Sky Glass Hands Free Commands, Etc

[Magus10]

Hi

I'm writing this on behalf of my father in a care home. He has lost the power of his limbs-so ONLY has voice available for control of the SKY Glass TV System. NB: He can NOT hold or interact with the remote at all unfortunately.

I have a few questions I'd be very grateful for help with!

1. He has to speak very loudly for Sky to "hear" him and this really tires him out(he's elderly). I've tried as well and it is a bit hit and miss for hearing me(my voice is strong, so it's not entirely a problem with him) Is there any way to make it more sensitive to his voice, or any tips to help with this?

2. When going to the guide, he can get that up on the screen-but what is the voice command to go down a page, or across a page, or forward a day, etc by voice only?

3. Is there a comprehensive list available anywhere of the reconized voice control commands that I could work through with him?

Many thanks for any helpful suggestions on the above

Cheers

[GD1]

@Magus10   There are a list of comands here Voice control on Sky Glass | Sky Help | Sky.com | Sky Help | Sky.com

However I don't think it's a comprehensive list

[Magus10]

Hi

Many thanks for that, I had actually seen that and it is a useful starter but I was hoping there was a more comprehensive list somewhere!

If anyone knows of one, again I'd be grateful

[TimmyBGood]

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@Magus10 wrote:

1. He has to speak very loudly for Sky to "hear" him and this really tires him out(he's elderly). I've tried as well and it is a bit hit and miss for hearing me(my voice is strong, so it's not entirely a problem with him) Is there any way to make it more sensitive to his voice, or any tips to help with this?

Essentially no: there's a far-field microphone in the frame of the set itself, but such devices are always going to be somewhat limited by distance, volume of the spoken command, machine comprehension and background noise.

2. When going to the guide, he can get that up on the screen-but what is the voice command to go down a page, or across a page, or forward a day, etc by voice only?

I don't believe there are any such commands: it's not intended to be a comprehensive hands-free interface (which is a much more complex task to design and implement), just access to some shortcuts for convenience.

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[Magus10]

Thanks for taking the time out to help 👍

I'm slightly worried about this now, does that mean there's no real way for a user to access the guide by hands free methods at all? This would be a bit of a problem for him 😬

I might as well ask as you, or someone else might know. Is there a comprehensive manual anywhere with the workings of the Sky Glass hands free operation?

Once again my thanks for your help!

[TimmyBGood]

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@Magus10 wrote:

I'm slightly worried about this now, does that mean there's no real way for a user to access the guide by hands free methods at all? This would be a bit of a problem for him 

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I'm afraid the 'Voice Control' feature just isn't the same as dedicated hands free operation designed specifically for disabled users: that would require hugely more development, testing and implementation resources, and considerable ongoing support to prevent it breaking with every visual UI change.

[Magus10]

Ah, thanks, that's a shame....

Just so you know, I went to one of these sales type Sky "cabins" in my nearby shopping centre and the bloke there demonstrated a few of the basic functions and told me the voice control could do everything the remote could do hands free and would be perfect for someone that could only use voice control like my father. Sounds like that was an overly ambitious sales pitch 😢

Will need to do some thinking  about whether he can keep it or not now unfortunately. It's a real shame as he desperately wants something that he can use that is lagely voice controllable.

If I could even find a list of commands that CAN be used somewhere that would be really helpful if anyone knows of such a thing?

Thanks

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Magus10 wrote:

Ah, thanks, that's a shame....

Just so you know, I went to one of these sales type Sky "cabins" in my nearby shopping centre and the bloke there demonstrated a few of the basic functions and told me the voice control could do everything the remote could do hands free and would be perfect for someone that could only use voice control like my father. Sounds like that was an overly ambitious sales pitch 😢

Will need to do some thinking  about whether he can keep it or not now unfortunately. It's a real shame as he desperately wants something that he can use that is lagely voice controllable.

If I could even find a list of commands that CAN be used somewhere that would be really helpful if anyone knows of such a thing?

Thanks

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Sadly sales reps in shopping malls will often tell you what you want to hear rather than the actual truth in order to make a sale.

As others have said, the voice control on Glass is very much a 'say what you want' kind of service, rather than a fully functional navigation system. There's no way to control the sensitivity of the microphone I'm afraid. 

It can be very functional once the customer gets used to it, but it does function best with simple commands like 'BBC1' or 'Sky Atlantic' or 'TV Guide' after saying Hello Sky. It's not really designed for browsing around the interface, looking for something to watch. 

It's much like most other voice controlled operating systems on TVs. Amazon's FireTV can be controlled via Alexa in a similar manner. Apple's tvOS can be controlled by Siri, but again, they are somewhat restricted and relies on the user having an idea of what they want to watch and on which service. 

The only possible benefit of a FireTV device could be that a FireTV cube could be positioned closer to your Dad, therefore preventing him having to shout to be understood, but it won't really offer anything more than Sky Glass could potentially offer in terms of useability and navigation. SkyOS on Glass is a simpler, cleaner interface overall. 

Good luck. Hope you manage to get something sorted for him.

[Magus10]

Thank you very much, that's actually very useful 👍

Your comment on the Amazon Fire Cube is particulary interesting as, two days in, the biggest issue is making the TV "hear" him! He's finding it exhausting having to shout so much at the TV(he's elderly and a bit breathy, so it's not easy for him TBF). He cam make his Alexa, which is close to him, work fairly easily

If I may plead for a little more information please? Is the Amazon Fire Cube easy to set up initially? Can it be linked to the Glass TV fairly easily(does it have a native set up to Glass?) and placed anywhere in the room-ie beside him even if the TV is 2-3 Metres away on the wall? Is it easy to setup for a non-technical amateur(that's me BTW 😉)? Does it allow the same voice commands as the Glass TV would?

Apologies for all the questions-but it would be extremely helpful if you could fill me in with any answers that you can....and also any downsides if you're aware of any!!

Thanks again

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Magus10 wrote:

Thank you very much, that's actually very useful 👍

Your comment on the Amazon Fire Cube is particulary interesting as, two days in, the biggest issue is making the TV "hear" him! He's finding it exhausting having to shout so much at the TV(he's elderly and a bit breathy, so it's not easy for him TBF). He cam make his Alexa, which is close to him, work fairly easily

If I may plead for a little more information please? Is the Amazon Fire Cube easy to set up initially? Can it be linked to the Glass TV fairly easily(does it have a native set up to Glass?) and placed anywhere in the room-ie beside him even if the TV is 2-3 Metres away on the wall? Is it easy to setup for a non-technical amateur(that's me BTW 😉)? Does it allow the same voice commands as the Glass TV would?

Apologies for all the questions-but it would be extremely helpful if you could fill me in with any answers that you can....and also any downsides if you're aware of any!!

Thanks again

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A FireTV Cube wouldn't be able to control a Glass TV I'm afraid. I was thinking more of FireTV as a different voice controlled operating system, connected to any TV, be it Glass or otherwise. It allows you to stream content from various apps. 

The FireTV operating system does allow more general navigation - I've just tested on my Firestick and can actually say up, down, left, right, select etc. to navigate and select content and apps to open. It takes time and is a little slow but is functional. 

It does have a live TV guide for the main free-to-air channels which can be navigated by voice and will open the relevant live channel stream via the appropriate app such as iPlayer, ITVX, etc. 

It's not as elegant a user interface as Sky OS on Glass, that's for sure, but it potentially has more voice-only control than Sky Glass.

You can buy TVs with the FireTV operating system built in which don't require a FireTV cube, but they will potentially suffer from the same issue your dad is having with Glass - ie, the microphone on the TV might not be sensitive enough to pick up his voice. 

It's a tricky one, with no outright easy solution to your predicament I'm afraid. 

[Magus10]

Ah, OK, thanks for taking the time to help

He's literally only just got the Sky Glass TV, so probably want to at least set out with that one for now I think!

I assume there's nothing you know of that will interface well with the Sky Glass TV? From my search so far it appears as if Alexa doesn't have onboard set up for Glass TV. So just wondered if there was anything else that might help with this 

 communication issue 🤷‍♂️

Thanks, once again!

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Magus10 wrote:

Ah, OK, thanks for taking the time to help

He's literally only just got the Sky Glass TV, so probably want to at least set out with that one for now I think!

I assume there's nothing you know of that will interface well with the Sky Glass TV? From my search so far it appears as if Alexa doesn't have onboard set up for Glass TV. So just wondered if there was anything else that might help with this 

 communication issue 🤷‍♂️

Thanks, once again!

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I'm afraid there's nothing I know of which can interact directly with SkyOS on Glass. It's designed as a one box solution to negate the need for adding external devices really. You can connect audio devices such as headphones via Bluetooth to receive audio but as far as I know there is no means of connecting an external microphone in a similar fashion to send audio commands to the Glass TV. The built-in always on far-field microphone and the push button mic on the remote are the only means of sending voice commands I believe.