Hi John, Some TV stations over here produce their own audio description channel. I don't know if those are on the dvds but i guess not. On the tv they have a separate channel for that but as far as i know they are produced often by the station itself. Greetings, Simon Mit freundlichen Grüßen Simon Eigeldinger Informatik Nebengebäude 1, OG1 Stadt Hohenems Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Straße 4 6845 Hohenems T: +43 5576 7101-1143 | E: simon.eigeldinger@hohenems.at | www.hohenems.at Diese Nachricht und allfällige angehängte Dokumente sind vertraulich und nur für den/die Adressaten bestimmt. -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: John G Heim [mailto:jheim@math.wisc.edu] Gesendet: Dienstag, 03. Juli 2018 16:58 An: Eigeldinger Simon <simon.eigeldinger@hohenems.at>; Blind sysadmins list <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Betreff: Re: AW: [Blind-sysadmins] Ripping DVS from a DVD What I am asking about is where the description track is on a DVD. Or even if a DVD is going to come with a description track these days. You used to be able to buy video tapes with the descriptions from WGBH in Boston. They dropped that a long time ago. But I have seen discussions on other lists about people listening to descriptions while actually in a movie theatre. So I don't think the technology is dead. You would think they'd include it on a DVD, right? On 07/03/2018 09:38 AM, Eigeldinger Simon wrote:

Hi John,

I guess you could use Handbrake from the CLI or use ffmpeg. Haven't got any command line demos/examples at the moment.

Greetings, Simon

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Simon Eigeldinger Informatik Nebengebäude 1, OG1 Stadt Hohenems Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Straße 4 6845 Hohenems T: +43 5576 7101-1143 | E: simon.eigeldinger@hohenems.at | www.hohenems.at

Diese Nachricht und allfällige angehängte Dokumente sind vertraulich und nur für den/die Adressaten bestimmt. -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: John G Heim [mailto:jheim@math.wisc.edu] Gesendet: Dienstag, 03. Juli 2018 16:36 An: Blind sysadmins list <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Betreff: [Blind-sysadmins] Ripping DVS from a DVD

Does anybody know anything about ripping the audio descriptions (DVS) from a DVD? I am not even sure movies come with DVS. I want to listen to the "Lord Of the Rings" movies and it turns out that it is cheaper to buy the DVDs than it is to download them. If I can figure out a way to rip the aDVS track, I figure I can listen to it while my family watches the movie. They don't have to be bothered with those descriptions.

Hi John

Unfortunately it is still not a requirement that films / TV

It doesn't look as if "Lord Of the Rings" has descriptions anyway. I was planning on using bone-conduction headphones to listen to the descriptions. It would be better than in a movie theatre where you have to wear regular headphones. And I wouldn't think syncing the descriptions to the screen would be a huge problem. I could start with the descriptions way ahead of the movie and then keep tapping bause until it was close enough. We should start a project where people can upload sound files of their descriptions of movies. All people would have to do is to sit down in front of a computer with headphones on, watch a movie, and record themselves describing what they see. Yeah, I know, they'd be talking over the dialog at times and stuff. But you could fix that by adding some silence before the descriptions and deleting the same amount after. I've done that kind of thing with podcasts. If you delete all the times someone says "you know" or "um" from a podcast, they sound way more intelligent. On 07/04/2018 04:12 AM, Ian Sharpe wrote: programmes are audio described. You can read a bit more about AD at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_description

In short, AD is typically provided in a separate track, so

technically you should be able to extract this track, although you would obviously have to then make sure both the DVD your family watches, and the audio track you have extracted start at precisely the same time. However, you would then be left listening to the AD through headphones, and the actual audio from the TV everyone else is watch, which I suspect would be an unsatisfactory experience for you. I'm sure you could extract the actual audio track and then mix this with the AD track but this is then getting awkward.

Cinemas use hardware solutions which enable them to play the film to

the main screen / audio, while sending the AD track wirelessly to anyone wearing headphones in the audience, but I suspect these solutions would be expensive for domestic use.

The RNIB conducted a trial of an app which was supposed to address

this issue in 2015 but not sure whether this service is available or not yet. I can see plenty of issues with this approach and don't feel it's viable in the long term, but may be could provide a fix for a limited number of films / shows in the short term until more effective solutions are available. You can read the overview at:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/19/game-of-thrones-vod-application-...

One final suggestion, why not ask your family whether they would mind

watching the film with AD turned on, rather than just assuming they wouldn't want to watch it with AD? It would be a far more inclusive experience and you never know they may actually enjoy it as my family does. I'm not going to say it's perfect as there are times when the AD describes what is happening just before it actually happens on screen, but that doesn't happen that often. It can also be quite amusing.

