Simplified Menus for people with Dementia?

[Anonymous User]

Hi there

My question is around Roku NowTV SmartBox http://www.nowtv.com/tv-smart-box

My father is starting to deal with Dementia and I’m trying to find a simple way that he can keep using his Roku NowTV SmartBox http://www.nowtv.com/tv-smart-box so he can just select the Live Sky TV Channels and not have to go looking for them amongst all of the NowTV highlights, Watchlist or MyTV layout and sidebars.

His Dementia is making it difficult for him to remember simple screen movements to select channels using his Roku NowTV SmartBox.

I have started looking for a universal remote that can be programmed with some simple buttons for him to select his favorite channels, allowing him still a level of independence.

I was also hoping that NowTV/Roku might have an ability to just customise the SmartBox Home Screen & Menus to just place the channels or films or apps that my father can find very simply without having to navigate many menus and sidebars which gets him very stressed and depressed as he try's to find his SkySports channels or the Entertainment ones.

We have tried the NOWTV on an iPad but this is just as confusing for him, its only 4  months ago that he was able to navigate his SmartBox but his Dementia's now making his life a challenge and all he wants is a simple way to select the Football or Cricket or F1 channels.   

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated...

Mitch

[4268]

Sorry to hear your dad has dementia. The live sports channels are on the TV guide on the smart box. One tab is freeview, one Now, one radio @Anonymous User how does he currently get to sports. Unfortunately you may find with his condition he struggles to learn a new way of learning. My partner's dad has the condition.

[Anonymous User]

Hi @4268

Thanks for your reply..

Before my father got worst he was about to press the Now button on the Smart Box remote which would take him directly to the Now TV menu and he would then use the arrow button to select sports and the channel he wanted to watch.

Now he gets confused and can't remember how to navigate around the NOW TV menu. I tried to create a basic sheet that he can follow with a step by step guide but he just forgets where he is and if he presses the wrong button like Sky Store he cannot remember how to get back to the beginning, even though he has it in front of him.

I've been looking for a simple programmable remote controller that can learn the steps to go straight to Sky Sports football or cricket or F1 channel, but not found anything except for an Android app called Touchsquid GR Universal Remote, which I'm going to play about with this week.

Unfortunately, the menu for the Smart Box and even the Now TV menu is very rich in adverts for new movies, or shows etc that for people with Dementia just don't need or can see around. I tried to remove all of the standard Apps from the SmartBox to see if this content would remove itself from the Home Screen but it doesn't. I did find the SkySport News app which when selected does take you directly to that channel it's a shame that there isn't one of these for each Sky Channel that I can place on the Home Screen and teach my father to just select these.

I will play with the Touchsquid app this week to see how customisable it is. I contacted the creators and they told me they have codes for the Ruko Smartbox but haven't tried to control NowTV.

[Andy]

@Anonymous User

Without getting your hopes up, I'll tag @Anonymous User who is a very knowledgeable user on the forum as I know he's experimented in the past with other ways of starting NOW TV streams remotely. Apologies if he's not able to help, or not able to post soon, but there's just a chance he might be able to come up with other ideas for starting the sports channel live streams for you.

[Anonymous User]

@Anonymous User I have this webpage which once you've entered your IP address of the NowTV box will remember it so can be used a remote control

http://www.artesea.co.uk/nowtv/remote/