[blindkid] PBS Station Frustration

Fri Jun 17 16:12:31 UTC 2011

O M Gosh it worked.. THANK YOU Richard. I feel like an idiot.  I am a pretty
good user of technology.

I am watching Arthur with DVS right now (I love Arthur its so great with
Marina ) You are going to make my daughter's day.

So need to find a way to

1. make the information clearer;  its insane that picking Spanish gave
me English DVS.

2. encourage  pbs stations (and others) to broadcast in DVS.   Would writing
letters work?  Telephone calls?

i hope you don't mind but I am going to use your great directions on my
website.

I am gitty.  I am so frustrated that your pbs affliate is not broadcasting
its DVS

SO I back to your original question

WGBH broadcasts in DVS    (I guess that isn't a surprise)

I haven't tested NHPTV  yet but i bet they do

-Penny

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>wrote:

> Penny,
>
> Yes, we'll be at the convention and I'm still more than happy to talk with
> you on the phone as well.
>
> I think I know what you may be seeing in the cable box and if I am right,
> what seems to be the right place is **not** where DVS actually appears which
> does seem pretty absurd as you'll see when you read on. (At least it doesn't
> work for us here for us.)
>
> Let me explain:
>
> On my Motorola Converter Box on the Comcast cable here, I go to:
>
> Menu:
>        Setup:
>                Audio Setup:
>
> Now the odd part-- there are two settings up top under "Audio Setup":
>
>                        Default Audio Track
>                        Descriptive Video Service
>
>
> Factory Settings seem to be what you would expect:
>
>                        Default Audio Track:                    English
>                        Descriptive Video Service:              Off
>
> Here is the problem: when a valid DVS program is present, changing
> "Descriptive Video Service" to On has NO EFFECT.
>
> Instead, select Espanol (Spanish) for Default Audio Track or select any
> Spanish Option you can find.
>
> I just posted another reply with a little more info as well, but the key
> seems to be to look for Spanish feeds on stations like Nickelodeon,
> (Standard Definition), I do not believe their HIgh Definition feed has the
> same DVS content under Spanish (at least they did not this morning.) Just
> ignore "Descriptive Video Service" and deal with your Default Audio Track.
> It works for me the same way on the Comcast Box and with TiVo.
>
> The real problem I'm having here now seems to be only that PBS and
> apparently CBS are not feeding their DVS programs to my market at this time
> on their local affiliates. I am finding some DVS programming on Nickelodeon
> (SD), TCM, TBS, and Fox so far, hopefully with more to come.
>
> Also, remember some DVD's in stores have this option (even at places like
> Wal Mart and Target). I have also borrowed DVS DVD's for free from the local
> library and found some at Red Box for the usual $1 / day rental. The trick
> there is to see what has been released with DVS because Red Box doesn't lost
> that feature and many libraries are also unaware of DVS content.
>
> Please let me know if you have some better luck with this now and thanks
> again for your info as well!
>
>
>
> On Jun 17, 2011, at 7:47 AM, Penny Duffy wrote:
>
> > Richard,
> >
> > I still haven't gotten it to work on my end. I have shows that are label
> dvs
> > and I thought I turned it on at my cable box. Still nothing. I think one
> of
> > the biggest issues with dvs is there is NO standard yet. Close captioning
> > has had a standard for years.
> >
> > Are you going to the convention Richard? Maybe we can talk about it.
> > Regardless I am really interested and I imagine we can figure it out LOL.
> > When we get it all figured out maybe we can write something up for other
> > parents.
> >
> > I have found that when the transition to digital happened that
> > many channels lost the way the used to do it and there is a lot of
> > confusion.
> >
> > --
> > --Penny
> > ----------
> > Adventures with Abby - visionfora.blogspot.com
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 3:56 AM, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Could anyone who is finding DVS (audio described) programming on their
> >> local PBS affiliate please email me (on or off list) and help me
> determine
> >> at least what PBS affiliates / cities are actually broadcasting with
> DVS?
> >> (Or if you are trying but can't find it on your local affiliate that
> would
> >> be good to know as well.)
> >>
> >> I finally got an answer about the "technical problems" with DVS in
> Georgia
> >> from PBS. I learned today that Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) simply
> >> turned off their DVS feeds for programming a while back. According to
> the
> >> General Manager of GPB,  they "ran into a significant amount of
> confusion
> >> among viewers who received it, didn’t want it, and didn’t know how to
> turn
> >> it off..." so they "...eventually abandoned the practice of delivering
> DVS."
> >>
> >> I'd really like to get a sense of whether this something that happened
> >> mainly here in Georgia or of this is more widespread. I find it pretty
> >> frustrating that their main concern is apparently the time and effort
> spent
> >> by their engineers telling people who don't want DVS how to turn it off.
> >>
> >> I am told they may look back into offering this again now that the
> delivery
> >> is different (over digital TV), but first they need to determine
> "...what
> >> the likely impact would be for viewers who don’t want it." Sounds like
> they
> >> got very little response from people who wanted DVS when they turned it
> off,
> >> but I think that is probably because so few potential users were even
> aware
> >> the service had been offered.
> >>
> >> Your feedback here on the list or directly would be really appreciated.
> I
> >> would very much like to get DVS running here in Georgia on PBS again and
> if
> >> this problem is widespread, to start addressing this on more of a
> national
> >> level. As much as my daughter appreciated the DVS programs, I can't
> imagine
> >> there would not me a lot more kids and adults who would benefit from
> >> increased numbers of shows being broadcast with audio descriptions...
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Richard
> >> rholloway at gopbc.org
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> >>
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-- 
--Penny
----------
Adventures with Abby - visionfora.blogspot.com