Video Magnification System for Seniors? 35
c4tp's friend asks: "Recently my Mother informed me that my grandmother's 80th birthday is approaching. She suffers from glaucoma and it is rather hard to read small text for her. The consensus with our family is to buy her a video magnification device, but the ones I found online were at the minimum of $500 (US), a bit steep for me (and my family). So what I am asking basically, is there a way to build/assemble the parts these retail devices use for a cheaper price?"
Display on a mac... (Score:2)
Brazil (Score:2)
Re:Brazil (Score:1)
Re:Brazil (Score:1)
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-hitches/r
p.s. i love your username, what's the story behind it?
Built In (Score:1, Offtopic)
I'm sure folks from the Dark Side will chime in if it's possible in Windows, but for sure Mac OS X and 9 have the capability to magnify text under the mouse. OS 9 required an addition from the CD, IIRC; OS X lists the ability as just another system preference. This is all in addition to text-to-speech abilities built in to the system, both in 9 and X, which is one thing I don't think Windows includes.
So, once again, buy a Mac.
Re:Built In (Score:2)
Windows Key + U
Choose "Magnifier" for magnification
Choose "Narrator" for audio
Or just turn on the high-contrast, large font theme.
Windows has had accessibility features like a magnifier and high constrast since 1995. Apple is just catching up.
Sorry, Apple zealot.
Change the display font size? (Score:2)
Re:Change the display font size? (Score:3, Insightful)
To answer the question: Yes. You can find NTSC video camera modules in the electronic surplus catalogs, many of them for well under $100. Couple that with a TV screen and you're good. For book reading, build a little wood-and-metal stand, or hack a one of those swingarm lamps/magnifiers (take out the big lens
Re:If you're in XP.. (Score:1)
Re:If you're in XP.. (Score:2)
If this isn't for the computer, then why not just use a plain old magnifying glass, or one of the larger "lenses", like the kind you melt GI Joes and ants with. You know the ones!
Seems to be more efficient than a powered tv/camera type setup.
THIS IS NOT ON A COMPUTER SCREEN (Score:5, Informative)
Re:THIS IS NOT ON A COMPUTER SCREEN (Score:4, Interesting)
My wife's grandmother had issues with her hearing, so we started to send her faxes instead of calling her. If her eyesight started to fail, we could put transparencies into her fax machine and set her up with a small overhead projector in a back room. When she had a hard time reading the fax, she'd just put it on the Dukane in the back room to read it off the wall, which was plenty big for her to read. This would even work with single-page documents, where she could feed them into the fax as a copier, which would put the text on the transparency. This of course wouldn't work so well for books and newspapers.
Re:THIS IS NOT ON A COMPUTER SCREEN (Score:2)
Re:THIS IS NOT ON A COMPUTER SCREEN (Score:1)
Clarification...? (Score:2)
He's saying that a $500 device is too costly, which I believe would rule out a decent PC and scanner that's rigged to be easy enough for a non-techie-type to operate.
The first thing that came to mind was some sort of cheap overhead projector (not the expensive types that take video-in, but the ones that take transparencies and such). She could then pro
I got one for you to check out... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I got one for you to check out... (Score:2)
Re:I got one for you to check out... (Score:1)
I don't think he wants it for an OS... (Score:3, Informative)
First you need a Camera [pricegrabber.com].
Then you need an Arm [pricegrabber.com]. (That is IF this is the type of arm I think it is)
Finally you need a Monitor (which I could not find one that took composite inputs for cheap AND still have the resolution to display a high quality image). But you can guess that it is gonna be ~$300.00.
So if you add all that up
Just my >$500.00 worth (sorry, bad joke -1)
--Brian
Re:I don't think he wants it for an OS... (Score:1)
What I would also like to point out to all the people that keep saying "use a magnifying glass" -- well what if the person has palsy, or for some other reason can not easily hold one.
Just something to think on...
--Brian
magnify glass (Score:2)
also, you weren't too specific about what type of video is she looking at, tv or computer monitor?
If she's using a tv, not sure what to recommend for that, but as a child, I would sit really close to the tv. Granted that might worsen the glacouma.
If it's a computer, you're referring to, then there's built in accessibility in windows. I know windows 2000 has it builtin, under Accessories, under Usability. It's caled Magnifier.
Get a flat plastic magnifier... (Score:2)
You lay them over what you want to read and voila... small text becomes big.
Cheap camera/tv setup (Score:2, Interesting)
typically $80 to $150 and spam sales
frequently. Work fine as wireless
so you can move around with it.
I have used it to videotape meeting notes
from the whiteboard.
rcb
Matrox video card (Score:2)
Try www.maxiaids.com (Score:2, Informative)
Elmo (Score:1)
Scanner Baby! (Score:1)
I can see this being a problem because it's possible that your Grandmother doesn't have a computer or the slightest idea about how to use them (like my Grandmother).
On another note, we had a program called kurzweil when I worked in a library. It would automatically scan text, OCR it, and read it out Stephen Hawking style. It was pretty slick except for t
We've been looking too - examples of what we want (Score:2)
A magnifying glass is a nice, cheap solution, but nothing like what a magnifying device like this can do for you. Ever tried to use a large magnifying glass to read something? They're heavy. It's hard to hold them and your reading item at the same time, especially for someone that's elderly. And the