Thank you very much, Sieghard, for your very helpful response about Apple TV. Michelle On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 11:34:06 AM UTC-4, Sieghard wrote:
> Hi Michelle, > > First of all, the Apple TV does not offer its own subscription service. > Apple is trying to make deals with major content providers and to offer a > subscription based service via the Apple TV, but if this ever happens it > would basically just mean that you can potentially get rid of your existing > cable service and access the same channels via your Apple TV. The benefit > is that hopefully Apple can offer this at a less expensive price and > secondly of course the big benefit for a blind user is that the Apple TV is > completely accessible which should make for a much better experience when > it comes to looking at the channel guide, selecting channels etc. > > At this point the Apple TV is basically a small box with Voiceover and the > newest version of the Apple TV, the fourth generation Apple TV, which came > out last November has an app store which allows you to install apps on it. > For example, there is a Netflix app, a Youtube app, there are apps for some > news channels and some already exist for popular channels like Disney, HBO > etc. Those, however, require you to have an existing subscription with a > cable provider because Disney of course won't let you watch for free just > because you have an Apple TV. Things like Netflix and Youtube are > definitely a good experience, the Apple TV also has a music app just like > the iPhone and if you subscribe to Apple Music you can play all the music > iTunes has via your TV or connected sound system. Sighted people may also > like the fact that they can access all their photos stored in the iCloud > Photo Library and you can of course watch movies and episodes of TV series > which you may have bought on iTunes and you can also rent them. > > As for audio described content that is still relatively rare. Netflix has > some and if you have a Netflix subscription you can go to their website, > log in and there is a link right on the main page which shows you all the > audio described movies they have. In iTunes on your computer or iOS device > you can now go to the iTunes Store and do a search for "audio description", > "video description" or simply "AD" and it will give you a list of all > movies or TV series with audio descriptions. If you are just browsing > movies you can listen to the movie description, right towards the end it > will give you information if close captioning is available and if audio > descriptions are available it will now say that as well. > > The new Apple TV also has SIRI and you interact with it by pushing and > holding a button on the remote and speaking into the remote. You can, for > example, ask SIRI things like "Show me movies with Julia Roberts" and it > will give you a list of movies which have her in it. If you have Apple > Music youc ould say to SIRI "Play me the top 100 songs from 1987" and it > will do so. As of the latest update from last Monday you can also dictate > in any search field, so for example if you are in the Youtube app and want > to search for a particular word or phrase, you can go to the search box and > then hold the SIRI button and ictate this instead of typing on the > on-screen keyboard which is fairly tideous. Since the latest update you can > also connect a Bluetooth keyboard to the apple TV and use it as a remote > and, of course, to type into search boxes or to enter user names and > passwords when you log in to services like Netflix. > > Installation is relatively simple, all you have to do is hook up the Apple > TV to your TV with an HDMI cable and plug in the power cord. Where it maybe > problematic is when it comes to selecting the correct input on your TV > which maybe not be the most accessible process. Also, make sure you have an > available HDMI port on your TV. Once connected, you can start Voiceover on > the Apple TV by triple pressing the menu key on the remote. I won't go into > an explanation of the remote which only has 4 buttons and a volume rocker > as well as a small touch screen, but just as with an iPhone, you can invoke > Voiceover and go through the setup. Should you decide to buy one, I Highly > recommend you also spend $19.99 for Jonathan Mosen's eBook on the Apple TV > Fourth Gen or you can buy it for $29.99 and get updates up until the end of > 2016. Jonathan just pushed out an update to the book because the latest > update of TVOS (that is what Apple calls the operating system) has > introduced a number of new features which Jonathan added to his excellent > and most complete book. > > Lastly, yes, if you have multiple TV's in the house, you wold need an > Apple TV for each TV if you want that. You can get the Apple TV fourth Gen > in two variations, a model with 32 Gb of storage for $149.95 US and a model > with 64 Gb of storage for $199.95 US. At this point storage is used for > apps since you can't actually store music or anything like that on the > Apple TV. I think a lot of people do decide to spend the extra $50 to > double the storage, but 32 Gb is probably enough for most users. > > > Regards, > Sieghard > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] <javascript:> [mailto: > [email protected] <javascript:>] On Behalf Of Michelle Bernstein > Sent: Friday, March 25, 2016 8:08 AM > To: viphone <[email protected] <javascript:>> > Subject: Basic Questions about Apple TV > > I have a few basic questions about Apple TV. > > 1. I have heard that it is a small device which attaches to your > television set. > Do you usually require sighted assistance to set up an Apple television > device if you are someone like me who required help to set up a dvd player > to my television set? > > 2. Do you need a separate Apple tv device for each television in your > home? > > 3. My husband is sighted. How do you set up the televisions that I > can watch with described ocntent and he can watch traditional television? > > 4. How do you subscribe to content on an Apple television? Is it > similiar to subscribing to cable television in the United States? > > 5. Is there enough described programs on Apple tv available in the > United States that it is worth the time learning how to watch tv this way > as opposed to listening to cable and traditional television? > > Thanks for any guidance. Regards, Michelle > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - > you can reach Cara at [email protected] <javascript:> > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
