Telestream®, the leading provider of digital media tools and workflow solutions, announced that the latest release of its closed captioning software products, MacCaption (for Mac) and CaptionMaker (for Windows), are ready to meet the new FCC rules requiring the captioning of video clips that are posted online.
The FCC recently ruled that existing closed captioning requirements for IP delivered video content will be extended to include individual video clips or segments extracted from shows. The new rules apply to broadcasters and cable and satellite distributors that air programming on television and then post clips of that programming on their own website or via their own mobile app.
"Repurposing TV closed caption data files for Internet distribution is more challenging than simply converting one file format to another. Just as audio and video quality is imperative for creating effective content, quality closed captioning must now also be a priority for Internet delivery, both for complying with government requirements and for providing an excellent user experience for viewers who rely on accessible technology,” explains Paul Turner, VP of enterprise product management at Telestream.
With a new and modernized user interface and new features that are designed to automate much of the cumbersome captioning workflow process, the latest release of MacCaption and CaptionMaker captioning software help bring the “dark art” of closed captioning within reach of TV broadcast engineers. When used together with the Vantage family of video transcoding and workflow automation solutions, Telestream’s captioning products provide a solution to transcode, convert, troubleshoot, modify, and deploy caption data alongside video – regardless of the delivery platform. In this new version, additional import formats have been added, including SCTE-20, Seachange VANC, and DVD closed captions. This further expands the ability for broadcasters to extract and convert the captions from all types of video archives to newer formats, including Internet captions.
Because TV caption files are often archived in old legacy file formats that cannot be used with newer Internet video players, it is essential for broadcasters to implement software systems that can automatically convert these files to newer formats. Telestream's CaptionMaker/MacCaption products provide a full set of tools to help TV programmers and distributors easily address these issues, allowing users to create closed captions for all the popular web and mobile formats, including: HTML5, YouTube, Flash, QuickTime, iTunes, and Windows Media. It also converts existing closed captions into web formats.
"The FCC's requirement to have captions on the individual segments or trailers from otherwise completed shows presents significant challenges. While the show master may be captioned in its entirety, it would be especially labor intensive to correctly extract selective segments without damaging the caption metadata. Re-packaging blindly could cause problems like the wrong captions being displayed or captions bleeding over into the next segment. To make this an automated process, we’ve developed intelligent algorithms to detect caption start/stop metadata when extracting clips or segments so as to remove the human interaction that other systems require. This unique feature ensures that the new FCC mandate does not negatively impact our customers' existing workflows and efficiencies,” adds Turner.
Version 6.1 of MacCaption and CaptionMaker products is now available for purchase online at www.telestream.net/captioning or through Telestream's direct sales channels.
For more information about Telestream and its captioning products plus helpful resources including white papers and articles, visit www.telestream.net.
