[Nfb-coloradosprings] Fw: Information on descriptive video t.v. and movies

[Everett Gavel]

This also works well for blind parents, not just blind kids -- and so I'm sharing it here. ;-)

Strive On!
Everett


----- Original Message ----- 
From: CO Parents of Blind Children 
To: Colorado Parents of Blind Children 
Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2013 10:51 AM
Subject: Information on descriptive video t.v. and movies

Hello:  The following information was posted by Richard Holloway on
blindkid at nfbnet.org.  It has information about holiday television programs
for kids with audio description as well as DVS movies showing in theaters.
We thought we would pass this along to you:

Read Richard Holloway's post here:

The following is a lot to read, but if you want to find some holiday shows
with DVS, this will probably help make that possible. It is that time of
year again-- when I can't help but suggest to any who of you who haven't
yet, to consider exploring DVS Television programming for your blind kids.
New laws, and perhaps a better attitude in the TV industry towards
accessibility are making DVS more and more available on many people's home
TV systems.

The following are some programs to watch for this December which are
believed to be running with DVS:

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (1966 Cartoon Version) shows to be running
with DVS on TBS Sunday, December 7, 3:00
The Grinch also re-runs December 13 at 8:00 pm
note that the December 12 Grinch broadcast on TOON (Cartoon Network) is
much less likely to run with DVS.

"Four Christmases" (rated TV-14, so not for little kids) is on TBS,
December 8, at 6:00 pm. It is listed to have DVS.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on CBS December 14, at 8:00 pm  It is NOT
listed with DVS but I was told it ran on CBS last year with DVS. I will be
recording this, "just in case."

Frosty the Snowman runs on CBS, December 14, at 9:00 pm. It is also NOT
listed with DVS, not even on their separate DVS schedule, but I checked in
on an earlier broadcast last week on CBS and it WAS running with DVS. This
is very likely ti run with DVS.

"Frosty Returns" December 14, at 9:30 pm may also be worth a check, since
CBS may well have just run two other Christmas shows with DVS right before
it.

"A Christmas Carol" on TNT December 20, at 9:00 pm shows to have DVS on
TNT's listings. It re-shows at midnight as well (three hours later).
The blurb on the TNT schedule does not make clear which version this is (no
actors listed, etc.)

"A Christmas Story" (marathon) Christmas Eve / Christmas Day-- usually
starts at 8:00 Christmas Eve on TBS. It runs for 24 hours. I can't find it
listed on their schedule yet (my schedules only lists programs 2 weeks in
advance), and the last two years, it did NOT seem to be listed with DVS,
but it ran with DVS anyhow (I confirmed this both years). I fully expect it
will have DVS again this year.

The CBS Cartoon "Yes, Virginia"  (as in Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus) ran with DVS a few days ago on CBS. It didn't seem to be publicized
as having DVS, but it was described nonetheless. Watch for it next year, I
don't see any repeats listed yet...

More on How/Where to find the "DVS," "descriptive video service," "audio
description," "video description," etc.-- the name may vary...

Most DVS programming seems to appear as if it were being broadcast in
Spanish in your program controls. Generally the "SAP" or separate audio
program setting has no effect on finding DVS, as crazy as that may sound.
Many programs on published DVS guides list some programs as having "SAP".
That seems to mean they run with Spanish available-- look for "DVS" instead
in these guides, especially for Turner Networks Programming instead.

If you receive your TV by way of an antenna, look for audio controls in
your TV set's settings. If you select your channels on a cable box, the
settings or audio controls on the cable tuner are the best place to start.
Most likely, your actual TV controls will not affect the audio selected if
you don't change channels on your actual TV set. If you use TiVo or Dish
TV, etc., check in the setup for that system. Older systems often required
you to record with the correct audio selected, some newer systems let you
record all the languages so you can still check multiple sound tracks even
when you're playing back

TNT, TBS, and perhaps other Turner Network stations seem to have three
language options running most of the time. On these networks, Spanish (when
offered) seems to generally run as "Spanish". When there is no Spanish,
they seem to run (non-described) English on the Spanish setting. The next
language that comes up on my TiVo is Portuguese and that's where I seem to
generally find DVS (when available) on TNT and TBS. Both are Turner
stations. Strangely, my Comcast converter shows the third language from
these stations as French.