They've also shown that AD can actually improve literacy skills for

children, and based on some of the descriptions I hear, that doesn't surprise me.

I'm sure your family would be happy to give it a try.

Cheers Ian DISCLAIMER: NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any

attachments is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to permanently delete it and any attachments from your system. Manx Blind Welfare Society endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments with the appropriate software. Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Manx Blind Welfare Society. Manx Blind Welfare Society. Isle of Man Registered Charity Number 132 Website: www.mbws.org.im

You mean you watched the movie in a theatre, right? It doesn't help me if the descriptions are not on the DVD. I don't consider syncing the audio descriptions with the movie to be a significant problem. I don't get all the doom and gloom over that. An IOS device has a 15 second fast forward button and a bause button. Problem solved. On 07/04/2018 09:18 AM, Ian Sharpe wrote:

Hi John

I like your optimism but suspect the reality would be a little more subtle than you might expect. Unless you sync both audio tracks perfectly, you will end up with the AD over the top of the audio track as the AD is very precisely timed to coincide with specific points in the audio track. Also, if whatever device you are playing the AD on is running at a speed which is a tiny bit faster or slower than whatever is playing the movie, you are going to have the same problem.

With regards to Lord of the Rings, if you're talking about the relatively recent blockbuster movie film in new Zealand, I can confirm that this film does come with full audio description. I know because I've watched it, as well as the other films in the trilogy.

Cheers Ian

-----Original Message----- From: John G Heim [mailto:jheim@math.wisc.edu] Sent: 04 July 2018 14:39 To: Ian Sharpe; Blind sysadmins list; Eigeldinger Simon Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Re: Ripping DVS from a DVD

It doesn't look as if "Lord Of the Rings" has descriptions anyway. I was planning on using bone-conduction headphones to listen to the descriptions. It would be better than in a movie theatre where you have to wear regular headphones. And I wouldn't think syncing the descriptions to the screen would be a huge problem. I could start with the descriptions way ahead of the movie and then keep tapping bause until it was close enough.

We should start a project where people can upload sound files of their descriptions of movies. All people would have to do is to sit down in front of a computer with headphones on, watch a movie, and record themselves describing what they see. Yeah, I know, they'd be talking over the dialog at times and stuff. But you could fix that by adding some silence before the descriptions and deleting the same amount after. I've done that kind of thing with podcasts. If you delete all the times someone says "you know" or "um" from a podcast, they sound way more intelligent.

On 07/04/2018 04:12 AM, Ian Sharpe wrote:

...

Hi John

Unfortunately it is still not a requirement that films / TV programmes are audio described. You can read a bit more about AD at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_description

In short, AD is typically provided in a separate track, so technically you should be able to extract this track, although you would obviously have to then make sure both the DVD your family watches, and the audio track you have extracted start at precisely the same time. However, you would then be left listening to the AD through headphones, and the actual audio from the TV everyone else is watch, which I suspect would be an unsatisfactory experience for you. I'm sure you could extract the actual audio track and then mix this with the AD track but this is then getting awkward.

Cinemas use hardware solutions which enable them to play the film to the main screen / audio, while sending the AD track wirelessly to anyone wearing headphones in the audience, but I suspect these solutions would be expensive for domestic use.

The RNIB conducted a trial of an app which was supposed to address this issue in 2015 but not sure whether this service is available or not yet. I can see plenty of issues with this approach and don't feel it's viable in the long term, but may be could provide a fix for a limited number of films / shows in the short term until more effective solutions are available. You can read the overview at:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/19/game-of-thrones-vod-application-...

...

One final suggestion, why not ask your family whether they would mind watching the film with AD turned on, rather than just assuming they wouldn't want to watch it with AD? It would be a far more inclusive experience and you never know they may actually enjoy it as my family does. I'm not going to say it's perfect as there are times when the AD describes what is happening just before it actually happens on screen, but that doesn't happen that often. It can also be quite amusing.

They've also shown that AD can actually improve literacy skills for children, and based on some of the descriptions I hear, that doesn't surprise me.

I'm sure your family would be happy to give it a try.

Cheers Ian DISCLAIMER: NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to permanently delete it and any attachments from your system. Manx Blind Welfare Society endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants.

However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments with the appropriate software. Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Manx Blind Welfare Society. Manx Blind Welfare Society. Isle of Man Registered Charity Number 132 Website: www.mbws.org.im

...

DISCLAIMER: NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to permanently delete it and any attachments from your system. Manx Blind Welfare Society endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments with the appropriate software. Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Manx Blind Welfare Society. Manx Blind Welfare Society. Isle of Man Registered Charity Number 132 Website: www.mbws.org.im