What is the new "Sign Language" option for?

Lbear1

The latest update added a further option to the "Subtitles and Accessibility" menu under Settings. This is marked "Sign Language" and by default is switched on.

As far as I am aware, there are currently only the in-vision signers available for the hearing impaired broadcast late night as part of the channels' PSB functions or as part of shows for the community like "See Hear".

I believe the US ATSC standard has extra data than is used for the one HD channel per frequency that have been allocated to the local licensees (the station owners got one ATSC frequency to replace the analogue NTSC one they used). Some use this extra bandwidth for subsidiary channels like a weather graphic. I also understand some ATSC receivers have the ability to combine picture data for a signer with the main programme so both signed and non-signed versions are available.

I was not aware that DVB-T2 had this ability (especially given the limited bandwidth available with 5 HD channels per mux) but does this new menu option mean that it is, that YouView have a project to provide signer data over the internet to combine in the box or what?

al

I have seen this sign language feature before (I thought it was already on Youview, maybe it was elsewhere). I was under the impression that, like dvd, dvb could offer multiple video streams in the way you can have multiple audio and subtitle streams, just that it had never been implemented. This seems like a much better idea than late night signed programming.

Lbear1

al said:

I have seen this sign language feature before (I thought it was already on Youview, maybe it was elsewhere). I was under the impression that, like dvd, dvb could offer multiple video streams in the way you can have multiple audio and subtitle streams, just that it had never been implemented. This seems like a much better idea than late night signed programming.

Yes thinking about it, presumably the data is sent as part of the programme stream so it can be recorded and played back in the same way as the audio description. It must be a fairly small amount of data needed or it would mean that the current five programme streams on the HD muxes would be limited.

I am fairly sure that it was not there before as a friend is training to be an interpreter and would find the feature useful for practice. (I had used the colour scheme option to provide a visual indication of which box I was using so had gone to the menu before the last update and not noticed it.)

If it is this version, it is going to cause a lot of confusion when any transmissions start as the default setting is on.

Peskdale61

I was under the impression the SL option related to on demand content (i.e. iPlayer signed programmes). Certainly DTT as it stands does not feature any secondary steams as you describe with signing, nor will it in the near future.

Very few programmes are signed in reality. If such steams were to exist they would be broadcasting dead air most of the time unless signing was increased ten-fold.

al

There is always the possibility that a certain news story has reminded someone to add a feature that had been forgotten in the past :-)


Edit: Just saw it in the menu. You're right it wasn't there before. I wonder where I had seen it previously.