[nabs-l] FW: Sony Partners With WGBH

[Peter Donahue]

Hello everyone,

    I wonder if that will include talking menus? What's the sense in putting 
a DVS track on to the DVD if the blind viewer can't access the menu to 
launch it?Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12 at gmail.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 11:23 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] FW: Sony Partners With WGBH


got this from a friend.


Sony Partners With WGBH to Deliver Descriptive Video Service for DVDs

By : Chris Tribbey
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the latest studio to join forces with
WGBH Media Access Group to deliver select DVDs with Descriptive Video
Service
(DVS), an optional feature that provides audio narration for visual
elements, allowing consumers who are blind or who have impaired vision to
"watch" the
content.

PBS Home Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment have both released
titles that include the feature.

"I don't know how large the untapped market may be. We're doing it because
it's the right thing to do," said Tracey Garvin, SVP of worldwide marketing
for
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "There's so much visually that the
impaired can't pick up. It really enriches the experience, and it's
certainly worth
the additional expense."

The American Foundation for the Blind estimates there are more than 20
million people in the country with significant visual impairment.

Mary Watkins, outreach director for WGBH's Media Access Group, said WGBH had
done descriptive content for VHS, producing more than 200 titles from nearly
all the studios.

"The gap between the end of the road for the VHS format several years ago,
and this announcement by Sony of all major titles going forward including a
DVS
track, has been painful to an audience that loves movies as much as sighted
viewers," she said. "DVS on DVD enables people who are blind or have low
vision
to enjoy a movie independently, relieves their friends and loved ones of
being amateur describers at home, and ensures a better return on Sony's
original
investment on the service for the theatrical release ... good news all
around."

The American Foundation for the Blind estimates there are more than 20
million people in the country with significant visual impairment.

The first Sony titles to include the feature will be The Taking of Pelham
123 (Nov. 3), The Ugly Truth, Julie & Julia and District 9. Beginning this
fall,
any theatrical release from Sony including descriptive audio also will have
the feature on eventual DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases.

Listed as an audio option in the languages option of DVDs and Blu-rays,
Descriptive Video Service offers narration describing everything from facial
expressions
and gestures to costume and on-screen text.

Garvin said that the transfer of a Descriptive Video Service for disc isn't
a difficult task for the studio. She added that Sony is "really proud to be
able to do this."


Never give up! no matter how big or small the struggle may seem!
Quote by Vicki Moore




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