[blindkid] Described Videos
Richard Holloway
rholloway at gopbc.org
Fri May 27 04:20:01 UTC 2011
Thanks Steve,
I emailed Texas to ask about that service (from your link) for out-of-state users. Sounds handy. That other list is very interesting, but I don't see on that what to look for to confirm that a particular DVD package contains the proper show version-- again- trying to look for a particular ISBN or such. For example, the Toy Story Movies, even with a direct link to Amazon don't seem to reflect being described (on the Amazon site), but it says to order those ones linked to be certain you get the described versions. I'm probably being over-cautious but mainly just amazed at what a low priority this seems to be for these movie companies-- so low that even if they bother to describe the video, they don't seem too concerned about telling anyone they did it? (How strange is that?)
From What Kayleigh says in her reply, it sounds like the first two Toy Story Movies actually are described (per the list), though the package doesn't say so, (just like Amazon). Apparently TS3 does say it is, (and it indeed is). In fact the acb web site even shows a big "splash page" from the TS3 DVD with easy access to the description, yet from what I find, Amazon doesn't list the DVS feature on their site for the movie under either special features or as an alternative language. I don't think I've overlooked anything there...
Apart from the marketing and the packaging saying which titles are described, another situation that needs to be addressed a bit better is that it seems to be hard to get to these alternative audio tracks on the actual DVD's, broadcasts, etc., because they often seem to bury access several menus deep-- not the simplest thing to find without vision, I would suspect. Isn't it strange that they have generally gotten the closed caption button pretty easy to find visually for the hearing impaired, but the vision impaired have hard-to-find, often nearly-vision-requiring access methods...
BTW, I should clear up a mistake I posted earlier. Not that it has caused a great deal of confusion so far, but it is not an "A" with sound waves, it is a "D", based on what I see on-line. Some also say "DVS", etc. I guess I had A-for-audio on the brain. The original apparently had a D with three progressively larger sound waves moving to the right, though I have yet to find that on a DVD in the store anywhere. This logo itself seems to have as much discussion on the web (if not more) than the actual DVS programs, LOL.
Perhaps I overstate, but here's a whole web page on the logo:
http://joeclark.org/access/resources/symbolizing-dvs.html
The thing maybe worth noting is that apparently the orig. logo was a WGBH thing, and DVS is (or at least was) also a WHBH "branded" service. Some "described" programs are apparently described by their own in-house services (or something apart from WGBH's service). It seems WGBH offered the logo free for others to use, but others may not actually use it-- (there's no requirement for that, obviously). This makes me wonder if I'm running across quite a few described DVD's but I'm just not seeing how the feature is marked.
At least with the help of several on this list, I'm figuring out how to solve this situation. It may not seem that important at first, but it is important to my daughter and I appreciate all the suggestions!
-RH
On May 26, 2011, at 5:17 PM, Steve Craig 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/rholloway%40gopbc.org
More information about the BlindKid
mailing list