Netflix to Enhance Access for Customers Who Are Blind

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
A settlement was reached today between Netflix and the American Council of the Blind to make Netflix videos more accessible to the blind by using audio description technology. This includes the company's Netflix original content and DVD service as well.

In a first-of-its-kind settlement, advocates for people who are blind have reached an agreement with Netflix to make accessible the movies and videos offered through the Netflix video streaming and DVD rental subscriptions. The settlement provides that Netflix will make its video content accessible by adding a new technology called “audio description” as a feature that blind customers can activate so they can more fully understand and enjoy the movie and video experience.
 
Awesome, now blind people can also enjoy the growing vacuum of titles.
 
Soooo... Audiobook versions of TV shows and movies?
 
And I suppose that they are also going to start putting brail on the DVDs themselves so they can mail back the correct DVDs?

Personally, I think this is a bit silly, but whatever.

"Audio description technology lets blind people know what is happening in scenes without dialogue or scenes with significant visual elements via an audio description track that contains narration of the visual elements that is synchronized with the show or movie."

"Television and movie studios will create the audio description tracks and provide them to Netflix." - guessing this will be very limited.

"Netflix will also provide audio description for the “Netflix Original” shows that Netflix has begun distributing such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black."

Sooo, get ready for a price hike at theaters, for DVDs, BDs, and cable bills as well as another price hike for Netflix.
 
I dunno, maybe studios will just be lazy and ship the screenplays read by a robot as one of the tracks?

If you simply remove the dialog portion of the screenplay, the scene descriptions and timelines should be good enough. Sounds simple enough to me, and shouldn't raise costs for anybody :D

Now if they were asking for this shit twenty years ago BEFORE cheap OCR, then they'd be assholes.
 
I'd imagine that a substantial number of blind people spend a significant amount of time being bored as hell. They probably welcome sensory input.
 
I watched a tv show with this feature and it was really strange, since another voice pops on and says what is going on in the scene.
I didn't realize that it was for the blind till now.
 
cyclone3d said:
And I suppose that they are also going to start putting brail on the DVDs themselves so they can mail back the correct DVDs?

Personally, I think this is a bit silly, but whatever.

"Audio description technology lets blind people know what is happening in scenes without dialogue or scenes with significant visual elements via an audio description track that contains narration of the visual elements that is synchronized with the show or movie."

"Television and movie studios will create the audio description tracks and provide them to Netflix." - guessing this will be very limited.

"Netflix will also provide audio description for the “Netflix Original” shows that Netflix has begun distributing such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black."

Sooo, get ready for a price hike at theaters, for DVDs, BDs, and cable bills as well as another price hike for Netflix.
Click to expand...

A lot of theaters actually have special screenings with this tech. They issue out special headsets that deliver the audio descriptions. I'm all for increased support for people with disabilities. It literally means nothing to you, but the world to them. Why shouldn't business cater to its consumers? What are you losing?
 
twonunpackmule said:
A lot of theaters actually have special screenings with this tech. They issue out special headsets that deliver the audio descriptions. I'm all for increased support for people with disabilities. It literally means nothing to you, but the world to them. Why shouldn't business cater to its consumers? What are you losing?
Click to expand...
You should tell this to Blizzard Entertainment! ;)
 
Isn't a blind person watching movies kind of like a blind person going to an art museum? Seems like they'd be better served just listening to radio and music. I guess good on Netflix for trying, but I just don't know if a movie will be very immersive for a blind person. Captioning a movie for the deaf seems to work a lot better... in fact, sometimes I use captioning if I can't understand the accents or the movie has "volume shifts" that make it too quiet at one time and way too loud the next. The visuals are the best part of the movie, they screw up the aural experience all the time. Hence radio being a better medium for someone without a viewable screen.

I think it would be a better favor to try and revive radio dramas rather than try and translate a "visual" experience. Something designed from the ground up to appeal to the ears rather than the eyes.
 
twonunpackmule said:
A lot of theaters actually have special screenings with this tech. They issue out special headsets that deliver the audio descriptions. I'm all for increased support for people with disabilities. It literally means nothing to you, but the world to them. Why shouldn't business cater to its consumers? What are you losing?
Click to expand...

I just don't get the appeal of "watching" a movie if you are blind. Usually about 75% of what makes a movie good is the visuals. If you don't have that, then it is not worth watching IMO.

Seems to me it is just like turning it into an audio book with more than one voice and other sounds.

I guess it makes some sense if you are blind and "watching" a movie with somebody that isn't blind.

And it is not just about the businesses "catering to its customers", it is also about making the rest of the customers who don't need/want this service to end up having to help pay for this added (court ordered from what it sounds like) service.
However, if it is just an agreement that the two parties made, then good for them.

This whole mentality of "you must cater to whoever demands it" is way out of hand.

Kind of like the intolerants that demand that you be tolerant towards them.. but if you somehow offend them, they will end you. And if they want to be intolerant towards you, then it is fine with everybody else.

The double standard is a huge problem and needs to be addressed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top