DE: Comments on 7.3 User controls for captions and audio description (Tab 7, Item 9, row 10)
Submitted on behalf of Digital Europe as part of #55.
7.3 User controls for captions and audio description
Where ICT primarily displays materials containing video with associated audio content, user controls to activate subtitling and audio description shall be provided to the user at the same level of interaction (i.e. the number of steps to complete the task) as the primary media controls.
NOTE 1: Primary media controls are the set of controls that the user most commonly uses to control media.
NOTE 2: Products that have a general hardware volume control, such as a telephone, or a laptop which can be configured to display video through software but which is not its primary purpose, would not need dedicated hardware controls for captions and descriptions; however software controls, or hardware controls mapped through software, would need to be at the same level of interaction.
NOTE 3: It is best practice for ICT to include additional controls enabling the user to select whether captions and audio description are turned on or off by default.
DE Comments:
This might require remote control buttons for subtitles and audio track selection. TVs are NOT covered by note 2.
If volume control is regarded as a "primary media control" we will need to provide RC buttons at least to subtitles and audio description toggle on/off.
It might also require redesign of TV UIs as audio track selection is often relatively deep in menus as a relatively rarely used function.
Note: mandating physical subtitles and audio description buttons prevents innovation by manufacturers. This requirement is too strict. User experience is a major area of innovation by manufacturers, who are attempting to simplify remote controls. There are other ways to make features easily available to users.