Hi everybody. After a lot of hard work, we’ve managed to get this Blog section live. Hope you guys like it!

I’m going to go into detail about what exactly DeafDC.com is doing with captioned films these days. We have three technologies that we need to deal with on a separate basis.

1. Open-Captioned: OC are films in which the captions have been burned directly onto the film reel. We all know where to find this information - from InSight Cinema. That part’s just fine; we glean all the information from there. The only problem is that InSight does not list showtimes. They can’t be expected to, because most theaters decide their showtimes no more than one week in advance. Until we figure out a way, my best suggestion is to go to the theater website and check for the showtimes yourself.
2. DTS-CSS: Created by Digital Theater System (DTS), Cinema Subtitling System (CSS) takes a new approach to open-captioning. Instead of burning the captions onto the film reel, DTS-CSS uses a second projector to project the words onto the screen while the film is running. There are mixed opinions on this technology, but so far the reaction is more favorable than not. Currently, only two theaters in the D.C. area have DTS-CSS, and both are owned by Regal Cinemas. Those two are Gallery Place Stadium 14 in Chinatown and UA Snowden Square 14 in Columbia. Regal reports their OC/DTS films clearly on their website, but do not say which is which. That’s something I’m trying to get them to do.
3. Rear-Window Captioning: We all have experienced the joy of constantly readjusting the glass window to achieve the optimum viewing position (and the anger at people who accidently de-adjust it!). RWC is by far the most common captioning technology in cinemas today, and MoPix has been remarkable in their sheer scope of coverage nationwide. Unfortunately, they decided to stop listing film showtimes (although they continue to list RWC-equipped theaters). The majority of DeafDC.com’s film listings came from MoPix, and that loss of information has dramatically impacted how we find and list captioned movie showtimes. We are now doing RWC listings on a theater chain basis by going to each individual chain and discovering where on the website they list their captioned films, if at all. The winner, by far, in this category is Loews Cinemas. Crown Theaters (Crown Harbor IX in Annapolis) also list their RWC films but the listings are embedded inside something that looks like an advertisement, so it’s easy to overlook. AMC is the big loser because, while they list theaters equipped with RWC, they still have old links back to MoPix for specific film showtimes. Consolidated Theaters, with one RWC theater in Silver Spring (Majestic 20), does not list any RWC information.

So there you have it. An exhaustive review of what’s up with all those captioned movies in the D.C. area. We’re always looking for ways to improve how we notify our visitors about captioned films, and appreciate any suggestions. In a later post, I’ll list all the areas and theaters we cover - for example, we currently don’t cover Baltimore or Hagerstown, but there have been requests for those. That’s the kind of feedback we need!