

Netflix begins audio description for visually impaired - ValentineC
http://blog.netflix.com/2015/04/netflix-begins-audio-description-for.html

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bgruber
a non-press-release version of this story, from the washington post:
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-
four/wp/2015/04/14/ne...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-
four/wp/2015/04/14/netflix-makes-a-blind-superhero-accessible-to-blind-
viewers/)

this is the result of a multi-year fight by disability advocates, most notably
Robert Kingett from the accessible Netflix project
([https://netflixproject.wordpress.com/](https://netflixproject.wordpress.com/)).
What finally put them over the edge was the release of Daredevil, which made
for a story the popular press finally bit: blind people can't enjoy a show
about a blind superhero.

honestly, the fact that netflix remedied the situation so quickly once the PR
situation got bad enough does not improve their reputation on this issue in my
eyes. For a long time, I thought that maybe there was some great technical
complication I just didn't understand that made this much harder than it
seemed from the outside. Apparently that wasn't the case.

Also, as Kingett has said, "now comes the easy part." Adding description
tracks on Netflix for all of the movies and TV shows for which they have been
available all along.

~~~
kmfrk
Don't know how it is in English-speaking countries, but Netflix's laughable
subtitle translations are as common a conversation topic as the weather and
sports where I live. I have no idea why they don't bother stepping it up.

As someone who is only very slight of hearing - no problem talking with people
in person - it is also immensely frustrating that I usually can't get English
subtitles on Netflix instead of a translation. And when I can finally get it
in English, it's closed captions, which kind of ruins my experience by
captioning every sound effect in a movie or TV show.

I have no idea why this isn't a bigger focus at Netflix given there must be a
whole iPod generation with some minor hearing problems.

~~~
dublinben
You probably already know this, but the 'pirate' community has your interests
well served. There are probably very well-written subtitle tracks for any
major movie available in your native language. You won't be able to use them
with a Netflix stream (thanks to DRM), but VLC lets you add subtitles to any
video file.

~~~
Nexxxeh
> You won't be able to use them with a Netflix stream (thanks to DRM)

I think you're wrong, and to blame DRM is ridiculous.

You can load your own subtitles on Netflix, html5 or silverlight.

You don't even need a Chrome extension for the Silverlight one, it imports
DFXP directly from the debug menu (alt+shift+click iirc).

There are even browser extensions that largely automate the process for HTML5.
(Downloading the subtitle file and displaying it.)

I don't know about Super Netflix but fwih Netflix Subtitle Downloader also
gives you a couple of buttons to adjust subtitle sync if you need it.

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matt-attack
For those who aren't aware, Hollywood studios have been doing this for 5 years
or so on their theatrical releases. Every title that goes out contains a track
for both hearing impaired (boosted dialog, reduced sound effects) and visually
impaired (a complete narration of what's on screen).

Additionally, there's an on-screen caption track for theaters that wish to
schedule entire screenings for the hard-of-hearing as well as an off-screen
caption track that can be sent to hand-held or worn devices.

~~~
noir_lord
> boosted dialog, reduced sound effects

As a normally hearing person this would actually be useful on some films, I
struggle to follow dialog when there is so much background noise on-screen and
in the cinema.

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mmvvaa
This is very cool. I recently helped a couple of visually impaired people pick
a movie through a stack of DVDs they had at home, using the
[http://www.bemyeyes.org](http://www.bemyeyes.org) app.

I didn't know how they watched the movies, so they explain me that some come
with some sort of aid that describes de scenes. Some kind of story telling,
along the audio. I was fascinated.

However, they complain that there is not a lot of content that has this aid.
I'm glad Netflix is bringing their content to this audience.

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jareds
I doubt they will do it but I'd like to see Netflix add descriptive audio to
older shows. I know a lot of American shows that get aired in the UK have
narration for visually impaired people, it would be nice if Netflix would make
this narration an option for stuff besides there original series.

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kelukelugames
Now if we can get Kindle to support dyslexic friendly fonts.

~~~
dublinben
The Kobo series of ereaders support both Dyslexie and OpenDyslexic out of the
box. If you care about accessibility, don't buy a Kindle.

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Aarvay
Timely blogpost around the release of Daredevil ! ;-)

