Sales Overview: Telestream Captioning Products 2014 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

Closed Captioning Products Sales Information

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2 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

Table of Contents

Introduction 4 Sales History 4 Caption Creation vs. “e-Captioning processing” 4 Caption file types, SCC, SMPTE TT 2052, STL, etc. 5 Why is closed captioning important to broadcasters and what is the urgency? 5 Competition, Price, Feature comparison 6 Unique features and functions 7 How do caption products integrate with Vantage today? 8 What caption features are currently found in Vantage that accepts caption data? 8 Sample Workflows and 1,2 punches that help drive both caption products and Vantage sales 8 How we make life easier 9 Who are target customer types? 9 Sales promotions or initiatives, trial licenses for current FlipFactory or Vantage users 9 Resellers and captioning 10 Summary Elevator Pitch: State the problem, explain the solution 10 Questions to ask prospective clients 10 Unofficial Vantage + CaptionMaker workflow examples 12 Glossary 14

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Introduction MacCaption™ and CaptionMaker® software are now a Caption Creation vs. “e-Captioning processing” part of the Telestream Enterprise product lineup. This Caption creation in Post is a time intensive process. document describes the key technical, legislative, and Typically, an offline captioner of pre-recorded videos historical factors that have and will continue to drive needs to create an accurate dialogue transcription and sales of captioning products in today’s file based media then use captioning software to synchronize, position, industry. The intention of this document is to share the and format text on the screen for the deaf and hard knowledge of the new Telestream caption team with the of hearing. (Note: the term “hearing impaired” is not entire sales team to help bring new leads and close crit- politically correct.) ical Vantage deals that require captioning capabilities. Major networks and video distribution companies do Sales History not have the staff and time to create captioning in- Closed captioning for TV technology did not become a house for long form content. However, these teams lucrative money maker until U.S., Mexican, and Canadi- may choose to use captioning software to create cap- an laws passed that required TV broadcasters to air TV tioning for very short segments in order to save time. shows with captioning. In 1990 the U.S. passed 2 acts, Typically, sending captioning out-of-house to a service the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Televi- provider has a price of $6 per minute and a 5-day sion Decoder Circuitry Act. CaptionMaker and MacCap- turnaround time. tion were developed and priced to meet the needs of professional broadcasters that needed to comply with Editing video content while preserving closed cap- these and other legislations. tion data is a challenge for most broadcasters. The obstacles are limitations in non-linear editing systems CaptionMaker and MacCaption have been competing that delete closed caption data when edits are made with Softel for over 10 years and have been selling to and not being able to read and verify the captions after caption service companies like Vitac, Aberdeen, Cap- editing or compression/transcoding has occurred. tionMax, Caption Colorado, and many local small cap- Adding the need to edit and convert TV programming tioning shops for caption creation. Major networks and for internet distribution adds a 3rd general category of most TV broadcasters farm out the caption creation to obstacles. service companies since this process requires a team of captioners. These captioning obstacles are usually not discussed with caption service companies since they generally Since 2010, the majority of our sales have NOT come do caption creation only and many times don’t have a from caption creation. The sales to major networks, good working knowledge of file-based workflows for VOD teams, and distribution studios mainly stem from video delivery. As a result, broadcasters are forced to their need to deal with previously encoded file based air the program after re-edit and hire a court reporter captions and include the following: to re-caption a show as it airs with closed caption encoding hardware. (Note: Live captioners typically charge • Manage and troubleshoot large archives of caption $100 to $200 per hour.) data files such as .CAP and .SCC • Caption file extraction from video file formats such Hardware based closed captioning encoders from as MOV, MPEG, and MXF companies such as Evertz, EEG, Wohler and Link Elec- • Conversion of caption file types for Internet delivery tronics are still very popular and used by broadcaster such as SCC to SMPTE TT 2052 for live captioning, as well as to caption pre-recorded • Caption frame rate conversion 29.97df to 23.98 shows in a linear video workflow. As an alternative, and back these pre-recorded shows can be captioned with soft- • Correcting sync issues in caption files ware only using Vantage and Captioning Software. • Repurposing and re-editing video content without losing captions The processing or troubleshooting of closed caption • Avid D-Track workflows with AAF caption files data in a file-based workflow is what the Telestream • ProRes Final Cut Pro caption workflows for em- caption team refers to as “e-Captioning”. We wanted bedding and extracting for delivery to Vantage and to differentiate these software-only workflows from FlipFactory users “captioning” which signifies the traditional linear hard- • Caption verification in digital video file formats for ware-based captioning that is so common in the TV both SD line 21 and HD VANC line 9 industry.

