DTV Access
Detailed Overview
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NCAM's DTV Access Project addresses an urgent, time-sensitive need to improve the effectiveness of Digital Television (DTV) systems to deliver high-quality closed captioning and video description services to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired.
While the FCC will require all stations have DTV signals on the air by 2003, and FCC mandates for broadcasting closed captions are now in effect, technical standards for transmitting digital captions and descriptions are still being developed. NCAM is leading an unprecedented cross-industry effort, working with broadcasters, professional- and consumer-grade electronics manufacturers and standards setting bodies to establish open protocols for these vital access services.
The DTV Access Project was launched with initial funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (United States Department of Education, Grant # H133G80050). This three-year, $125,000 grant enables NCAM to work with television manufacturers, participate in industry standards committees, and develop and disseminate data files to test the quality and accuracy in broadcast and reception of DTV captions.
A three-year, $370,000 grant from Corporation for Public Television's Future Fund, enables NCAM to work directly with public broadcasting stations as they face the considerable technical, operational and financial challenges meeting the requirements for DTV transmission of captions and descriptions.
Goals
NCAM's DTV Access Project will achieve the following objectives:
- Serve as an information resource to public broadcasters and the industry at large to assist in the transition of access services for DTV.
- Develop and disseminate data files that test DTV systems for quality and accuracy in handling DTV captions and video descriptions. These files will provide tools for encoding, transmitting and decoding in accordance with accepted industry standards, official minimum requirements and a full range of advanced features (including font size and style for captions, a multiple audio tracks for descriptions and audio in additional languages).
- Work within industry organizations to draft standards, recommended practices and engineering guidelines to support the effective delivery of DTV captions and video descriptions.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of DTV receivers to decode DTV captions and video descriptions, and measure implementation of advanced features.
- Assemble a National DTV Consumer Advisory Board with leaders from the deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired communities to inform content of outreach materials, and build awareness of standards setting committee work and development of access features for DTV.
- Develop outreach materials and Web site with to keep consumers, broadcasters and equipment manufactures apprised of DTV access developments.
The project will take advantage of a DTV lab now in use in the Media Access Division, DTV transmission facilities soon to be installed at WGBH, ongoing work with the nation's Model DTV Station in Washington, D.C., WHD-TV, and the involvement of a wide range of industry partners.
Previous research conducted by NCAM has investigated the access needs of blind and deaf people seeking to use multimedia, Internet, and analog television resources. NCAM's most recent project, DTV Captioning, developed an interim closed-captioning standard for DTV and gathered consumer input to the development process. View a list of additional projects underway at NCAM.
DTV Access Project staff will carry out these efforts with the support and technical expertise of the other members of the WGBH Educational Foundation's Media Access division: The Caption Center and Descriptive Video Service® (DVS®).
Advisory Boards
Funds from the CPB Future Fund grant, Accessing Public Broadcasting's Future, will enable NCAM's work with a team of engineers from small, medium and large-sized public broadcasting stations. This team will inform DTV Access Project activities and priorities, and will shape survey materials and test the practicality of resulting equipment recommendations.
A second group, the National DTV Consumer Advisory Board, comprised of leaders of organizations serving deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired communities, will meet annually with DTV Access Project staff and other project participants. These meetings will complement ongoing, informal communication between NCAM staff and these communities, and provide an opportunity to share updates on standards work, gauge desire for caption and description access features in DTV, and provide a voice at the table for the nation's 34 million viewers with sensory disabilities. Board members will be announced in mid-February, 2000. The first meeting will be held in March at the nation's Model DTV Station, WHD-TV, in Washington, D.C.
