Category: Daily Living
Here is an email I recently received about WBGH of Boston partnering with Soni Home Entertainment to start putting Discriptive Video Services on the upcoming newly released DVD's. This hasn't been possible until the developement of new technology and was only 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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It's about time for that to become available. I can't believe nobody thought of this earlier. Closed captioning has been available for quite some time, so why not DVS?
It was available but only on the old VHS cassettes for the VCR. There originally was some problem with the technology to fit the descriptions over the movies on the DVD format, but now they seem to have fixed that problem. Feel free to contact the sites listed above for more information. I do know that WGBH of Boston all ready has some DVD'S with the service on them, but they are mostly PBS shows like Nature and Nova and American Experience and stuff like that.
Um, I think I posted to a topic that's exactly the same? Hmmm.
Yes, you possibly did as I didn't know where to put this topic. It fits under the movie board because it's about movies, but it also seems to fit here as movies are a part of daily living. Sorry about the confusion.
another reason why the filtering option should be put in place, as suggested on the "posting limit per day" board under "Zone BBS Suggestions". But anyway, that's another topic for another board.
I've heard about that service. I think it's been around here in the UK for a few months.
I've heard about that service. I think it's been around here in the UK for a few months.
Lol. That post doubled for some reason. And...really? They already have this service in the UK?