[nfb-talk] Fw: DVS accessibility

[qubit]

Here's some info from the blind-l list for anyone interested.
I was thinking there should be a way to make the DVS broadcast less ad hoc 
and more prevalent.
--le

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "qubit" <lauraeaves at YAHOO.COM>
To: <BLIND-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: DVS accessibility


Hi Larry --
Thanks for the retrospective.  If you don't mind I want to forward it to the
nfb-talk list.
As for SAP on cable and satellite, since nowadays they provide things like
movies on demand and pay-per-view, it is possible in theory to get the DVS
track played when they broadcast.  On the regular network programming, you
have those blasted on screen menus to bring up SAP -- and of course it is
never at the top of a menu but 4 items down.
Also, they have to be broadcasting DVS on that channel for the SAP to access
it.  (Obvious, but on the movies-on-demand you can tailor your viewing any
way you want.)
Happy listening all.
--le

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hart Larry" <chime at HUBERT-HUMPHREY.COM>
To: <BLIND-L at LISTSERV.UARK.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 7:23 PM
Subject: Re: DVS accessibility


OK, an extremely interesting topic.  Replying with comments for Karen, Gene,
and Laura.
First some background.  Around 1984 when Stereo TV became available, there
was
only 1 SAP channel per station-and-it was only 10KHZ audio-and-only mono.
Around late 1986 Cable companies began installing stereo modulators at
around
$8000
In 1996 I got Direct-TV-and-certainly enjoyed having easy access to SAP.  It
was 1 button on the remote which like earlier TVs would toggle among
main-and-SAP.  In the case of Bloomberg TV, they offered an audio service
with
news on the hour, but also their 1130 AM station in NYC.  So they had 2
SAPS.
Several years later I switched to Dish Network--and yes its more complicated
to
switch to SAP, as its not on the fly, per channel, all channels are
switched.
There are maybe 5 or 6 languages.  For awhile I left the receiver in that
mode,
but at that time I had an ABC station in Atlanta, with no audio much of the
time on its SAP on Dish.
Over the years manufacturers made it much harder to access SAP, as many
folks
would not know how to get back to regular audio.  In some cases such as
Washington DC and San Diego, the NBC station was running NOAA weather Radio,
eventually specialized uses quieted down because of that type of confusion.
Now in today's envirenment depending on an amount of picture quality and
bandwidth, an HDTV station can run around 8 multicast channels, such as our
KSCI channel 18.  If they want to, each of them can have a SAP.  Here in the
LA
area, yes, when KLCS 58 is running DVS, the SAP is stereo split among
discription-and-main audio.
Here there are some children's programming, as well as prime time with
either
Spanish or DVS.  I sure wish some of our Spanish stations would translate
News
in English.
Hope that explains alot of things
Hart