[blindkid] Described Videos

[Richard Holloway]

I'm curious to know what luck others are having with described videos, especially broadcast TV programs. Apart from described VHS tapes which are no-brainers--  (they only have one audio track, so if they are described, the description is always "on") I've had pretty poor luck finding programs. Problem is, VHS is pretty much a think of the past, and even described VHS titles were never in great supply as far as we could determine...

Watching described programs on TV doesn't seem that confusing in theory-- you access the SAP audio, just like you would for something like a Spanish simulcast or such. The thing is, I can never seem to find programs that are actually running with a description, and I can't seem to see what programs are supposed to be described in most listing either.

I know that Sesame Street is supposedly offering descriptions now, but I have tried several times, including this morning to access a second audio channel and nothing. This being on what appears to be a current ("first run", or at lest copyright in 2011) show (some older episodes have probably not been reworked with descriptions).

I have read that sometimes cable messes with the audio and doesn't rebroadcast the alternative audio for technical (apparently meaning COST) reasons (be it spanish, described audio, etc,) so this morning, I had setup an antenna and I checked Sesame Street, comparing the Cable feed to the Over the Air version. 

The short version of what I found today is that "Over the Air" showed to have two different English sound tracks but I could only access one, while the exact same program, running at the exact same time on cable (same station) showed to have English & Spanish. I could access both, but "Spanish" was actually running with no audio at all.

As to finding DVD's, I find certain lists on-line of programs offered, but when I go to buy the titles, often they have no described audio listed on the box (no symbol and nothing in the alternative languages list), so presumably some titles are shipped with some versions having described audio and some without. I wonder if there is a distinct ISBN (or UPC or whatever they use) for the described versions. Does anyone know?

The most recent titles in question are all of the Harry Potter films. Warner Brothers says they are described on some web sites, but I can't find a single version or listing (I've checked several stores plus on-line) which actually says that DVS audio is included-- not in the audio track listings, and there is no little "A)))" symbol, etc. (For non-print readers there is a capitol print A followed by what looks like progressively smaller right parentheses-- I think it is supposed to be sound waves coming from the "A")

As to Sesame Street and other PBS offerings, I sent an inquiry to our main PBS affiliate here in Georgia. It has been a week or so and thus far, no response.

I tried our local library system. Out f the 100 or so titles with DVS, I found two that looked to be of possible interest to an 8-year-old. I have requested them but they have yet to arrive.

We tried going to a theater a while back to see a described movie as well. They gave us wireless headsets to hear the audio description, but despite sitting exactly in the "best" seats to pick up the audio (from what we were told) and despite swapping out headsets more than once, mostly we just got static-filled noise, to the point that our child kept removing the headset in frustration.

Any suggestions? Are any others on this list having better luck with described programming for their kids? Kendra wants to know what is on TV shows, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep up and tell her what is happening all the time-- I really need some DVS shows for her to enjoy, and to share with her bother (and her parents, for that matter).

Described Audio is a great idea as far as I am concerned, but what a shame that is has not caught on like Closed Captioning which is part of pretty much every title broadcast and which you can buy commercially. I do understand that there are new regulations that just came into play and there will be more described programming broadcast, increasing in years to come, but I need to access what I can for Kendra now-- not 10 years down the road.