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In our marketing material we have a nice short descrip- SMPTE TT 2052 is a new generation .XML captioning tion: file that has been called “Safe Harbor” format by the FCC to be used for online video delivery. This file for- e-Captioning™ engine mat is currently an export option of the CaptionMaker At the core of MacCaption and CaptionMaker is the CLI that can be used in conjunction with Vantage. e-Captioning™ engine. This revolutionary technology integrates with digital production systems to prepare STL EBU format is used quite often in Europe for subti- and encode both standard and high definition video tling TV programing. Currently, CaptionMaker software with FCC-compliant video captions. can convert this format to U.S. TV captioning data files.

• Encode closed captions to any file or tape format In addition to managing and converting caption file • Export captions for NLEs or DVD authoring sys- formats, captioning data can also be embedded into tems ProRes .MOV, XDCAM MXF Op1a, and MPEG-2 clips • Embed captions into Web and mobile content for processing and transcoding in Vantage. • Extract captions from tapes, files, or live broadcasts • Email captions to your clients Essentially, many existing Vantage users ask produc- • Edit closed captions in a non-linear interface with tion departments and also closed caption service batch conversion and automated workflows companies to provide MOV, MXF, TS, MPEG, .etc. files • Enhance your closed captions with true CEA-708 that are ready for Vantage transcoding. This is a very features supported by ATSC DTV popular workflow for NBC, for example. Both Mac- Caption for OSX and CaptionMaker for Windows can Caption file types, SCC, SMPTE TT 2052, STL, etc. help post production and editing, adding both CEA- There are many closed caption file formats and it seems 608 and CEA-708 data to deliverable files. This is also that every year we see more and more emerging. For done by ad agencies and post houses delivering to this document we will focus on 3 general categories: DG Fast Channel, Extreme Reach and Pathfire. Cap- tion service companies that only did captioning are TV closed captioning files that are formatted and now being asked to deliver HD and SD video formats include data that can be used for TV broadcast utilizing with captioning embedded. In the case of a company the CEA-608 and/or CEA-708 specifications. They like Aberdeen Captioning, they went as far as buying include .CAP, .SCC, and MCC. Vantage to compete in that arena for file based delivery to TV stations. This has to do with the fact that neither ➢Internet closed captioning files are used to play cap- CaptionMaker or MacCaption have transcoding. They tions alongside video for local desktop, online video, will receive a random video file like H.264 to caption but and mobile device app players. They include SAMI the TV station requires MXF or MPEG-2 TS. .smi, DFXP TTML, WebVTT, and SMPTE TT 2052. Why is closed captioning important to broadcasters Subtitle files are not formatted with the strict guide- and what is the urgency? lines of CEA-608/708 and are mostly used for foreign language translation of video content. These files are The honest truth is that TV broadcasters in the U.S, intended for DVD/Blu-ray subtitling, burn-in or open Mexico, and Canada must air their TV content with subtitles into video, and international TV systems that closed captioning because the federal government use DVB and ISDB standards. Included are SRT, STL mandates it. Some broadcasters have filed for exemp- (spruce DVD), STL EBU, PAC, and blu-ray BDN .XML. tions but many of these are now expiring.

