[blindlaw] Satellite and Cable TV Tuner Boxes

[Mike Freeman]

The message below assumes that the boxes employ standard representations 
of text rather than graphics; even the best screen-reading software 
generally requires an "off-screen model" or, if not that, a way to get 
at straight text. If only a graphical representation of the data is 
present, we're blown out of the water unless and until we can persuade 
box manufacturers that there is an advantage to having on-board text 
representation of the data.

Mike Freeman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ford, Tim (CDPH-OLS)" <Tim.Ford at cdph.ca.gov>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 7:32 AM
Subject: [blindlaw] Satellite and Cable TV Tuner Boxes


I fully agree that such lawsuits need to be carefully chosen.  I mention
the satellite and cable boxes because they are so wide-spread.  I also
suspect that, similar to an ATM machine, there are probably very few
differences inside the various boxes in terms of the basic technology.
Hence, the solution to one company's box may be either directly or
easily transferable to others.  Certainly with the advances of screen
reading programs, it would not be that hard to come up with a speech
output option for these boxes, which by their nature have much  fewer
variability as compared with a typical computer system.

Tim Ford


-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Rod Alcidonis
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 6:11 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Satelitte TV Tuner Boxes

If you guys are wishing that every access issues should be addressed
through law suits, let me suggest to you that this is not possible. Our
efforts have to be targeted, else you lose credibility quickly.

Rod Alcidonis
Juris Doctor Candidate, 2009.
Roger Williams University School of Law
10 Metacom Ave., Box: 9003
Bristol, RI 02809
Cell: 718-704-4651
Home: 401-824-8685

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ford, Tim (CDPH-OLS)" <Tim.Ford at cdph.ca.gov>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 6:57 PM
Subject: [blindlaw] Satelitte TV Tuner Boxes


> If anyone is looking for another possible case, how about the complete
> lack of accessibility of my Dish Network satellite video
tuner/recorder?
> I assume the same lack of access exists for all the satellite and
cable
> system video recorders used by all those companies.
>
> The unit is essentially a computer, with a hard drive and an operating
> system.  There are a series of menus, left and right arrow options, a
> button to select, etc.  It strikes me that it would not be a hard task
> to put speech output into that operating system, especially since it
is
> a set amount of options and commands.  Just for fun, I asked DISH
> Network about a set of instructions so that a blind person could
operate
> their video recorder.  Needless to say, they had nothing.
>
> Yes, I can change/select channels, but that is about it.  The rest of
it
> involves too many steps and series of choices, and the choices vary
> depending upon the situation, so I doubt that much could be done even
> with a long series of steps to take, with no way of confirming what
you
> have done.
>
> Sincerely,
> Tim Ford
>
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