TV accessibility, Samsung, Sony, LG or something else?
By
elliot2012, 5 August, 2026
Forum
Smart Home Tech and Gadgets
Hi all, just wondering people's experiences of TV accessibility, in particular, Samsung, Sony and LG. I'm thinking of general screen reader accessibility for menus and settings as well as for streaming apps on the TV.
Samsung is the TV, the remote is accessible but the speech is very robotic. I can turn the TV or have the screen for my window PC. Got it more than 5 years ago.
I have a 50 inch flat panel by Sceptre or maybe it's Spectre? I don't know, probably a Walmart brand. It was a housewarming gift when I first moved into my current residence.
Anyways, it has full voice guidance for its menus and such, but I primarily use it with an Amazon Fire Stick 4G Max device. While the voice guidance built into the television is very robotic, VoiceView β Amazon's proprietary screen reader for their Fire devices β has one of the clearest sounding speech synthesizer I have ever heard. I also get nearly 1000 free channels of television from both the United States, and the United Kingdom. Though admittedly, only perhaps 4% of those are audio described. π
We have a smart tv and the screen reader, when you get used to tv style ui, is quite good though I often need sighted help to start it or through the phone companion app smart things?... But imo if you can just get a dumb tv or monitor and use it with a laptop or anything like apple tv / fire stick, don't ever buy any smart tv or anything really if you can.
I have a Samsung QLED 75-inch TV, and it is a great TV for accessibility. The remote is very tactile, and you can just hold down the volume rocker button to turn on the accessibility. The screen reader is a little bit robotic, but other than that, everything seems to be accessible. I've not extensively tried streaming apps since I'm not the primary owner of the TV, but it is a pretty good option. The Samsung SmartThings app is pretty clean and is pretty accessible with voiceover on my iPhone.
We have an LG O LED 55 inch tv at home. It has a voice gidence which uses the vocalizer voices. Apple tv, Disney +, and some of other apps are accessible but for some reason, Netflix is completely in accessible. I don't know where to write this. But overall experience is very nice, other then sometimes Voice gidence sound completely cuts the media sound and there is no ducking adjustment in settings unfortunately.
I have two Samsung televisions and they are very accessible. The Voice guidance is robotic as suggested but most streaming apps are completely accessible and usable with voice guidance. I cannot comment on LG and other smart TVs but I would recommend the Samsung television as it has 95% accessibility support. It is not perfect but it is completely usable by people with visual impairments.
One really does not need a smart tv. Admittedly its nice to be able to adjust internal television settings if your tv has some kind of voice guidance, but unless you absolutely need to make such changes, the streaming adapter is all you need.
There are so many adapters these days; Roku, ChromeCast, AppleTV, FireStick & FireTV, AndroidTV, Sky Stream... I am probably forgetting one or three.
I laugh whenever I get an advert in the mailbox offering Cable tv service with some random promotional offer. Sadly, I know of a few people whom actually subscribe to cable television service. π
Even with all the streaming tech out there, it's still nice to know your TV is accessible as a backup. I have SkyQ at the moment and while sky has done a fantastic job in making the Sky part of that accessible, streaming apps are completely inaccessible. So there's no watching Amazon Prime on the telly, for example - not unless you're Mrs Bingo, who has signed the telly in our lounge into her own amazon Prime, her own Netflix, etc. and streams away awful programmes to her heart's content. I'm told that streaming apps are accessible through Sky Glass. Obviously, that goes for sky stream as well.
I bought a Samsung QLED a few years ago after seeing a press release with them and the RNIB going on about the great accessibility. I think at the time I was using a Fire TV Cube which was actually pretty good with voice access.
The TV screen reader, though, I just found intolerably annoying. Not only did it have the worst TTS I have ever heard - this terrible droning unclear noise, plus it seemed to just talk over the top of everything all the time. I also found the remote had about a million buttons and it was difficult finding the d-pad in amongst all of it. There is a nobble on the enter button in the middle but I still find it really tricky to locate. Anyway I ended up switching off the voice because it was just too annoying. My Cube died and I replaced it with Apple TV and a better soundbar (a Sonos) and now I can control pretty much everything through the Apple TV remote or voice.
Hopefully they have improved it in the years since then but I wasn't very impressed.
The only thing in its favour was that it was relatively easy to set up with the ladies A and G so I can control some of it with voice, but to be honest I don't tend to bother much.
