[Electronics-Talk] Accessible cable TV, and now DirecTV with Gemini Google accessibility

[rixmix2009 at gmail.com]

I have been a customer of the satellite service DirecTV for many years.
On the subject of accessibility I was never really very impressed. 
The talking things they had were not good enough to be very useful.

So when the streaming apps with Audio Description on the various platforms became a thing, I went to town and have been playing with nearly all of them. 
I have been getting close to cutting lose of the satellite service. 
Until GEMINI came knocking. 

But here is what I wanted to mention that has occurred for me recently with the DirecTV.
I signed up to have them come and install the recently improved Gemini receiver system.
They had been having a promotion on at no cost, so I thought I would give it a try.

Here Is my brief report for you... 
The satellite channels do not have the audio description. 
BUT. And a pretty big but, it seems to me anyhow.
Navigation via the Google Assistant!
You can turn On the Google Assistant Talkback feature in this system.
The program guide, the channel numbers, current airing program info page, Theh DVR menu, all of the action buttons, they all will be read using the voice.
I can now manage a lot that I have never been able to do before.
You can change things in the Settings.
And another thing. The Gemini system has the integration of the various streaming service apps. 
You can bring up almost any of the application apps that you want. I have not yet found one that cannot be searched for and downloaded. 
Of course, with those, you need to put in all of your credentials, etc.

I had to play with it for some time to learn the remote and what does what. Some of the buttons have multiple functions, and the installer could only read what the remote said.

A couple of these streaming apps don't seem to work quite as smoothly as they do on the Fire Stick for me. I don't know why.
But most work just the same as they do on my Fire Stick.

Volume Level Hell.
The biggest down side, which is currently putting us in the nuthouse is the volume level. The Talkback voice is at least 10 dB higher and I have not yet discovered any way to control it. Because it will really make you jump and holler when it comes on so loudly.
I just have to remember to turn the level way down before I perform actions.

You can turn the Talkback on and off. 
I was doing that at first. But for whatever reason, it seemed to be causing some problems in the system.
But I got to where I just leave it on and try to manage it with the volume control.

The Voice Search button is different than the one on the Fire Stick. You press it, release it and speak. 
Say an app's name. Say a channel number. You get taken there.
Say a program or a film title. That will act like a search engine, and list options.

Anyone familiar with DirecTV's remote, this new remote is different. It is pretty well marked with raised dots. And you can still fast forward 30 seconds and back rewind 6 seconds at a time, in addition to just regular FF and REWIND. 

I had an installer come and put it on. And I was glad I did. I think the process would have been too challenging. Getting the thing set up took the professional a couple hours, with a few squirrelly problems to solve.

Final note. Don't expect the DirecTV Tech Support to understand your needs as a blind person. But the better you explain things to them, hopefully the agent will remember and be more helpful with the next customer.
They didn't tell me anything about the Google Assistant. They were just trying to sell me on the integration of the streaming apps. 
So once I discovered this, when the installation was done, I felt like I had just won a great big old door prize!


I hope that this little express information report is of use to someone out there.
Thanks.
Rik James