A review by Léonie Watson
This product was reviewed in September 2011 and it was priced at £60 at the time of writing.
About me
Hello! I'm Léonie Watson, a web accessibility consultant in my mid thirties. I lost my sight completely in 2000, due to Diabetic Retinopathy (and a misspent youth).
I enjoy watching television, although I never seem to have quite enough time to watch everything I'd like. I'd love to tell you that I watch TV to expand my mind, and sometimes that's true, but mostly I fall into the "entertain me and be damned" category I'm afraid. There's no such thing as too many X Files!
What is Sky Talker?
Turning on the TV and randomly searching for something to watch was an experience I rarely had the patience to cope with.
Have you ever noticed that as soon as you switch channels, you have to sit through an entire advert break before you realise what it is you're watching?
Sky Talker is the solution if you susbcribe to the Sky service. It plugs into your Sky set top box, and provides speech access to programme and channel information, as well as Sky+ play/pause functionality.
Getting Sky Talker
When I first heard about Sky Talker I wanted to know whether it would work with Sky+ as well as Sky Digi boxes. I used the contact form on the Sky TV Accessibility website to ask, and received a prompt and friendly reply. Happily, the answer was yes.
I ordered my Sky Talker by speaking to someone on Sky's accessibility customer services team. They took my Sky account details, and gave me a choice of payment options. You can either pay by credit/debit card or have the £60 added to your next Sky direct debit.
Sky can send an engineer to install your Sky Talker and show you how to use it. This is brilliant if you don't have sighted help available, or if you're not particularly confident with gadgets. I have a sighted partner and a cheerful disregard for anything sensible, so I declined the offer of an assisted install.
Setting up Sky Talker
As it turned out, things couldn't have been easier. The Sky Talker is a small box, roughly the size of an old VHS video cassette. It has four sockets on the back, one button on the top, and another on the front.
With the back of the box facing you, the four sockets are (from right to left): Power (plugs into the wall), data and SCART (both plug into your Sky box), and audio (plugs into a speaker). If you have a Sky+ or Sky Digi box, you won't need a separate speaker though; the sound works through your set top box directly.
To turn the Sky Talker on, you press the round button on the front of the box. It announces "Ready" as soon as you turn it on, followed by the date and time. You do the same to turn it off, when it announces "stand by" before shutting down.
You use Sky Talker through your usual Sky remote control. Thank goodness! It makes it very easy to use, and it's one less gadget to add to the collection on the coffee table!
As you move through channels, Sky Talker will announce the channel number, name and programme title automatically. You can also hear more detailed programme information when you press the programme synopsis button on your remote control. Basic Sky+ functionality also works with the Sky Talker. Pause, play and rewind can all be used through the remote control, with Sky Talker providing speech feedback in each case.
You can change the voice the Sky Talker uses and increase or decrease its speed. Press and hold the button on the front to enter settings mode, then use the button on the top to move left/right through the different options. Press the button on the front to move to the next setting, or hold it down for a few seconds to exit settings mode altogether.
Benefits of Sky Talker
Sky Talker makes it possible for me to mooch around and find something I want to watch. That's a simple pleasure I haven't been able to experience since I lost my sight more than a decade ago. It feels good.
Drawbacks of Sky Talker
I must admit that the Sky Talker voices are a bit on the rustic side. I use Jaws as my screen reader, so I'm no synthetic speech connoisseur, but something a touch more human sounding would make a world of difference.
Future development
It would be wonderful if Sky Talker came as a standard feature of all set top boxes, and with speech access to all of Sky's services. I'd like to be able to browse programmes by category, record a programme and watch it later, or use Sky's Anytime service to access programmes on demand.
Conclusion
It isn't often that something comes along and changes the way you do something for the better. Sky Talker did exactly that.
It isn't perfect, but it's a terrific step in the right direction. It probably won't do much to improve my viewing preferences, but at least I can sneak off to find another episode of the X Files to keep me amused!
Please note: Sky's dedicated Accessible Customer Service team are on hand to help any customers with queries regarding Sky Talker. You can contact them on 0844 241 0333.
Legal disclaimer
This review reflects the opinions of the author only. RNIB cannot be held liable for opinions expressed in this article.
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