The problem is that it seems quite hard to get a demo of this sort of thing. I remember asking in the shop and was told that the TVs were locked down and they couldn't change the options.
Thank you all for your comments on this, I am firmly in the Apple TV camp as I tend to find most streaming apps on there accessible with voiceover but I like to have a back up on the TV itself.
My experience with Samsung in the UK is most streaming apps like Netflix, Disney, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and ITV X are accessible but certain apps like Channel 4 and My5 aren't.
When I last used a Sony TV and a google streamer i found less apps accessible with talkback, in particular BBC iPlayer and ITV X.
I don't have much experience with LG.
Most screen reader voices on TVs aren't great but I tend to have them turned off most of the time accept when I need to access the settings for something.
I'm from America, but I'm chiming in with another recommendation for LG. I had a Toshiba fire TV and was having really annoying issues with stuttering speech and just general slowness. So last December, I bought a 42 inch LG QNED70a. It uses the Samantha voice, so I don't mind the speech. Certainly better than Roku, and it's also better than what I've heard from the Samsung TV.
I haven't found many apps to be inaccessible. Regarding the comment up above about Netflix, it does work with the screenreader, but it's an odd app. Sometimes it talks on startup, sometimes it doesn't. Just give it a few seconds, close the app if you hear nothing, and reopen it.
My TV works much faster than my old Fire TV ever did. Plus, I love that you can learn the remote right in settings. I paired the TV with an LG soundbar and that's been a great experience, as it actually speaks all the settings. No more eyes needed to adjust my sound settings. :)
Hi,
It was me who commented about LG tvs and Netflix. The product is a 55 inch O Led Tv and the screen reader couldn't read anything in Netflix. My mom told me that I was switching profiles with the magic remote, however there was no speech. But I'll give it another try when I use the device.
Yeah, Netflix is funny like that. Sometimes it starts speaking right away. But if you give it like 15 seconds and it doesn't, just go home, hit the back button, and delete Netflix from the recent apps. Then reopen it again. It should work.
Comments
samsung is meant to be very good
Subject line says it all. But i thought you'd be a SkyGlass man? That is apparently much better now than it was a year or so ago.
I have a flat 32 inches wide TV/ PC screen.
Samsung is the TV, the remote is accessible but the speech is very robotic. I can turn the TV or have the screen for my window PC. Got it more than 5 years ago.
Fire branded for life
I have a 50 inch flat panel by Sceptre or maybe it's Spectre? I don't know, probably a Walmart brand. It was a housewarming gift when I first moved into my current residence.
Anyways, it has full voice guidance for its menus and such, but I primarily use it with an Amazon Fire Stick 4G Max device. While the voice guidance built into the television is very robotic, VoiceView β Amazon's proprietary screen reader for their Fire devices β has one of the clearest sounding speech synthesizer I have ever heard. I also get nearly 1000 free channels of television from both the United States, and the United Kingdom. Though admittedly, only perhaps 4% of those are audio described. π
Samsung is good
We have a smart tv and the screen reader, when you get used to tv style ui, is quite good though I often need sighted help to start it or through the phone companion app smart things?... But imo if you can just get a dumb tv or monitor and use it with a laptop or anything like apple tv / fire stick, don't ever buy any smart tv or anything really if you can.
I like Samsung.
I have a Samsung QLED 75-inch TV, and it is a great TV for accessibility. The remote is very tactile, and you can just hold down the volume rocker button to turn on the accessibility. The screen reader is a little bit robotic, but other than that, everything seems to be accessible. I've not extensively tried streaming apps since I'm not the primary owner of the TV, but it is a pretty good option. The Samsung SmartThings app is pretty clean and is pretty accessible with voiceover on my iPhone.
LG
We have an LG O LED 55 inch tv at home. It has a voice gidence which uses the vocalizer voices. Apple tv, Disney +, and some of other apps are accessible but for some reason, Netflix is completely in accessible. I don't know where to write this. But overall experience is very nice, other then sometimes Voice gidence sound completely cuts the media sound and there is no ducking adjustment in settings unfortunately.
Samsung TV for me
I have two Samsung televisions and they are very accessible. The Voice guidance is robotic as suggested but most streaming apps are completely accessible and usable with voice guidance. I cannot comment on LG and other smart TVs but I would recommend the Samsung television as it has 95% accessibility support. It is not perfect but it is completely usable by people with visual impairments.
