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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
Posts: 749
Location: LFO1
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 Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:11 pm Post subject:
Star Trek, universal translators and lip movement
Subject description: Wouldn't fool me for a minute |
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Total geek time...
Does anyone else wonder how, on any Star Trek series, crew members get away with looking like natives but nobody notices that their lips are not moving to native speech patterns while they're speaking through their universal translators? Also, the audio source wouldn't be their mouths, but wherever the UT is located. You know... "Excuse me, sir, your pocket is speaking". I guess it's one of those things that are intentionally ignored for the sake of the show, but it's something I wonder about. |
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ian-s
Joined: Apr 01, 2004
Posts: 2672
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:26 pm Post subject:
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I guess that is a problem if you assume the translator is like (voice recognition)->(Google translate)->(speech synthesis) in a box.
What if the future translator simply acted on your brain, transforming not just the audio, but also re-doing the lip sync for the benefit of those who lip read or just hate bad lip sync (like when watching YouTube on a low bandwidth connection).
We have a communal TV system with a bank of sat receivers in a box that run on the same channel 24/7. Some of the sat boxes loose audio sync quite badly and the channel becomes unwatchable. |
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
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Location: LFO1
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:16 am Post subject:
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| ian-s wrote: |
What if the future translator simply acted on your brain, transforming not just the audio, but also re-doing the lip sync for the benefit of those who lip read or just hate bad lip sync (like when watching YouTube on a low bandwidth connection). |
That'd be an amazing technical feat! Sounds like something out of "Deus Ex: Human Revolution". |
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ian-s
Joined: Apr 01, 2004
Posts: 2672
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:14 pm Post subject:
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| audiodef wrote: | | That'd be an amazing technical feat! Sounds like something out of "Deus Ex: Human Revolution". |
A bit beyond what we can do now but not so amazing when they can travel faster than light and disintegrate/reintegrate humans as a means of transport.
Not to mention the thing that makes Earl Grey Tea  |
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RF
Joined: Mar 23, 2007
Posts: 1502
Location: Northern Minnesota, USA
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:23 am Post subject:
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| ian-s wrote: |
Not to mention the thing that makes Earl Grey Tea |
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A E J O T Z
Joined: Aug 14, 2011
Posts: 423
Location: Griffith, Indiana, USA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:36 pm Post subject:
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The reason their lips moved in sync with the English translation was that by an uncanny coincidence, everyone in the galaxy already spoke English!
So although they had universal translators, they were never really needed. And the crew were so dumb they thought the translators were working.
The crew also carried solar-powered flashlights but you never saw them in use because they only work in direct sunlight. 
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 7:04 am Post subject:
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| A E J O T Z wrote: | | The reason their lips moved in sync with the English translation was that by an uncanny coincidence, everyone in the galaxy already spoke English! |
I thought that was the Stargate spin-offs. Every time someone said something non-English and everyone looked at Daniel, I said "Oh, good, reality". Then the natives started speaking English, reality broke down, and all alternate universes began impinging on one another. |
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