The .SCC (scenarist closed caption) file format is the The law that requires the broadcast industry in the U.S. most popular among TV broadcasters today. There are to caption is The Telecommunications Act of 1996. big archives of this file format, which was originally de- This legislation stated that January 1, 1998 the rules signed for DVD authoring closed captioning. This file would take effect for English programming and then be format is very limited and only supports 29.97DF and extended to Spanish. 30NDF video. However, in a file-based delivery it has been often times rigged to do 23.98 and 25 fps.

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For U.S. government agencies there was the Rehabilita- Transcoding or file-based encoding and decoding tion Act of 1998, section 508. This requires that training of caption data is not supported at all. Other Softel and informational videos developed, maintained, products that require hardware for encoding have been procured, or used by a government agency be acces- discontinued and are currently being integrated into sible with captioning. This applies to distance learning Miranda iTX for linear workflows. programs used by or funded by the federal government. Our CaptionMaker Pro is the most comparable with The new law in the U.S. that requires TV broadcast- Softel Swift Create software and has a price of $5,750 ers to also caption Internet video is called the CVAA which includes 1 year of M&S. (21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act). This law is now being implemented in parts while Softel only has Windows software, while Telestream broadcasters are mindful of specific deadlines for com- captioning software runs both on Mac and Windows pliance. with the same license. Our Mac product is called Mac- Caption. In September 30th 2013, the CVAA required that all pre-recorded programming edited for Internet distri- Our pricing is as follows: bution must be captioned. Before this date “edited for Internet” video that was previously captioned did not 1. Desktop Product: $1,095 and includes 1 year of require captioning. Technically any minor cut or edit software maintenance would have made the video exempt from having to be 2. Pro Product: $5,750 and includes 1 year of soft captioned for online video distribution. Now the broad- ware maintenance caster must caption edited video. 3. Enterprise: $10,950 and includes 1 year of soft ware maintenance March 30, 2014 was a new CVAA deadline that required the following: Following is the complete product comparison chart of captioning products. This chart is also available on our Video in a distribution provider’s library shown on TV website and in the last page of our captioning products with captions must be captioned within 45 days if aired brochure. Please follow links below: online on or after March 30th, 2014 and before March 30th, 2015. http://www.telestream.net/captioning/compare.htm

In Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommu- http://www.telestream.net/pdfs/brochures/bro-caption- nications Commission (CRTC), has announced that all ing.pdf TV commercials, sponsorship messages and promos will have to be captioned from September 1, 2014.

Competition, Price, Feature comparison For Enterprise customers our competition is Softel (owned by Miranda / Belden) for file-based closed captioning workflows. Generally, comparable Soft- el’s entry level software is called “Swift Create Line 21 Edition” license costs $6,250 plus support fee of $1,600 for 1 year for a total of $7,850. When you add a variant that supports subtitle files, it’s an additional $1,750. One variant is called the DVD Open variant for support for input and export of subtitle files for disc media and open captioning. The other variant is for teletext file exports such as PAC and EBU-STL.

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As a rule, the main difference between our Enterprise Unique features and functions software and Pro is that only Enterprise allows for batch processing and automation via command line interface There are many features and functions that separate us (CLI). All import and exports are available for manual from Softel and other smaller competition. processing in ProSo to work with Vantage only our Enterprise solution will work with a connector that runs • SMPTE TT 2052 .xml which is the FCC “safe a command .bat file that drives CaptionMaker. Pro harbor” format. Currently, Telestream captioning does not have any command line interface or API. If software has the only tested and deployed version the customer only needs to work with captioning for of SMPTE 2052 by major broadcasters. editing, preparation, or troubleshooting, then Pro is a • File-based encoding to various video types for good solution. Ideally, the customer should have 1 Pro internet and broadcast TV (Softel is only authoring license for troubleshooting and 1 Enterprise license for and exporting separate caption files; they do not automation in Vantage. offer embedding and extracting from common video file formats) • Does not rely of hardware to add captioning to video files for offline content. (HD captioning hardware encoders are $7,000 to $10,000)