With all the streaming adapters available
One really does not need a smart tv. Admittedly its nice to be able to adjust internal television settings if your tv has some kind of voice guidance, but unless you absolutely need to make such changes, the streaming adapter is all you need.
There are so many adapters these days; Roku, ChromeCast, AppleTV, FireStick & FireTV, AndroidTV, Sky Stream... I am probably forgetting one or three.
I laugh whenever I get an advert in the mailbox offering Cable tv service with some random promotional offer. Sadly, I know of a few people whom actually subscribe to cable television service. π
Still nice to have the accessible interface
Even with all the streaming tech out there, it's still nice to know your TV is accessible as a backup. I have SkyQ at the moment and while sky has done a fantastic job in making the Sky part of that accessible, streaming apps are completely inaccessible. So there's no watching Amazon Prime on the telly, for example - not unless you're Mrs Bingo, who has signed the telly in our lounge into her own amazon Prime, her own Netflix, etc. and streams away awful programmes to her heart's content. I'm told that streaming apps are accessible through Sky Glass. Obviously, that goes for sky stream as well.
Samsung
I bought a Samsung QLED a few years ago after seeing a press release with them and the RNIB going on about the great accessibility. I think at the time I was using a Fire TV Cube which was actually pretty good with voice access.
The TV screen reader, though, I just found intolerably annoying. Not only did it have the worst TTS I have ever heard - this terrible droning unclear noise, plus it seemed to just talk over the top of everything all the time. I also found the remote had about a million buttons and it was difficult finding the d-pad in amongst all of it. There is a nobble on the enter button in the middle but I still find it really tricky to locate. Anyway I ended up switching off the voice because it was just too annoying. My Cube died and I replaced it with Apple TV and a better soundbar (a Sonos) and now I can control pretty much everything through the Apple TV remote or voice.
Hopefully they have improved it in the years since then but I wasn't very impressed.
The only thing in its favour was that it was relatively easy to set up with the ladies A and G so I can control some of it with voice, but to be honest I don't tend to bother much.
The problem is that it seems quite hard to get a demo of this sort of thing. I remember asking in the shop and was told that the TVs were locked down and they couldn't change the options.
Skyworth
I bought a skyWorth TV 4 years ago, and it's the most accessible. It uses talkback screen reader.
Thank you
Thank you all for your comments on this, I am firmly in the Apple TV camp as I tend to find most streaming apps on there accessible with voiceover but I like to have a back up on the TV itself.
My experience with Samsung in the UK is most streaming apps like Netflix, Disney, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and ITV X are accessible but certain apps like Channel 4 and My5 aren't.
When I last used a Sony TV and a google streamer i found less apps accessible with talkback, in particular BBC iPlayer and ITV X.
I don't have much experience with LG.
Most screen reader voices on TVs aren't great but I tend to have them turned off most of the time accept when I need to access the settings for something.
LG
I'm from America, but I'm chiming in with another recommendation for LG. I had a Toshiba fire TV and was having really annoying issues with stuttering speech and just general slowness. So last December, I bought a 42 inch LG QNED70a. It uses the Samantha voice, so I don't mind the speech. Certainly better than Roku, and it's also better than what I've heard from the Samsung TV.
I haven't found many apps to be inaccessible. Regarding the comment up above about Netflix, it does work with the screenreader, but it's an odd app. Sometimes it talks on startup, sometimes it doesn't. Just give it a few seconds, close the app if you hear nothing, and reopen it.
My TV works much faster than my old Fire TV ever did. Plus, I love that you can learn the remote right in settings. I paired the TV with an LG soundbar and that's been a great experience, as it actually speaks all the settings. No more eyes needed to adjust my sound settings. :)
Re: LG
Hi, It was me who commented about LG tvs and Netflix. The product is a 55 inch O Led Tv and the screen reader couldn't read anything in Netflix. My mom told me that I was switching profiles with the magic remote, however there was no speech. But I'll give it another try when I use the device.
Re: Cankut DeΔerli
Yeah, Netflix is funny like that. Sometimes it starts speaking right away. But if you give it like 15 seconds and it doesn't, just go home, hit the back button, and delete Netflix from the recent apps. Then reopen it again. It should work.