[blindkid] Described Videos

Fri May 27 03:33:50 UTC 2011

Yes, the Blind mice site is great, and I believe has all the Harry
potter movies...don't quote me on that! A couple Disney too. I was a
huge Disney kid. The site can take some patience to navigate, as in,
it takes awhile to find all the titles you may be looking for because
sometimes areas. I could gather all the kid friendly movies if you'd
like. As Susie said though, they're all MP3, so not exactly movies
both blind and sighted could watch equally.

On 5/26/11, Kayleigh Joiner <kayleigh281 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Here is the link to the Blind Mice Movie Vault:  <http://goog_917158801>*
>> http://www.blindmicemart.com/assets/product_images/movies2.html* If for
>> whatever reason this link doesn't work you can Google Blind Mice Movie
>> Vault
>> and you should get a hit. I have noticed that the Toy Story series, along
>> with Despicable Me have a DVS track included in them. I have the non
>> Blu-ray
>> versions of them and I think the only one that mentioned it on the box was
>> Toy Story 3 but I saw on a site that the others in the series were
>> supposed
>> to have DVS on them.
>> Kayleigh
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 4:17 PM, Steve Craig
>> <ipd4life2006 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Here is a site that has been useful to me www.acb.org/adp/dvds.html.
>>> Also, there
>>> is a program through the Texas Center for the Visually Challenged at
>>> computersfortheblind.net. They have a Netflix type subscription where
>>> some are
>>> vhs and others dvd. It is $25 and they send a return envelope and you get
>>> a new
>>> video. Very similar to Netflix. Hope this helps.
>>>
>>>  Steven L. Craig
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> 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 4:20:10 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Described Videos
>>>
>>> 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.
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > blindkid mailing list
>>> > blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> blindkid:
>>> >
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/scooper1218%40yahoo.com
>>> >m
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > blindkid mailing list
>>> > blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> blindkid:
>>> >
>>>
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/rholloway%40gopbc.org
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindkid mailing list
>>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> blindkid:
>>>
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/ipd4life2006%40yahoo.com
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindkid mailing list
>>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> blindkid:
>>>
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/kayleigh281%40yahoo.com
>>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/bcsarah.fan%40gmail.com
>