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• ProRes .mov 608/708 embedding and extraction detail of this workflow is found at the end of this workflow paper. However, the command line-interface is • Avid AAF export with captions, multiple languages, constantly updated. To receive the latest com- XDS, V-chip, and AFD tags. Ron Wallace and the mand line options reach out to the caption team. rest of the Avid engineering team for Media Com- 2. CaptionMaker and MacCaption software can poser worked closely with the Telestream caption prepare and troubleshoot captioning files and team to design the Avid D-Track mechanism to captioned video file formats prior to transcode. accept .AAF files from MacCaption and Caption- Having access to software that can identify and Maker. This feature has Avid’s blessing and is fix captioning data issues is critical to broad- actively being demonstrated by Avid to customers. casters who have a file-based video delivery Competitors do not have this advantage or full Avid workflow. Without Telestream captioning soft- support. ware, they will have to rely on an out-of-house • Extraction of multiple caption channel data from captioning service company and their bandwidth SD VBI sources, HD MXF 436M track, and .mov. for helping to resolve a problematic file. These features are unique to the Telestream captioning software since they were implemented What caption features are currently found in specifically for broadcasters that could not find Vantage that accept caption data from Telestream these features in transcoding or other captioning captioning software? software tools. The caption extraction speed and • SCC import filter – This option allows Vantage format support was critical to the 2014 NBC Olym- to accept a .SCC file for adding captions to pic Games in Sochi, and they added CaptionMak- both SD and HD transcodes. Vantage can add er Enterprise to all 5 Lightspeed nodes. captioning from .SCC to MPEG-2 userdata, • iOS7 compatible captioning was developed closely QuickTime caption track, and SMPTE 436M with the QuickTime team and Apple’s Web team. track for MXF OP1a All videos captioned on Apple.com are captioned • QuickTime Closed Caption Track for transcode with MacCaption software. In 2013 this iOS7 cap- – this is an input .mov file that already contains tioning was added to CaptionMaker for Windows. caption data. This captioning could have been These captions are also compatible with Quick- created with MacCaption or captured by Final Time and iTunes. Cut Pro using AJA hardware from tape format. • MacCaption is the only software that can author Vantage has the ability to flip this file to many file native CEA-708 caption attributes such as drop format exports such as MPEG-2 TS Cablelabs, shadow, font size, up to 6 simultaneous languages, MXF OP1a, GXF, etc. without losing the caption Unicode Asian Language characters and opac- data from the original QuickTime. This is espe- ity settings. Competitors of MacCaption mainly cially important to production houses who have support upconverted 608 captions to CEA-708 Final Cut Pro 7 workflows. (similar to what Vantage does with .SCC files). The • MXF OP1a SMPTE 436M track for transcode .SCC only has CEA-608 data. In order to add cap- • MPEG-2 user data captions for transcode tions from .SCC to HD video output, other software has to upconvert that data to CEA-708. MacCap- Sample workflows and 1,2 punches that help drive tion can upconvert also, andthe software can add both caption products and Vantage sales true 708 captions. 1. Final Cut Pro users can use MacCaption to embed QuickTime 608/708 closed caption track How do caption products integrate with Vantage data into ProRes or any .mov container. This today? can be used by Vantage to transcode to a variety Captioning products do not directly integrate with of server file formats like MPEG-2 TS cablelabs, Vantage. However, Vantage users can utilize the new GXF, LXF, and MXF for play-out. This is a unique Telestream captioning products for the following two workflow to Telestream; especially, because categories: MacCaption can add 608/708 captions to any 1. Automation via the CaptionMaker command-line. .mov file in under 1 second using the “add This option is only available to customers who pur- to file” feature regardless of size, duration, or chase our Enterprise captioning product. Vantage codec. NBC is very hip to this workflow because can connect to a CaptionMaker .bat script in order they can add as many audio tracks as they need to edit, convert, extract, and embed caption data in to the input .mov file unlike MXF XDCAM OP1a an automated workflow. A document outlining the which only handles 8 audio channels.

