[Ohio-talk] Fw: Sony and WGBH Partner on Delivering Descriptive Video Service on DVDs

[Dr. Smith]

Sony and WGBH Partner on Delivering Descriptive Video Service on DVDsfyi

JW

Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
"Changing What it Means to be Blind"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Sammons, Elizabeth 
To: 'Derek Mortland' ; RSC Jaws 
Cc: 'mary.hiland at sbcglobal.net' ; 'jwsmithnfb at verizon.net' ; 'FREDERICK, KATHRYN CIV DFAS' 
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 9:10 AM
Subject: Sony and WGBH Partner on Delivering Descriptive Video Service on DVDs


 
 Great news to share!
 Elizabeth


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      SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT PARTNERS WITH WGBH MEDIA ACCESS GROUP
TO DELIVER DESCRIPTIVE VIDEO SERVICE ON HOME VIDEO TITLES

Culver City, Calif. (Sept 3, 2009) - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will partner with WGBH Media Access Group to release select film titles on DVD with Descriptive Video Service®, or DVS® as an optional feature for audiences who are blind or have low vision.  Descriptive Video Service provides carefully crafted narration of key visual elements inserted into natural pauses in dialogue. Key visual elements are those which viewers with vision loss would ordinarily miss and include actions, costumes, gestures, facial expressions, scene changes and onscreen text. On DVD and Blu-rayT, the DVS track is an Audio option, listed alongside alternative languages, where the menu selection will read "English Audio Descriptive Service."  

The ability to enjoy movies with descriptive narration on DVD and Blu-ray DiscT is extremely important to the nation's 12 million movie fans with vision loss, and is the single most requested service of the Media Access Group. Among the first Sony Pictures Home Entertainment titles to be released with the description feature are The Taking of Pelham 123, The Ugly Truth, Julie & Julia and District 9. 

Sony Pictures has been a leader over the last decade in providing descriptive audio for theatrical releases in movie theaters equipped with WGBH's Motion Picture Access, or MoPix® systems. Beginning in the fall of 2009, all Sony Pictures theatrical releases with descriptive audio will also include the feature when they arrive on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. 

About The Media Access Group at WGBH

The Media Access Group at WGBH includes The Caption Center, the world's first captioning agency, founded in 1972; Descriptive Video Service (DVS), which has made television, film and video more accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences since 1990; and the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), a research and development entity that builds on the success of WGBH's access service departments to make existing and emerging technologies more accessible. Members of the Media Access Group's collective staff represent the leading resources and experts in their fields.

Additional information about the Media Access Group at WGBH can be found at www.mediaaccessgroupwgbh.org <http://www.mediaaccessgroupwgbh.org/> .  

The Media Access Group maintains a list of DVDs with DVS at this page of its site:  http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/accessible-dvds.html 

Follow the Media Access Group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Media-Access-Group-at-WGBH/91628220291?ref=ts