Enabling audio description in
TVNZ Plus
*Please note: Until TVNZ does the work of mostly
labeling in the TVNZ Plus app and website, in the section where
the movies and shows are, in the watchlist you will not hear the
name of the show or movie. In your screen reader you might have to
turn on image description to find out what that show or movie is
called, and in the case of Talkback you would hear the name of the
show with text after it.
If you are using the Google browser with the TVNZ Plus website,
you will need to turn on image description in the browser.
Pressing the applications key, then arrowing down to image
description, choosing always, then saying you are in (when this is
done those unlabelled graphics will be spoken by your screen
reader).
There is a lot more audio described content to go up there for
shows that were audio described on the TV, and also tags to say
these shows are audio described. There is also work to be done on
the TVNZ Plus player in Windows and other areas.
Turning on audio description
on your Android phone
Locate your settings on your phone, then double
tap with one finger to go into the settings menu. Flick right to
get down to accessibility, then double tap on it with one finger.
Next, locate vision enhancements, then double tap on it with one
finger. Then, go down to audio description, and turn it on with a
double tap with one finger. You can then close the screens that
you have opened and go back to your main desktop on your phone.
This option might not be there on older versions of the operating
system to play in other apps, but should still work if not there
with TVNZ Plus.
Turning on image description
in Talkback screen reader
When Talkback is running, make a letter l on the
screen so the Talkback settings appear. Double tap with one finger
on image description, then Talkback will close. You will need to
do this in the TVNZ Plus app on an image or graphic of the show,
and if it is on it will OCR the graphic, then say for example The
Miniature Wife text.
Turning on audio description
on an Android device
Double tap on your profile in the TVNZ Plus app.
The next page that comes up will give you a list of shows, movies,
categories etcetera. Locate The Miniature Wife either by searching
for it then picking it from a list, or finding it under the TV
show section. When it has been located, double tap on it when you
hear the name of the show. The next page that comes up will tell
you what the show is about, how many seasons and episodes
etcetera. Locate either the play button/link or the resume
button/link if watched before, then double tap on it with 2
fingers to start the show playing. When it does, double tap on it
with 2 fingers and hold (on the player) to pause the player and to
bring up the player menus. Then, flick down and you should hear
restart spoken, video quality, episodes, subtitles and play next.
You will need to flick down a few times until you hear any of
these buttons spoken and keep on doing it until you hear the audio
button. Double tap on it with one finger, then a menu will appear.
You will then need to flick down until you hear audio description
spoken, then double tap on it with one finger to select it and
make your choice. You can now close out of the player and start
the show again and then you should hear it being audio described.
Turning on Audio Description
in Windows
At present Audio Description can not be turned
on by a blind screen reader user in the TVNZ Plus website. The
settings for the player are not exposed to the screen reader. The
only ones that are, are the rewind, play and fast forwards
graphics. You might also hear the length of the show or movie and
how far you are along it. The slider is not exposed to interact
with, to go back or forwards in the player. The only way a person
can interact with the player (to bring up extra settings) is if a
sighted person wiggles the mouse on the player and the settings
will come up. When it does, they will need to click on the audio
button; (a drop down menu will come up), click on audio
description if there, then go out of the player. If audio
description has been turned on you should hear it in the show.
It seems until they make those buttons screen reader friendly you
will hear rewind, play, fast forwards, the time elapsed, clickable
you can not interact with, the length of the show, then clickable
8 times. These are the 8 options not spoken, 1st volume control,
2nd is restart, 3rd is video quality, 4th is episodes, 5th is
subtitles, 6th is audio, 7th is exit full screen and the 8th is
play next.
The 8 clickable buttons after the length of the show mentioned
above, (if you press the Spacebar on them), allow you to arrow
down to the various options. So, to turn on Audio Description it
is the 6th clickable button, then press the Spacebar on it, then
arrow down. You should hear audio. Go down to audio description,
then press the Enter key to turn it on.
The show has to be paused first, then you can navigate the player
to turn on Audio Description. After that has been done, start
playing the show again, but this time it will be audio described.
