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• Overview
• Web Captioning
• DVD/Videotape Captioning
• Broadcast Captioning
• Video Search
• Google Video
• Podcast Captioning

For More Information

Webcast Captioning with CaptionSync™

Captioned webcasts foster a better viewing experience, which in turn leads to higher adoption rates, better retention of the presented material, and higher user satisfaction.  The CaptionSync automated web-based captioning service allows users to quickly and easily submit their media files and obtain caption results.  If you are able to provide a transcript of your content, you will get caption results in about 5 minutes.  Don't have a transcript?  Simply check a box and we'll get it for you.

Customer Quote

Input

Captioning your audio/video content is as simple as logging on to the AST server and submitting your media file for captioning.  We accept many different formats of media files, including:.WMV, .WMA, .MOV, .RM, .RA, .WAV, .MP3, .M4A, .M4B, .M4V, .FLV, or .MP4.  We need only the audio portion of your content, so if you have video material in other formats (such as MPEG2 or AVI), just save out the audio track as a .MP3 and you are on your way.

If you are providing a transcript file, no fancy formatting is required - just a simple .TXT file is all that is needed.

Output

If you supply your own transcript, the process takes about 5 minutes; if we need to get a transcript for you, it takes about 2-3 business days (24 hour rush transcription is also available).  And of course our automated solution is available around the clock -- whenever you need it!

Standard output formats for web content include QuickTime (.QT.TXT and .SMIL), Real (.RT and .SMIL), Windows Media (.SAMI and .ASX), and Flash (DFXP output for Flash CS3 or CCforFlash caption component, .XML for Captionate .FLV integration, .XML for RIT's caption component).

Benefits

Besides the obvious benefits to viewers with hearing disabilities, captioning also offers a number of additional benefits to a much broader community of users that should not be overlooked:

• Compliance: ADA and Section 508 require captioning for most broadcast and distributed video content.  Webcasts fall under ADA and are subject to these captioning requirements.  If you are making a webcast publicly available, then it should be captioned.
• Indexing and Searching: Because captioning involves the synchronization of text content with the audio/video material, it allows the content to become easily searchable with traditional text searches.
• Universal Access/Universal Design: Design your content from the ground up to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible.
• Flexibility: With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, viewers may be in environments where access to the audio is limited.  Captioning allows them to view your content whether they are in the library or on a noisy bus.
• Improved Accessibility for LD Viewers: Viewers with many types of Learning Disabilities will benefit from the increased comprehension and increased retention that captioning brings.
• Improved Accessibility for ESL Viewers: Viewers with English as a Second Language will also realize increased comprehension from captioned material.
• Improved Comprehension for All: Material that is technical, uses many unfamiliar terms, or is delivered by a non-native English speaker can be difficult for any viewer to comprehend.  Captioning provides a mechanism to addess all of these issues and improve the delivery of your content for all viewers.

The CaptionSync Automated Captioning Process

All of the major media players (QuickTime, Real, Windows Media, and Flash) allow for automatically streaming and playing captions with video content.  The captions are stored in a secondary file and do not impact your media file, or the process by which you produce it.

Upon submitting your media file to AST for captioning, you will receive the appropriate files containing the caption data.  Your media server can then easily be made to stream both the media file and the caption data file to viewers, automatically enabling captions to be viewed -- it is as simple as that!.

Advanced Features

Using a standard set of markup commands, producers can optionally "mark-up" the text transcript in order to control the exact format, location and content of the captions.  This feature allows producers to dictate the font, color, and positioning of any caption, as well as provide content to appear in the captions that is not found in the audio track.

Get Started Today!

Contact AST for pricing details and to set up a login ID on the caption server, and get captioning today!