Re: XMLTV 1.3.0 released!

On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 at 13:24, Geoff Westcott via xmltv-devel
<[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Geoff,

> I don't think there's currently an attribute in the DTD for programmes which are 'audio-described'.

This seems to be the case.

> "Audio description is additional commentary that explains what's happening on screen. It describes body language, expressions and movements, making the programme clear through sound."

When available, Audio description is provided as an additional audio
stream in the transport stream.

> There are quite a number of these programmes (mostly reality shows, dramas, and similar) and the absence of this tag is a hole we ought to fill.

I absolutely agree it should be added.

Are there any other a11y metadata support that could be added at the same time?

> If you agree to add this attribute, should this go on 'subtitles' or 'audio' element? I would suggest subtitles:
>     subtitles  type="audio-described"
>
> Your thoughts please?

Because AD is delivered as a separate audio stream (and not a
subtitle) I tend to think it should be handled as another audio stream
(this seems to be how TVs and software handle it too).

However, the current <programme> element structure only supports zero
or one <audio> elements, which in 2024 does not seem to be
particularly helpful, given digital broadcasts with potentially
multiple audio streams.

The <programme> element currently supports multiple <subtitles>
elements, but I'm not 100% agreed in my head that this is where the
handling for Audio Description should be added. I added "deaf-signed"
as a type way back in 2007 to join "onscreen" and although these are
both provided inside the video stream, it seemed sensible at the time
to keep them in the subtitles element design as they were providing
onscreen written/signed language.

Updating the programme element to support audio* instead of audio?
will have a knock on effect on current grabbers and validation, and
potentially on downstream consumers of XMLTV data.

Adding support to <subtitles> would be much simpler and not have the
additional work, although may not be the most desirable location for
the support to be added. The DTD does seem to reflect its analogue TV
heritage in this instance.

Does anyone else have any thoughts/preferences?

Thanks,
Nick