On any given network (not just Turner), at times, you will find English
running on all available audio streams, and none may be described. Other
times, some streams may be blank or running entirely unrelated audio. If
you're watching an HD network, one trick to try if you expect to find DVS
and you don't is to change to the SD (lower video resolution) version of
the station. For some reason sometimes the HD and SD channels with the same
program don't both carry DVS, and almost every time, it is the HD channel
which has the DVS missing when that happens. (Your mileage may vary.)

You may also find an actual SAP setting, or even an "audio description"
listing in your controls. Generally this is NOT where you will find audio
description. Don't be discouraged if you check those and a program listed
with DVS appears not to have it. Check the alternate language options. This
is almost always where you will locate any available DVS.

The above is just the tip of the iceberg for DVS. I'm sure there are
upcoming holiday shows I have missed and some of my listings may be wrong
as all we can do in some cases is guess. Also, some local broadcasters may
not be relaying the DVS even though it is provided.

Right now, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, USA, the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, TNT,
and TBS are required to provide 50 hours a week of DVS programming in the
top 25 TV markets of the country.  New York is number one. Atlanta is 8th,
for my local friends, and Raleigh-Durham / Fayetteville, NC is 25th. If
your market is as big or bigger than Raleigh-Durham, you're on the list.

In practice the network affiliates seem to be providing DVS most
everywhere, but it isn't always required. PBS and TCM provide some DVS
programs too, but are not required to do so. Satellite networks must pass
along DVS provided by Nick, Disney, TBS, TNT, and USA. Cable providers with
50,000 or more subscribers are also required to do so. Local affiliates are
required to pass along DVS from networks even if they are NOT in the top 25
markets IF they have the technical capability to do so, and most local
affiliates do have this capability.

What this all boils down to is that more and more TV viewers have and/or
are gaining more access to audio descriptions, and while it may be a hassle
to figure out where to turn it on, once you know how, it gets a lot easier.
A note for blind people who want better access to manage their own program
option controls-- audio accessible access to actual controls is a
requirement for many future systems to access DVS, so this will get easier
in the future. Over time, more and more programs will be offered, and there
is a good chance that DVS will one day become as ubiquitous as closed
captioning for the hearing impaired, probably not too far down the road.

Those of you who may have stuck it out to read this whole post, be aware
that many, many more movies are also available described in theaters these
days than in recent years. Check first for a Regal theater in your area as
they have added systems in a great many of their theaters which offer DVS
on every screening of nearly every movie they show. A notable exception was
a recent Thanksgiving release "Free Birds" which was not available
described, but that is the only new release I have personally checked on in
the past year or more which Regal was not running with DVS (so long as they
were screening the title I checked on). It is not unusual to see every
movie being screened at a nearby 24 screen Regal offering DVS at the same
time. Quite a change from a few years ago!

There are also more and more described movies released on DVD these days.
Here is a list of how many known videos (for kids and adults combined) have
been released with DVS over the past several years:

YEAR     NUMBER OF TITLES WITH DVS
2013:      61 titles (as of December 8, 2013)
2012:      86
2011:      81
2010:      49
2009:      13
2008:        7
2007:        4
2006:        4
2005:        3
2004:        3
2003:        4
2002:        0
2001:        1

I'd call that progress!

If you want to find a DVD with the DVS option and a Christmas theme, the
live action (Jim Carey) version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is an
option, as are both Arthur Christmas, and the DISNEY version of A Christmas
Carol (also with Jim Carey). Check the languages shown on the back before
you buy to be certain you have the right version of the right movie in hand!

For more information on DVS in general, her is an outstanding link:

http://www.acb.org/adp/

The above is for "The Audio Description Project", a substantial undertaking
offering a wealth of information on Audio Description. Much of the
information I have in this post  is available in much greater detail on
their site. Thanks to them for offering so much reference material on this
topic.

Finally, if you want to check and see where a movie is playing in a theater
with DVS, below is another excellent link (for a site called Captionfish),
though if you check with a local Regal theater, you may also learn that
they run most EVERY film with available DVS. If you use Captionfish, be
CERTAIN to use the filter and set it to "Descriptive Video". If you don't,
results will intermix DVS and captioned options.

http://www.captionfish.com/