[Electronics-Talk] Accessible cable TV

[Gerald Levy]

No, a smart TV won't solve your problem because the voice guide feature 
that announces channel number and program name and DVR commands is 
controlled by your cable box.  If you want to use the built-in voice 
guide feature of a smart TV (most Samsung models have this feature), you 
would have to give up Optimum Cable so that you could bypass the box and 
either receive TV channels over the air using an antenna or else sign up 
with one or more streaming services, which could actually wind up 
costing more over the long term than Optimum's cable service.  And 
unless you have another cable operator in your area, you are stuck with 
Optimum, which may be an absolute monopoly where you live.


Gerald



On 5/18/2026 9:16 AM, Tracy Carcione via Electronics-Talk wrote:
> For a long time, we had software on our Optimum cable box that would
> announce the channel and what was playing, and I could also use it to access
> the DVR.
>
> Optimum doesn't support it anymore, and their new cable box doesn't have any
> accessibility at all.
>
> They think that maybe a smart TV would have it, but I don't know.
>
> If I buy a smart TV, and turn on Talkback or whatever it has, will it tell
> me what's playing on a channel and have ways to access the DVR?
>
> For instance, I was able to move through the shows on a channel until I
> found the one I wanted to record, then hit record.  Later, I could go into
> the DVR, scroll through the recordings, find the one I wanted, watch it,
> then go through the menu to either keep it or delete it.  Imagine that.  Can
> I get those same features on a smart TV?
>
> I have 0 interest in using Alexa.
>
>   
>
> It's extremely annoying that Optimum had accessibility, and then just
> ditched it completely.
>
> Tracy
>
>   
>
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