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2. Incorrect starting timecode, formatting, or frame Without the ability to quickly identify a captioning prob- rate on .SCC files. This can be easily fixed with lem and find a solution, broadcasters may only be able Telestream caption software in order to output and to rely on out-of-house service companies. This costs process a proper .SCC in Vantage the broadcasters time and money for every project that 3. Using a Vantage connector to convert .SCC files to becomes a challenge. SMPTE TT 2052 .xml files for Internet video using the CaptionMaker CLI script. Customers, who work with captioning regularly, now 4. Using a Vantage connector to generate Avid .AAF have the opportunity to make Telestream a one stop caption data track via CaptionMaker CLI for Avid shop for transcoding, captioning, professional services, Media Composer users. This is very unique to Van- and support. Currently, Softel, who is our main com- tage since CaptionMaker can automatically convert petitor, is owned by Belden, and they do not offer a file from .SCC, CAP, CIN, ULT, etc. to Avid AAF. based workflow that includes transcoding. This makes 5. Caption File verification post Vantage transcode. our company software offerings unique to enterprise Once an MXF, MPEG-2, or QuickTime is gener- clients. ated from Vantage, users of CaptionMaker and MacCaption can verify caption data using the QCC Who are target customers? Multi-Format extraction tool. This is a feature in CaptionMaker that can extract CEA-608 and CEA- • All major broadcasters who need to comply with 708 into a spreadsheet for customer verification of the new law for internet captioning delivery. (In- caption data inside of a transcoded file. cluding web teams) 6. Open Subtitles, CaptionMaker and MacCaption • VOD and QC departments who need to insure can generate a QuickTime animation with alpha captioning data preservation during transcoding. channel in order to overlay subtitle text for burn-in • Digital delivery departments who transcode to a va- during transcode. This .mov with alpha channel riety of server formats such as GXF, LXF, and MXF can be used with the Vantage overlay feature to with captioning create open subtitled output video files. Custom- • TV broadcast file-based delivery platforms such as ers who work with foreign language video prefer to DG, Pathfire, Extreme Reach, DMDS, Netflix, Hulu, add open subtitles for delivery to internet and TV Apple iTunes and their customers broadcast. Creating these small animation codec • Avid editing departments who need to work with alpha channel QuickTime files from caption files is captions in the D-Track via Telestream’s AAF cap- unique to CaptionMaker and MacCaption software. tion format. 7. Vantage has the ability to track the progress of the workflow with CaptionMaker scripting and report Sales promotions or initiatives, trial licenses for successful results and any issues during the auto- current FlipFactory or Vantage users mated transcode and captioning processes. This reporting is essential to broadcasters that receive Previously Telestream Captioning products were only a variety of input files for captioning insertion from available with USB dongle protection. Now, all caption- different sources. If a .SCC is not valid or corrupt. ing products require only a serial number for activation. An error can be generated to flag that file. This Temporary serial numbers can be issued for any report can be sent via e-mail to a caption service salesforce opportunity. company or department for troubleshooting a caption project. Like Vantage and other enterprise products, discounts can be made to the software - but not to yearly sup- How we make life easier port and maintenance. Telestream captioning products help bring the dark art of captioning within reach of TV broadcast engineers who need to manage archives of TV content that have already been captioned. Vantage and CaptionMaker provide a solution to transcode, convert, edit, troubleshoot, modify, and deploy caption data alongside video.

