Panasonic Smart Viera TVs can talk

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While televisions like the Samsung ES8000 and LG’s 3D Cinema Smart TVs use voice controls that listen to your every command, Panasonic’s new Smart Viera TVs prefer to do the talking.

Panasonic has been working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to develop an advanced Voice Guidance system for its Smart Viera TVs. The latest range can read out on-screen info and provide instructions on how to navigate around the TV menu. The wannabe human sounding voice can be made to speak louder or more quietly and its speed can be adjusted too.

These Voice Guidance Smart Viera TVs are out now and Panasonic says this is the first time it has been done in a television. It sounds like a great idea for people with less than perfect sight who can’t make out the menus. Now Panasonic just needs to implement Siri-style voice controls and we can start having conversations with our TVs.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.