Category: Cinema 31
Here is an email I just received about the WBGH of Boston partnering with Soni Home Entertainment to make DVD'S with the DVS service on them. Until recently it has only been available on the old VHS cassettes.
Sony and WGBH Partner on Delivering Descriptive Video Service on DVDs
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
About Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. SPE is a division of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based
Sony Corporation. SPHE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital contest
creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development
of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be
found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.sonypictures.com
<http://
www.sonypictures.com/> .
Contacts:
Jason Allen
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Jason_allen@spe.sony.com
310- 244-3502
Mary Watkins
Media Access Group at WGBH
Mary_watkins@wgbh.org
617-300-3700
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Awesome! I'm so excited!
oooo that's great!. thanks for sharing that article
There are web addreses and phone numbers above so people can contact each site to find out more on the DVS service.
This is totaly exciting - maybe I will stay awake through more movies now.
Ok, this is a really cool thing, but if the menus don't talk, how are you suppose to get to the dvs option if you don't live with sighted or visually impaired people who can help you get to the dvs option? I wish people would think about these things more often. Not that I'm trying to say that they're not trying, they are, but they should think of that to. Just my oppinion. But it'll be exciting to see what movies come out on dvs now. I've always wanted to buy more movies.