have 2 types of assistance.

 

[imagineersrock]

yea... i noticed it at honey i shrunk the audience i believe it was too

 

[strobe]

Originally posted by darkpenguin19
I would imagine its costs and upkeep of the equipment for the transmitters and receivers. My local movie theatre has this setup and my friend who needs hearing impaired items had to get three different receivers before he even found one that worked. The backwords LED method is less obtrusive and more reliable IMO.

dp19

When I was in high school, I worked at a movie theater and this was a nightmare. Guests would choose our theater because we offered these devices, and more often than not they were broke, had dead batteries, or even misplaced. I used to feel really bad when we could not accomodate someone who came to watch a movie with their family and couldn't fully enjoy it.

The reflexive system that Disney uses makes much more sense. I sure wish we would have had something like that.