[blindkid] Christmas DVS movies

Fri Dec 7 01:21:03 UTC 2012

Arielle,

Your questions are great ones. The answers aren't as simple as one might hope.

At least some DVD players retain the audio setting from the last playback. (Same things for close captioning.) That is a function of the player itself. Computer based units are more likely to track history of previous disks and repeat settings. On DVD, Audio Description is simply another "Language", just like Spanish, French, etc. If you're familiar with the special soundtrack with a director's or actor's commentary that is treated as a language choice as well.

In the cases of which I'm aware the settings are per DVD. Once cannot globally select to default to DVS on a player, (it may be possible on some computer players) and I don't know how many players retain the setting once a disk is taken out. That is the bad news. The good news is that most NEWER players have an "Audio" button on the remote which lets you cycle through audio selections without ever going through the menus. Very handy.

Another way to access the audio on a few newer DVDs is with a handy splash screen that comes up before anything else. I appreciate that option, only the screen is unique per movie and there is not generally a sound cue to tell you what to select if you cannot see. Still it means some companies are trying. One of the Toy Stories (I guess #3?) has that feature. I've seen it on maybe three different films.

Absolutely the best way to control this without sight for now, is to use a newer unit with the Audio select on the remote.

As to TV Shows? The short answer is if they have the English DVS expect to find it under "Spanish" audio. 

I actually wrote a fairly detailed article on this topic a few months ago which is still fairly current if you're interested. Here is the link:

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr31/3/fr310312.htm

On Dec 6, 2012, at 7:29 PM, Arielle Silverman wrote:

> Just curious-is it possible for a blind person to turn audio
> description on and off independently for DVD's or TV shows? If not
> something should be done about that. DVS is of limited value if a
> sighted parent or other sighted person must always be there to turn it
> on, and I assume  it has to be turned on each time a new DVD is
> started, right?
> Arielle
> 
> On 12/6/12, Darcirae Hooks <draehooks at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Thanks for posting. Our family rule is to watch with audio description
>> first, then the second viewing we can turn it off.
>> 
>> Darci Hooks
>> BTW we found Star Wars ins DVS. Caiden loves it.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Dec 6, 2012, at 18:34, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only one on the list who is interested
>>> in Audio Described movies, but just in case I'm not...
>>> 
>>> I picked up a copy of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" tonight (the Jim Carey
>>> version) with Audio Description. I find that DVD's are easier to switch to
>>> described audio than broadcast TV. The way to configure DVS is pretty
>>> simple-- just a couple of menu clicks turns Audio Description on or off.
>>> Some DVD's even have a special "splash screen" that loads when you first
>>> load them where you can switch on the main screen... This particular movie
>>> was $13 at Target n DVD or $20 for BluRay.
>>> 
>>> I also posted a while back that TBS ran "A Christmas Story" for 24 Hours
>>> last Christmas with Audio Description running on the Spanish Audio Feed.
>>> As far as I know they didn't disclose their plans to do so, but my guess
>>> is they'll run it the exact same way this year.
>>> 
>>> If you haven't tried sharing favorite movies and TV shows with a blind
>>> child or friend using this feature, I can tell you that at least my blind
>>> daughter loves them. She knows far better what's going on than when
>>> someone sitting nearby tries to describe things "on the fly", and she
>>> knows she isn't frustrating anyone by asking "what happened" over and
>>> over.
>>> 
>>> Before we found DVS, Kendra felt left out of attempts at family movie
>>> nights and going to the theatre was of no interest to her at all. Now with
>>> DVS, movies at home and the theater are a regular part of our family
>>> activities!
>>> 
>>> Happy Holidays!
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>> 
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> 
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