re earlier post on captioning of dvds for the deaf.

[lottiejenkins]

Hi all, couldnt find my original post so am updating here... have contacted the guy re Horrid Henry dvds, his office say he is going to get back to me.. on top of that and i am really fuming about this........ Creature Comfort DVDs arent captioned either so Aardman just got an earful about it because CC are promoting better understanding of disabilites at the moment! They have put me onto their manufacturer and i have contacted them. I feel i have caught them on the back foot as they are going to ring me back... If they say it is old stock and they are now being captioned then i will say that they should have withdrawn the old stock! Will update when i have more.

I didn't see your original thread, but it sounds like you are doing the right thing. At least it is bringing this to the attention of the right people.

I hate it when DVD's (or anything on TV/DVD etc for that matter ) doesn't have subbies on them.

I am hard of hearing and DH has excellent hearing so I like the subbies so that I don't have to have it on really loud which is horrible for DH and DD.

Good Luck.

Good for you!

I'm surprised about Creature Comforts - they were certainly subbed when they were on TV.

ITV2,3,4 are annoying me at the moment because they actually have some good stuff on over the summer (ie not Big Brother, talk shows or other reality crap), but hardly subtitle anything, even when they're ancient shows that have been shown subbed on other channels. They claim 'technical reasons' but I don't believe them.

Would think about telling the papers that ardman who are doing the "disability" adverts aren't actually making them accessible to the deaf

Its not technically aardmans problem they make the programme the other company put them on dvds... im chasing up both though! My ds wants the three wallace and gromits on dvd now and im not going to buy them and then find the same thing so am waiting fro aardman to ring me back! A few years ago i persuaded the BBC to caption their childrens videos... so im not an easy pushover............

Good for you! Another hard of hearing here. Subtitles are permanently on at home and I do get cross about them sometimes. Living can be bad for it, especially when you know that the programme has titles from seeing them on other channels or they only do it on the first showing(???) Five don't show subtitles on the showing of tomorrow's episode of H&A.

Don't get me started on live subtitles - especially the news which is scripted anyway and the articles usually shown several times a day. And has anyone noticed the news titles will get half way through an item then abandon it because they've gone back to the presenter? I'd hate to have worse hearing than I do.

Hve had a phone call from one of the companies........ i'd left a message for the boss man... one of the secretaries rang back and said she would get "someone" to ring me....... my response was that i had asked to speak to boss man so expected boss man to ring me back i must be their idea of hell on wheels but i dont care!!!

Bump......... will ring up again today!!!!!!!!

good luck

Oh good luck with this - in this technological age putting close caption on DVD isn't that bloody difficult, surely!

"my response was that i had asked to speak to boss man so expected boss man to ring me back"

Can I borrow you to come and sort out my ongoing problems with social services?

Well done you!

I personally think that the captioning of dvds should be covered by the DDA(disablility dicrimination act) I hope its changed soon... Im happy to add my fourpeneth to any debates... I have already contacted my MP. Hes on holiday though!

Good luck lottie, keep us updated!

No phone calls returned today will be on the phone tomorrow!!

I have spoken to one of the companies this morning, they are looking into it..... I have told them i am more than happy to go public to the press with this story... so i now await their response!

bump

Hi Tinkerbellesmum,

I used to work in subtitling for the BBC and I just wanted to say that they really do try their utmost to provide good subtitles for the news, but it is very challenging. Often the running orders for news items are not decided until the last minute and/or they may have tinme shaved off/added later in the day, so editing is required before the subs are transmitted live on air. When pieces come in last minute/last second from journalists they have to be subtitled completely live by stenographers.

Subtitling live programmes is a very interesting but very challenging process and I know from my own experience that the BBC really does aim for those subtitles to be perfect and is always exploring ways of improving things.

And no, lottiejenkins, YANBU. I am totally with you all on the need to push for subtitles on DVDs. I hope you get results.

Patsy

The BBC is usually really good so is ITV, but some programmes are completely atrocious. I've seen them spend quite a long time trying to correct a spelling mistake and so long that you've lost the next part. I emailed The Wright Stuff once because it was so bad.

I'm always impressed with Eurovision, (not that I've seen it for a few years) which I think uses a mix because they keep up quite well.

Hi Patsy - do you know if there's any work going on to get text on the autocues to be fed directly into subtitles?

You'd still need someone to issue the words at the right time, just like with theatre captions, but at least the words would all be there and spelt correctly.

I cut live subtitlers a lot of slack - and some programmes are much harder than others, eg HIGNFY where people talk over each other and there's lots of subtle wordplay - but some subtitlers are much better than others, too. I have sometimes emailed BBC/ITV when they're particularly good (the Grand Prix is a lot better this year!)

My other pet peeve is shows that have been subtitled but get re-shown on another channel without. Top Gear on Dave is subtitled about half the time - what's that about??

notcitrus, I've often said that myself. They could have someone on standby for when something is said differently (beyond the phrasing, like a presenter cracks a joke).

On the Doctor Who thread some people were confused as the subtitler had put "Dalek Caan" as "Dalek Khan" and it was correct on DWC.

Has anyone ever seen problems on Sky One, really odd things like Star Trek DS9 running very fast over Stargate? They seem to have problems like that all the time - when they actually show them.

Don't have Sky1, but Sky3 are surprisingly good with subs (although Andromeda is unsubbed and I really can't watch scifi without subs), unlike ITV2,3,4... They do sometimes mix up their tracks though!

The funniest mistake I saw was a few years back, an interview with George Bush on BBC breakfast. Only Bush was making even less sense than usual, clearly being asked about Iraq and going "I'll get the darned varmint!"
Took me quite a while to realise I was seeing the subs for the Daffy Duck cartoon on BBC2!

One of the guys i am trying to contact was going into a meeting at 3.15 for an hour and was going to call me back when he got out of the meeting! Im still waiting... its a good job all my calls are in a package with my broadband isnt it![grr]

Hi NotCitrus,

I left a while ago so I am not up-to-date with the Beeb's tech developments I am afraid - in fact, they actually sold off their subtitling dept to a company called Red Bee Media a while back, but the staff still work within the BBC if that makes sense.

Re autocues, we often had access to programme scripts and used them, but of course those who write scripts/autocues make mistakes just like the rest of us and as few people can read as fast as presenters speak the scripts have to be edited and can't go out verbatim.

Re unsubtitled 'repeats' on other channels. That is down to 'Dave'. Certainly when I was at the BBC subtitles were always available to other broadcasters to buy. However, the BBC aims for very high levels of programmes to be subtitled and I think other broadcasters have much lower percentages. 'Dave' may be reaching their required standards at the moment but if you shout then they may pop Top Gear on their list to be the next programme to be covered.

I hope this helps. I can't tell you how seriously most subtitlers take their work and it's really nice that people take the time to say when a good job has been done.

Patsy

I think it says a lot when companies don't bother to provide subtitles. I often have subtitles on (no hearing issues - just like it like that ) and I notice the ads that don't bother.

I got into the habit because my grandmother was completely deaf and reliant on STs. FWIW almost nothing in France/Switzerland is subtitled so I think in this country we actually have a pretty good service. Particularly from the BBC.

Thanks for your support everyone! Its nice to know im not alone in wanting to sort this issue out!!

Good for you!

I'm furious when a DVD isn't subtitled, it's no use to me without them.

Good luck