DIRECTV Talking Guide

If you have a visual impairment, the Talking Guide text-to-speech setting on your Genie® DVR can help. Turn it on to hear audio prompts that help you use DIRECTV onscreen menus and guides. The Talking Guide also makes it easy to find info about unfamiliar channels or content.

Don’t have a Genie DVR or want help with the Talking Guide feature? If you don’t have a Genie DVR or are having problems enabling the Talking Guide feature, call us at 800.531.5000.

Here’s how to turn the feature on:

1. Press the INFO button on your DIRECTV remote.
2. Press the right arrow once. A menu with options for closed captions and the Talking Guide opens.
3. Press the down arrow 3 times. You’ll hear audio instructing you to press SELECT to turn the Talking Guide on. If you don’t press SELECT, the speech output stops.
4. Press SELECT to activate the Talking Guide.
   

FYI: Once you enable the Talking Guide, audio output stays on until you disable it. You can turn the Talking Guide feature on or off anytime.

Want to manage more Talking Guide settings, like speaking rate?

1. Press MENU, navigate to Settings, press SELECT, and then choose Accessibility.
2. From there, press the down arrow once and select Talking Guide.
3. Scroll to the right and press the down arrow to access speech rate.
   

Starting at the top of the Genie remote, you'll find 2 rubber buttons on the left and right sides of the remote. These rubber buttons have a slight indentation in the middle. The one on the left is ON; the one on the right is OFF.

Next, you'll find a row of 3 rubber buttons just below the ON and OFF buttons:

• The GUIDE button is on the left. Use it to find shows that are currently airing. The guide shows what’s on every channel in a grid format, with channels as rows and time (in half-hour increments) as columns. You can check out what’s airing now and up to 14 days from now.
• The MENU button is in the middle. Use it to change settings and search for or browse shows.
• The LIST button is on the right. Use it to find recorded TV shows and movies, as well as movie rentals or purchases.

Starting on the middle menu button, move your finger straight down until you feel a smooth, round button. This is the SELECT button. Press it when you want to choose something. A directional cross surrounds the Select button. It has keys for up, down, left, and right. Each key has a raised triangle indicating the direction. The left arrow also doubles as a back button so you can leave the screen you’re on and go to the previous one.

With your finger on the left directional arrow, you’ll find the record button immediately above. Press it once to record a program you’re watching or twice to record the entire series.

With your finger on the right directional arrow, you’ll find a rubber button immediately above and below. The button below the right arrow is INFO and the one above the right arrow is EXIT. Press INFO to get more details about your current selection. EXIT takes you back to live TV from the screen you’re on.

With your finger back on the smooth, round SELECT button, move to the down arrow, and then slightly below there. You’ll feel 2 distinctly raised ridges with a gap in the middle. The ridge on the left is for volume, and the ridge on the right is for channels. The ridges are toggles. Toggle up to increase the volume or channel number, and toggle down to decrease the volume or channel number.

The lower third of the remote has rubber buttons on a number pad arranged like a phone’s keypad. You’ll know you’ve got the bottom of the remote because there’s a flat smooth slope below the last row of rubber buttons.

Immediately above the number pad is a row of 3 buttons. The left button is to rewind. The center button is to play or pause the program you’re watching. The right button is to fast-forward. You can rewind and fast-forward at increasing speeds by pressing up to 4 times.