h a l f b a k e r yPoof of concept
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I just watched a BBC World News segment which the announcer gave the barest of warnings beforehand about it containing camera flashes. That was an understatement - the camera flashes were going off so frequently that every second frame appeared to be a flash - and it was altogether obnoxious.
My
guess is that the warning was for the epileptics in the audience, but I was thinking that, if someone had problems with epilepsy and flashes, the warning was way too inadequate: no sooner had the announcer finished speaking than the flashes launched - you would need hair trigger responses and a remote in your hand to react in time. Moreover, surely we have the technology to remove those flashes from the footage, making everyone happy?
So, this is a product for news services: a video filter that would spot frames washed out by camera flashes, then interpolate the frames either side to remove the flash. I don't know if it could be applied to live footage, but it would certainly work on time-delayed or archival footage of the type being presented on most news shows.
And, for those epileptics whose seizures can be induced by strobes, perhaps we can make a filter on the TV that does the same thing, damping out all flashes, repeating or not, just to be on the safe side.
[link]
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I like the idea of implementing this in the television itself. How many milliseconds are most flashes illuminated for? |
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Electronically, it would be easy to include a circuit inside the TV that keeps the overall brightness at a nearly-constant level. It could be switched on as an option for epileptic owners. |
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Come to think of it, it'd be easier to just install such a circuit in the cameras or the TV station. It'd make a better picture for us all. |
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/then extrapolate the frames either side to remove the flash/ |
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<pedant>sp: interpolate </pedant> |
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As a means of removing distracting and
annoying flashes, [+]. |
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I'd be interested to know whether the
irregular and brief flashes of that sort are
liable to trigger epilepsy in susceptible
people. I'd always assumed that the worst
trigger was a more regular flash - I guess I
figured that there was something about
setting up resonances with some neuronal
circuit or other. Anyone know? |
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Texticle: corrected, thank you!
MB: A quick Google suggests that camera and lightning flashes can indeed induce epileptic fits in sufferers, but I'm far from expert on the subject. |
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I was under the impression it was a repeated frequency issue, also possible with sound. |
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Not to detract from the main point, which is good (bun!) - you say the viewer would have required hair trigger responses and a remote in hand to respond in time to the warning given. Surely all the viewer needs to do is close his eyes? |
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Absolutely delightful idea. In fact, although I do not suffer from epileptic fits, I would use this myself to sanitise some of our more recent commericals. |
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If it could turn all sudden changes of brightness and sound into slow fades, I'm sure you could strike a deal with TV manufacturers to have them in every single new unit. Let's have calm back on the box! |
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Once upon a time, I prepared a an unleavened dough of water, milk, sour cream and stone ground organic wholemeal flour, olives, Worcestershire sauce, sundried tomatoes, pepitas and sunflower seeds, which I then rolled into a ball and baked slowly in the embers of a campfire. |
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Now _that_ was a flash damper. Mate. |
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//just install such a circuit in the cameras
or the TV station// |
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As long as you keep that to just the ones
at the TV station. Dynamic range is a good
thing. |
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[+] for the idea. I wish movie theaters did
this so you didn't get that damn bight
white flash after the previews are over. |
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[+] pretty sure this would be easy to implement, the way video technology is going anyway. |
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Yesterday my son was watching the news with me; his remark while watching footage of one of the ubiquitous starlets, "That's the fastest picture-taking I've ever seen." |
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"More than one camera, son." The young lady appeared to be caught in God's Own Lightning Storm. |
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"Oh." Pause. "Lots more." |
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