If there is no option for audio description for the show it can
not be turned on.
Turning on Audio Description
on a Samsung TV
Sighted assistance will be needed to turn on
audio description in the player as voice guide for the blind does
not work with the TVNZ Plus app, so nothing is spoken from the
screen reader.
Click on your profile picture. The next screen will have a list of
TV shows, movies, categories etcetera . Locate the search button,
then search for The Miniature Wife. In the results, find the show
and click on it. The next page that comes up will tell you what
the show is about and how many seasons and episodes there are.
Locate the play button and click on it. If you already had it on a
watchlist, it could be a resume button. When the show or
movie starts playing, pause the show or movie then it will default
to the play button; then arrow down to the restart button. Arrow
right. (For example there is a video quality button, play next
button, subtitles button, then the audio button). Click on
the audio button, then you will be given some options. Locate the
audio description, then press the Enter button (which is the
ok button), then go back out of the player. Once you resume the
show, it should now be audio described.
Turning on image description
in your browser
At present in the TVNZ Plus website (where the
shows and movies are on the main page) these graphics are not
labelled correctly. The page the graphic points to is.
This may also work with other chrome based browsers. While the
browser is open, press the applications key on your keyboard. If
you do not have one the Shift key + F10 key will do the same. When
the context menu comes up, arrow down to get image descriptions
from Google. Right arrow to always, then press the Enter key. You
will then get a message that says the following: Get image
descriptions from Google? If an image doesn’t have a useful
description, Chrome will try to provide one for you. To create
descriptions, images are sent to Google. You can turn this off in
settings at any time. Tab to yes I am in, then press the Enter
key. Those unlabelled graphics will now have text read out to you
(if it has it for that show etcetera).
Work around for Apple devices
to read image descriptions in TVNZ Plus (by Jeanie Willis)
If you want to add info about what needs turning
on to get the most you can from the Apple settings to read the
untitled programme items, the wording for the Apple TV is; make
sure you have “read screen after delay” turned on. And for
the iPhone you need to have both “image descriptions” and “screen
recognition” on. These need to be either turned on in the
settings or added to the rotor by selecting them in the rotor
settings area and then can be turned on for that app using the
rotor.
To turn on Audio Descriptions for all media playing on an iPhone
including the TVNZ App, use the following steps. Audio
Descriptions will automatically play whenever it is available and
you do not need to select it within the App.
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate down to Accessibility and select that (double tap if
using VoiceOver).
3. Scroll down till you find Audio Descriptions – if using
VoiceOver it will read out “Audio Descriptions Switch Button On”,
or “off”.
4. If Off, double tap this button to open the menu and then again
double tap the button to turn it from off to On.
5. You can now use the back button at the top of the menu to close
it.
You can turn on Audio Description on Apple TV for all Apps
including TVNZ with the following steps. AD will then play
whenever it is available for a programme and you don’t need to do
anything further.
1. On the Apple TV home screen use the remote to navigate to
Settings and select by pressing the circular button in the middle
of the arrows or clicking the remote (depending on remote type).
2. Use down arrow or flick down until you hear “Accessibility”,
press select/click the remote.
3. Flick/arrow down until you hear “Audio Descriptions On/Off”.
4. If Audio Descriptions is off press the select button/click the
remote and you will hear “Audio Description On”.
5. Press the back button several times to close the settings menu
and get back to your home screen.
To turn on Audio Description for individual programmes if you
don’t want to enable it for all media played on the Apple TV, or
to check if a title has an AD track available:
1. Find a programme that you think has AD and start playing.
2. Press Pause.
3. Swipe up or press up arrow once (depending on your remote type)
and you will hear “Subtitles button 1 of 2”.
4. Flick right or press right arrow and hear “Audio button 2 of
2”, press the OK button or click the remote to select this.
5. Arrow/flick down and you will hear “reduce loud sounds”, flick
down again and you will find English, and a 3rd time will announce
English AD if an AD track is available.
6. Click the remote or use the OK button to select this.
If someone else wants to watch a programme without AD they can use
the above instructions and select English to override your AD
setting for just that programme.