Help for older and disabled users

Can you recommend TVs with easy to use buttons on the front if you can’t easily use a remote?

Buttons on the TV are one of the six features that we assess for their ease of use on every iDTV we test. We take into account their position on the screen – whether they are on the top, down the side and how low down the side – the size and feel of the buttons and their labelling. The ratings are towards the bottom of our summary test reports.  ‘TV cabinet controls’.

Note that many set top boxes and a couple of digital TV recorders do not have any buttons on the box at all so they cannot be used without the remote.

Can I record subtitles?

Unlike analogue TV and VCRs it is easy to record the subtitles from digital TV. Information about subtitle facilities is given at the bottom of each summary test report on digital TV recorders.

Which set top boxes / iDTVs/ digital TV recorders have audio description?

An increasing number of digital TV products have audio description. Use our Search on the test report pages and select ‘audio description’ as a search criteria to find those that do.

For more information see audio description