VODcasts and video

Online video: formats and access standards
Captioning tools and video resources

Online video: formats and access standards

Content is now being offered in downloadable forms on the internet.  Much of this content is provided with access features in its original form (such as a cinema release, DVD, or television program), but in almost all instances these access features are NOT carried across to downloadable and internet versions.

Some of the lack of progress can be explained by the wide variety of media player formats (such as QuickTime, Windows Media, RealPlayer etc) leading to a lack of simple production and delivery requirements.  However, this is balanced by the sheer volume of material available with captions in its original form which should be carried over into the realm of new media.

Also, consider the requirements matrix table, sourced from the accessibility.nl website that shows the relationship between accessible video and guideline compliance.

For developers, Boston-based National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) committed to establishing and managing the Internet Captioning Forum (ICF). This Forum is a collaboration between NCAM, AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! to address technical issues associated with repurposing captions from broadcasts and other sources for the web.

The ICF have created a comparison chart which identifies the accessibility features of each format, allowing developers to effectively introduce accessibility features such as captioning and an audio described soundtrack.  The original chart can be found on the NCAM website and is reproduced below: