Channels & viewing

[rbwksf]

I previously spent an hour on a chat with Hulu support.  I do not want to do that again - they gave me no case number, etc.

I think Roku should stand by their product and if a channel is offered but has issues, then I believe Roku should work with the provider to get the problem fixed and not make the your customer (me) go through that process.

Based on Roiku's unwillingness to help, I plan to document these issues at the Audio Description Project web site.I think the  many thousands of people that rely on audio description  deserve to know about such severe issues with an app on your platform and perhaps decide to go with a different streaming platform. 

Bob Warren

[rbwksf]

HI,

I have spent an hour or more on a chat with Hulu support to no avail (yet) and do not feel I have to keep doing that.  It seems to me that if Roku provides a channel on their platform they should stand behind its functinality.  To me, that means actively working with the channel provider to fix serious issues like this one and not expect the Roku customer to do that after they have reported an issue.

I am planning to send the moderator of the adp.acb.org (best clearing house for all things audio description) a note about this deficiency with the implementation of Hulu on the Roku platform  I think the many, many users of that web site deserve to have this information when they make the choice for what streaming platform they purchase.

Bob Warren

[rbwksf]

Sorry for the near duplicate post.  I failed to see the "Next" button on the web page and thought my previous post had not worked.  (Remember, I have low vision which is why the topic of audio description is so important to me).

Bob Warren

[rbwksf]

(Some more tilting at windmills...)

Here is an email I just sent to MAX/HBO accessibility support regarding how audio description works on the Roku app.  Compared to other apps on the Roku (Netflix, Prime Video, PBS, etc) it works very poorly.  I hope Roku would work with the channel they provide to improve this behavior.

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I know how to turn on audio description and can do that either using the Max app itself on my Roku or using the "star" button to get to where I can set it under "Accessibility and Languages" on the Roku.. All good.

BUT, once AD is enabled the first time, I would like having the app always play audio description when an AD track is present in the move or series.. This is how Netflix, Prime video, PBS, etc work. That means if I go to the next episode in a series, AD will be there. Or, if I start a different movie/series that has AD it will be there. Right now, I have to re-enable AD for each episode of a series or each new show I watch that has it.

Many people who are blind/low vision benefit greatly from AD but have a difficult time getting it set up initially. Often they have to have a sighted person do that. I hope Max will consider making the option to use AD "sticky" (much like other settings in the app). This will be a great help to many.

I hope this is clear.

Bob Warren

[RokuCarly]

Hi, @rbwksf.

Greetings from the Roku Community.

First, we would like to address your concern regarding playback issues while closed captions (CC) are enabled in the Hulu app. We have coordinated with our team to replicate and investigate the problem on your Roku Ultra (4800X). Unfortunately, our team has not been able to determine the cause of this issue, as it only occurs in Hulu.

We want to clarify that enabling CC in your Roku settings does not guarantee that it will also enable CC within a specific standalone app, including the Hulu app, as those apps have their own features managed directly from within.

This is also related to your second concern regarding the inconsistent closed captioning (CC) in the Max app. We highly recommend that you coordinate directly with the channel provider, as this issue lies within their app. They manage and maintain their app on the Roku streaming platform independently, and Roku does not have direct access to their system operations.

We strongly recommend maintaining communication with their Support team for further assistance.

We hope this helps clear everything up. 

Best regards,
Carly

[rbwksf]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply but I did not write about closed captions but rather audio description (and not the audio guide either).

The bottom line (for me) is that roku should be willing to advocate for getting issues with channels fixed, whether or not they (Roku) has access to the code as opposed to putting that burden on your users.

Given that, the only conclusion I can draw is that roku really does not care much about (or even really understands) the needs of the blind/low vision community.

Bob Warren