Sky Digital Accessibility Boost
Recently Sky Digital has had a bit of a accessibility boost. They have a new Language & Subtitles menu.
Now let me start by saying that I don't rely on this service, nor do I use other services by other providers on a regular basis, so I come from this as no sort of expert. If you are genuinely interested in the subject and want an expert view please read Joe Clark's thoughts on the matter of media access.
Now, I don't have an hearing impairment, nor does my wife and more topically nor does our 8 month old daughter. I don't need to tell anyone who has an 8 month old baby that being quiet at bedtime is essential for a good nights sleep.
Like most people I like to watch TV in bed. Something that I have been able to do less and less because I found that a lot of programmes don't have subtitling. One of the other problems that I faced was knowing which programmes do have subtitles and which don't. Many a time I have found myself going to bed to watch a programme getting comfy only to find that the programme doesn't have subtitles and if I really want to watch it I have to get back up and go downstairs.
The old menu sported just 3 options:
Anyway, whilst the option "Favourite Language" makes me chuckle and wonder whether or not they could have come up with a better name (My Favourite language may be Swedish but it doesn't mean I can understand Swedish subtitles) it's not particularly useful.
The new menu is somewhat different, with 6 options:
Narrative - on / off turns an audio narrative on and off. When a programme has a narrative "attached" you hear an announcers voice describing what can be seen on the screen. For example when there is a switch in location you would get the narrative addition "John Doe enters the pub. There are three men sitting at a table...".
This is done in the gaps in the "normal" audio of the programme and doesn't interfere much at all.
Linked with this is the "Beep If Narrative Present" option. This, somewhat unsurprisingly, beeps when a narrative is available for the programme you are watching.
The third and final new setting is "Highlighted Programmes". This is a very useful feature which allows the viewer to highlight programmes in the on screen TV guide that have either subtitles or a narrative. This option lets the viewer select whether or not they want to highlight programmes with subtitles or programmes with a narrative but not both at the same time for some reason. I guess the people at sky think that narrative is no good if your hearing impaired and subtitles are no good if you have a visual impairment. But lets give them a few brownie points for trying to do the right thing and improving their media access service.
As you can see my main problem was solved. By using the "Highlighted programmes" option and toggling it to "subtitles" I can now see at a glance which programmes have subtitles and which don't.
Sky Digital may make you watch endless repeats of Property Ladder, actually that's probably my wife and not the fault of Sky as such, but please accept a heart felt thank you from me for improving your media access and helping us all get a good nights sleep.
Now let me start by saying that I don't rely on this service, nor do I use other services by other providers on a regular basis, so I come from this as no sort of expert. If you are genuinely interested in the subject and want an expert view please read Joe Clark's thoughts on the matter of media access.
Now, I don't have an hearing impairment, nor does my wife and more topically nor does our 8 month old daughter. I don't need to tell anyone who has an 8 month old baby that being quiet at bedtime is essential for a good nights sleep.
Like most people I like to watch TV in bed. Something that I have been able to do less and less because I found that a lot of programmes don't have subtitling. One of the other problems that I faced was knowing which programmes do have subtitles and which don't. Many a time I have found myself going to bed to watch a programme getting comfy only to find that the programme doesn't have subtitles and if I really want to watch it I have to get back up and go downstairs.
The old menu sported just 3 options:
- Subtitles - on / off
- Favourite Language
- Save New Settings
Anyway, whilst the option "Favourite Language" makes me chuckle and wonder whether or not they could have come up with a better name (My Favourite language may be Swedish but it doesn't mean I can understand Swedish subtitles) it's not particularly useful.
The new menu is somewhat different, with 6 options:
- Subtitles - on / off
- Narrative - on / off
- Favourite Language
- Highlighted Programmes - subtitles / narrative / off
- Beep If Narrative Present - on /off
- Save New Settings
Narrative - on / off turns an audio narrative on and off. When a programme has a narrative "attached" you hear an announcers voice describing what can be seen on the screen. For example when there is a switch in location you would get the narrative addition "John Doe enters the pub. There are three men sitting at a table...".
This is done in the gaps in the "normal" audio of the programme and doesn't interfere much at all.
Linked with this is the "Beep If Narrative Present" option. This, somewhat unsurprisingly, beeps when a narrative is available for the programme you are watching.
The third and final new setting is "Highlighted Programmes". This is a very useful feature which allows the viewer to highlight programmes in the on screen TV guide that have either subtitles or a narrative. This option lets the viewer select whether or not they want to highlight programmes with subtitles or programmes with a narrative but not both at the same time for some reason. I guess the people at sky think that narrative is no good if your hearing impaired and subtitles are no good if you have a visual impairment. But lets give them a few brownie points for trying to do the right thing and improving their media access service.
As you can see my main problem was solved. By using the "Highlighted programmes" option and toggling it to "subtitles" I can now see at a glance which programmes have subtitles and which don't.
Sky Digital may make you watch endless repeats of Property Ladder, actually that's probably my wife and not the fault of Sky as such, but please accept a heart felt thank you from me for improving your media access and helping us all get a good nights sleep.
