LIVE CAPTIONING SERVICES
The live captioning process is the most demanding of all types of captioning. Live captioning is the process of creating captions live for programs that are either broadcast live or are produced too late to be captioned offline. Live captioning combines the skills of a court reporter with computer technology. Skilled professionals using court stenographic techniques and with typing / transcribing speed of about 250 words per minute perform live captioning services. They transcribe words as they are spoken, producing captions that are broadcast simultaneously with the live event or program.
Closed caption data can travel as far as 59,000 miles, and it takes approximately one to five seconds for captions to become visible to the viewer. Live caption lines are fed from the caption-creation site to the client's encoding site. Since the captions are encoded as part of the electronic signal, a closed-captioned program may be transmitted in any form: over-the-air broadcast, satellite, cable, videocassette, or videodisc. Although closed caption transcription may not always produce exact verbatim transcripts of the dialogue, it does closely approximate the verbal message.
In some cases, the transcript is available beforehand and captions are simply displayed during the program after being edited. This is called “Live Display.” For programs that have a mix of pre-prepared and live content such as news bulletins, a combination of the above techniques is used. Transcriptionsouthcarolina.com employs highly skilled caption editors who display pre-scripted text files of news stories when they are available, and coordinate the sending of such data to station encoders. They also decide whether to transmit available pre-scripted files or to use the data created by real-time captioners. Combining live display files and live caption data requires timing and considerable talent, but it can enhance the overall accuracy of a captioned broadcast.
Transcriptionsouthcarolina.com has provided live captioning services for news, sports, talk shows, distance learning and religious programming, as well as for events such as conventions, seminars, university lectures etc. both in the U.S. and in Canada, Australia, and the U.K. We are experienced in all areas of live captioning, including captioning of live webcasts, and we provide foreign language live captioning as well.
Captions for webcasts can be created in the following formats:
- Windows Media
- Real
- Flash
- Quick Time
Several factors can affect captioning accuracy, including:
- Experience and skill of the real-time captioner (and his / her knowledge of the program subject matter)
- Familiarity with the proper spelling of names and places used during a broadcast (this involves preparation)
- Speaker (s’) speed, clarity of speech, and accent
- Clarity of audio signal
Transcriptionsouthcarolina.com has earned a reputation as a major provider of real-time captioning services, and we are proud of our leading position in the industry. Our approach to all captioning projects, large or small, is a flexible one. We make certain to discuss all options with our clients (live captioning vs. offline captioning, turnaround requirements, technical requirements such as multiple feeds, etc.) in order to provide the best-quality captioning services at the most cost-effective rate. |
