[kinison]

I have many friends who are blind and into downloading torrents, some of which own AppleTV devices but refuse to jailbreak it thinking it would break the text 2 speech accessibility. Welp, got my own AppleTV 2G device, jailbroke it with seas0npass and aTV, got XBMC installed however the text 2 speech accessibility basically stops working the moment XBMC loads up.

Am I supposed to install an app on the iPhone in order to navigate the menu using text 2 speech accessibility (tap once to hear, tap twice to commit)?

[Ned Scott]

I have many friends who are blind and into downloading torrents, some of which own AppleTV devices but refuse to jailbreak it thinking it would break the text 2 speech accessibility. Welp, got my own AppleTV 2G device, jailbroke it with seas0npass and aTV, got XBMC installed however the text 2 speech accessibility basically stops working the moment XBMC loads up.

Am I supposed to install an app on the iPhone in order to navigate the menu using text 2 speech accessibility (tap once to hear, tap twice to commit)?

You're joking, right?

XBMC is a volunteer project that has limited resources. Sure, it would be great to support such a feature, but that's a very low priority considering the ten foot UI concept is what XBMC is built around. Feel free to join in efforts and submit code foe text to speech if no one else is working on it. It is open source after all.

[kinison]

You're joking, right?

I am not. I know this can be done on the original Apple TV using Plex and Media Hound for the remote app. Those who are blind are then able to navigate their SMB shares. This text 2 speech works on all iOS devices.

XBMC is a volunteer project that has limited resources. Sure, it would be great to support such a feature, but that's a very low priority considering the ten foot UI concept is what XBMC is built around. Feel free to join in efforts and submit code foe text to speech if no one else is working on it. It is open source after all.

I am not suggesting a feature be supported. I am asking if there was a step I missed. Does one need to utilize an iPhone app in order to use as a remote control to navigate XMBC menus?

I asked this question on some Mac forums and seriously, nobody knows.

[davilla]

Never looks into 'text 2 speech' on the atv2. Basically when xbmc is launched, it takes over and we don't use much ios functions.

[kinison]

Never looks into 'text 2 speech' on the atv2. Basically when xbmc is launched, it takes over and we don't use much ios functions.

But is there an app that I download to an iPod Touch or iPhone that allows me to use XBMC as a remote control, naturally using the iPod/iPhone built in text 2 speech?

I had previously tried to use my friends Netbook to log into XBMC remote control webpage and use JAWS (a text 2 speech app for Windows) to navigate, but that didnt work.

[Ned Scott]

But is there an app that I download to an iPod Touch or iPhone that allows me to use XBMC as a remote control, naturally using the iPod/iPhone built in text 2 speech?

I had previously tried to use my friends Netbook to log into XBMC remote control webpage and use JAWS (a text 2 speech app for Windows) to navigate, but that didnt work.

Ah, I get it now. Sorry, I misunderstood what you were asking before.

There are several, actually. I personally use David Fumberger's "XBMC Remote" and was able to confirm that text-to-speech works very well with it. It will let you browse SMB and other network shares/folders, the library, and more directly on the device, meaning the text-to-speech would allow someone to successfully navigate most functions of XBMC on the ATV2 via this iPhone/iPod remote app.

[kinison]

Ah, I get it now. Sorry, I misunderstood what you were asking before.

There are several, actually. I personally use David Fumberger's "XBMC Remote" and was able to confirm that text-to-speech works very well with it. It will let you browse SMB and other network shares/folders, the library, and more directly on the device, meaning the text-to-speech would allow someone to successfully navigate most functions of XBMC on the ATV2 via this iPhone/iPod remote app.

THANK YOU!!

This is exactly the type of confirmation I was looking for. I'll have my friend download that app and stop by to test. If it works, then i'll JB is Apple TV and help him setup the share. From there, he can assist others on how to do it, he just needs an intro on how to do it.

PS
Any chance this nugget of info can be put in the Wiki FAQ?

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...ecific_FAQ

[nmat]

I hope I'm not sounding rude, but I never thought that blind people could use xbmc... Will they use it to play movies?

[Memphiz]

Think of music ...

[nmat]

Think of music ...

I thought of that, but the Apple TV already plays music shared with iTunes...

[topfs2]

Its been suggested before and having some accessibility stuff would very much be a nice goal for xbmc.

Problem so far is that we obviously don't have the resources (or noone have stepped up and given the resources) to implement it from the ground. We could perhaps utilize already created libraries but no-one knowing in them has ever suggested what would be needed to hook into them, so we frankly don't know if its possible or how much work it would be No developer afaik have a close relationship or personal gain from looking into it, if that changes who knows what will happen.

If you want this feature please try to find out as much information and give it to the developers, we could then isolate and say what would be needed to be changed in xbmc to allow for an integration. Without information its hard to say anything.

Cheers

[kinison]

I hope I'm not sounding rude, but I never thought that blind people could use xbmc... Will they use it to play movies?

Basically yeah, or ogg, flac, etc (files not supported under iTunes). For one of my friends, he'll just download to a DVD-RW and play back on his DVD player that supports MPEG4 (divx/xvid). Downloading whatever via bit torrent is easy, playing it back is a hassle. AppleTV is a great piece of hardware, but its really one big ass Pay Per View box.

Also, you see someone with a service dog or cane, they might not be 100% blind. Another friend sees nothing but blurry shapes, can see that someone is standing in front of him, but cant see sidewalk curbs or stairs. Some are born that way, others its something that gets progressively worse as they get older.

[kinison]

Its been suggested before and having some accessibility stuff would very much be a nice goal for xbmc.

Problem so far is that we obviously don't have the resources (or noone have stepped up and given the resources) to implement it from the ground. We could perhaps utilize already created libraries but no-one knowing in them has ever suggested what would be needed to hook into them, so we frankly don't know if its possible or how much work it would be No developer afaik have a close relationship or personal gain from looking into it, if that changes who knows what will happen.

If you want this feature please try to find out as much information and give it to the developers, we could then isolate and say what would be needed to be changed in xbmc to allow for an integration. Without information its hard to say anything.

Cheers

I think that having it work with an iPhone or iPad Touch would really be all you would need to support, because almost every blind friend I have, already owns one. The reason being, before the iPhone, you spent 1,000$ on a special Nokia phone and software and it basically did 1/5th of what the iPhone does and it was far more annoying.

If you could add network shares via an .XML file (like it was years ago, on the original Xbox), then that would be all that you would need to do, the rest is done by the iPhone and a bluetooth earpiece. My friend will just read the instructions, download the file, edit in notepad, then FTP it back to the device. But i'll have to see just how difficult it will be for him to manually add a network share within XBMC using the iPhone. I dont own an iPhone and have yet to how these apps work.

Thank you for all the work done for XBMC port for AppleTV. Even at its current state, is a far better media player than my WDTV Live.

[BaronBaron]

You're joking, right?

Why would you start a conversation like that? Shows a kind of disrespect that I don't get. Guy has an honest question, you don't have an answer so leave it to somebody who does.

[Ned Scott]

Why would you start a conversation like that? Shows a kind of disrespect that I don't get. Guy has an honest question, you don't have an answer so leave it to somebody who does.

Do you find the post disrespectful simply because the question involved blind people?