Category: accessible Devices
i'm not sure where to put my question. does it go here or on the TV site? Anyway, here goes. I'm sick and tired of falling asleep in the middle of TV shows and not being able to record them. I have a VCR but it's on the last legs. Now, I know they make TVOs and stuff but have heard that many if not all of these are not accessible. My husband tried taping me something with the book sense, which worked well. However, I had to watch the entire program because there were no navigation commands. any help would be most appreciated.
I'd suggest looking on EBay or maybe even in a regular store for another vcr. Then, you could get one of those talking remotes sold at cobolt.co.uk and other places. They don't make everything accessible but they definitely help with the basics, from what I've heard. The only thing is that you need to see which vcrs work with them. You could also just get another vcr and have someone help you set it. Then, at least you could use the normal navigation controls when you watch the recording. What I used to do was even simpler, though it did mean that I had to be there to at least start it and to keep track of the time. I'd take a long blank tape, a recorder and a patch cord. I'd plug one end of the cord into the headphone jack of the tv and the other into the microphone jack of the recorder. I'd then plug a pair of headphones into the headphone jack of the recorder so that I could test the volume by recording for a few seconds and playing the tape back. Once I was satisfied, I'd wait for the film to begin and then just tape it. If I was watching it while doing so, I'd remove the commercials. If not, then I'd just let it do it's thing and could fast forward later. I'm totally blind, so the lack of visuals didn't cause me any trouble, but if you have vision and think that might be an issue, this probably won't be good for you.
I've had no problems recording TV shows through my computer with Jaws for Windows. If you have windows media center or buy a TV tuner card that has a dvr that you can buy at CompUSA, best buy, or similar computer stores, you can set the dvr with Jaws for Windows and record your TV shows, and even rewind and fast forward through your shows. A good TV tuner card well cost you around $140.00. If anyone needs any help message me.
I've had a Tivo for 2 years now, and it's actually more accessible then you might think. Sighted assistance is required for the initial setup, but beyond that, most things are doable. Through the tivo web site, I can schedule recordings, both individual shows and season passes. A season pass will record a show whenever it airs. This is nice because if the time slot changes, it will automatically get it at the right time.
The tivo box has a built-in web server. When I connect to it, I see a list of all the shows currently recorded on the tivo's hard drive. When watching a recording, there is a 30 second skip button to move passed commercials. Pressing this 6 or 7 times in quick succession usually returns me right to the show.
Finally, when I'm not watching live tv or recording a schedule show, tivo will record something that it thinks I might like. It actually does a pretty good job predicting what I like, so if I just feel like watching tv at some point, there's usually something available.
Is there any hope for someone who has direct tv, with dvr?? We have this complicated nonaccessable remote.
hmmm... we have TVo and i've never known there was a websight... tell more! Please?
not sure if dish and directv will let u schedule the dvr from the website now but they might. otherwise i used to use a dish dvr and while i had to have someone schedule the shows to be taped i could navigate to them using the good old fashion remember how many clicks down to the left etc to get to the recorded shows
cool. I don't really watch much TV anyway and what I do watch r shows that everybody in my family likes like CSI and NCIS. :) this is a cool topic though :)
Jen
I have a direct TV DVR and I really don't know how to get to the recorded shows, but I love it because you can pause and rewind shows a little if you miss part of it. You can also schedule a recording online or for those of you who have ipod touches or iphones, there is an ap that you can use as well. The only thing I really wish for is to be able to get my recorded shows off of the DVR, but it seems it's not possible.
The MPAA wouldn't let DVR be allowed by cable companies if you could get the stuff off there easily .. thats the unfortunate nature of the liscensing deals they had to make.
Question for the Tivo user. How do you choose what show to watch after you've recorded it? I know I could memorize how many clicks it takes to get to the list of shows but then how do you know what show is selected? I have a 7-year-old boy who would record hours of kid's stuff if he could and so I'm sure our box would get full quickly. Can you select a show via the website and then have it play through your TV?
I came across this while looking for my topic on talking remotes, which is now locked. Anyway, it sounds as if you could choose which shows to watch from the computer, as you do when choosing which ones to record. but I've never done this so could be wrong. In any case, I'm glad to hear that Tivo is now so accessible. I had no idea that this was the case! That said, usually, I like to just set something and be done with it and then to turn on the tv, stick in a tape and watch it. When I want tv I don't want to have to use my computer to get to it, unless I'm converting to vhs or something. So I'm still interested in those remotes, especially now that Mom put one of those flat screen tvs in my livingroom for when she comes to visit and wants to watch something with me. I have a regular tv/vcr combo in there but it's now being moved to the bedroom, which means that I'll need to put a vcr in the livingroom if I want to watch and tape stuff there. We have practically enough vcrs to open a store, but I need to know which, if any, will work with a talking remote and which remotes are still available. We also have Verizon Fios if that changes anything. To be fair, Joanie does have several tivos, but I'm not sure which ones will allow the online access that was discussed here, and if it's a newer one, I really don't want to have to spend over $100 just to get something that I essentially already have, all-be-it in another format.
hey tiffanie,
I have verizon Fios. Where do you get a tivo? I'm considering purchasing one because i have some shows i like to watch and so does mom. She loves soap operas and i think it's a good idea to record them on a Tivo. If you have an extra tivo? could i get one? i'm interested.
I have no idea, as I didn't buy them. They might have them in stores or online. I would need to see if Joanie would be interested in selling one of her's, and if so, for how much.
Dish Network has an iPhone app you can use to schedule recordings etc. You can also get to your list of recorded programs and select them to play on your tv, computer or iPhone. It only works with their Sling model DVRs. I think there are 2 or 3 different ones to choose from. I don't have one yet, but I'm considering getting it. There's a demo of it on blind cool tech. It seems really cool.