[blindkid] Described Videos

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Thu May 26 20:20:10 UTC 2011


Thanks Susie. Looks like, the Blind Mice site is still awaiting their new unveiling. It says "May 1" for the Grand Opening but I'll keep checking back-- I'm anxious to see what they have there.

Jay Forry's site is interesting. I'll have to look through that some more soon.

I'm guessing there are quite a few of these described titles in mainstream distribution as well. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a consistent way to track them down.  Searches for "DVS" or "Described Audio", etc., get very few hits. 

Just the Harry Potter Movies alone have 7 different films, all of which seen to be released separately in standard and wide formats plus various deluxe releases and boxed sets... oh, and Blue too, I assume... 

I have had probably 20 or more different (as in different products) Harry Potter DVD's in my hand and not a single one appears to be described, but Warner Brothers says the movies were released with DVS tracks (based on an on-line list I found). I emailed Warner Brothers to ask how I can track down them down with DVS. So far, no answer. I'm hoping there is actually a unique ISBN number (or the like) that I could then search for on-line.

If there is a unique thing that can be looked up-- a specific part numbers for the DVS disks, I'd sure like to find a a master list of those. My concern is that the DVS products might not have a unique skew number, then it would be anybody's guess. Besides, some of the on-line sources might not be terribly careful to get more than the right title. 

Thanks again for the info. If I find a list like that, I'll be sure to post it here...


On May 26, 2011, at 1:27 PM, Susie Cooper wrote:

> You probably want to check out www.blindmicemart.com.  The Mice have a 
> collection of movies for you to download Free.  The movies are audio with 
> description and are in mp3 format. 
> 
> 
> And you can also check out www.blindsidereviews.com.   This is the home for the 
> nation's only blind movie critic. Jay Forry's reviews are syndicated across the 
> nation on various radio stations and in newspapers. His unique style and sense 
> of humor make for entertaining and insightful critiques that give you a heads-up 
> on what's hot and what's not.
> 
> Regarding the DVD's you want to look in the back and make sure that they say 
> DVS.  I know that the recent children movies from Dreamworks and Paramount are 
> starting to be descriptive.
> 
> Hope this is helpful.
> 
> Susie Cooper
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thu, May 26, 2011 9:57:31 AM
> Subject: [blindkid] Described Videos
> 
> 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.
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