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Resellers and captioning Summary elevator pitch: State the problem, explain the solution Adapt the message for the resellers Caption creation is not what will normally bring in large The new closed captioning legislation from the FCC is sales. But “e-captioning” combined with Vantage causing fire drills all over the TV broadcast industry. transcoding and delivery can open up bigger money opportunities for resellers. Specifically, the workflow to Our customers are constantly calling our team to help convert previously captioned video files for internet de- solve and troubleshoot these difficult issues. livery without losing closed captioning data. The FCC deadlines for the next 3 years can drive these sales The consensus seems to be that closed captioning and help design automated solutions for internet video is a “dark art” that few engineers know how to deal delivery from broadcast TV file formats. The important with. These problems seem to blindside engineers thing is to communicate the rules and regulations that and post-production teams with very little time to get a broadcasters must comply with. Here is a list that the solution. CVAA covers for U.S. Broadcasters: Our team of experts has solved many of these prob- • March 30th, 2014: Video in a distributor or provid- lems and we have saved our customers from disaster er’s library shown on TV with captions must be when deadlines were on the line. captioned within 45 days if aired online on or after March 30th, 2014 and before March 30th, 2015. We would like your production team to get in touch with • March 30th, 2015: Video in a distributor or provid- our software captioning experts to get the help they er’s library shown on TV with captions must be need. captioned within 30 days if aired online on or after March 30th, 2015 and before March 30th, 2016. Q: What do you currently do for closed captioning? • March 30th, 2016: Video in a distributor or provid- A: “We farm it out.” er’s library shown on TV with captions must be This is the most typical response you’ll run in to. Don’t captioned within 15 days if aired online on or after let your sales pitch die here… March 30th, 2016. Response: Even for organizations that farm out the How many dealers do we need and which ones labor intensive parts of captioning (like transcription), There should be at least 1 reseller assigned to every captioning software is essential for other steps of major city. The automated captioning solution and au- the workflow. Farming out captions often involves tomated transcoding for internet delivery is needed for transcoding proxy videos for upload and then local TV stations, post houses, and ad agencies. converting the results. Also, many caption providers are still using linear workflows and want to migrate to file Road trip schedule to train them or webinar based. Finally, new FCC rules on caption accuracy and Setting up presentations at local SMPTE and user quality will force content creators to rethink their current group meetings regarding “e-captioning” technology is captioning workflows, e.g. non-live shows that are an ideal way to meet and train resellers. currently captioned live-to-air (for time considerations) will have to move to post production captioning, which Channels launch strategy or program may require bringing captioning in house. The strategy can be designed to present both Vantage and Telestream captioning products (MacCaption/Cap- • How do you transcode proxies and re-integrate the tionMaker) as a complete solution for transcoding and resulting captions into your workflow? delivering caption data. • How do you get the captions into all the different deliverable formats you supply? The Caption team can help build a depository of infor- • How do you QC the captions? (timing sync, mation, white papers, sample files, and video tutorials to formatting, script accuracy) help new and existing resellers understand the options • How do you troubleshoot problems with the available in Vantage and CaptionMaker. captions? • How do you make changes when necessary, Another idea is to include partners such as Avid to help especially last minute? promote this workflow to resellers.

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• How to you repurpose the captions, for example, Q: Does your current transcoding solution support for web/mobile/OTT? closed captions through the entire process? • Is your provider prepared for the new FCC mandates on caption quality? A: “Yes” or “Maybe” • Does your provider support all the formats you need to deliver, including files that work with • Does your current solution support the latest 708 Vantage? digital captioning specs? (Probably not. Most of • Did you know that most caption providers use the competition has no or very limited support for Telestream’s captioning software for authoring? 708, and are still stuck with formats like SCC which are 608 analog captions only. Vantage has the best A: “We currently use another captioning software.” caption support by far.) • Does any part of your captioning workflow require a Response: Our software is designed for speed and linear process? (Many captions are still done live to convenience vs other captioning software that do not tape/air, or via tape-based processes.) have automation. We support more formats in and out, • Is your current software compliant with the latest and have the best integration with video editing systems FCC mandates and latest web standards like SMPTE and with Vantage. Customers have told us our software 2052? (We are heavily involved in these processes, purchase price is less than the annual maintenance so we’re always at the forefront.) renewal for some competitors like Softel. • Does your transcoding solution integrate with your • Is your current software compliant with the latest closed captioning workflows? FCC quality mandates and latest web standards like SMPTE 2052? (Why does this matter? A: “No” SMPTE 2052 is very complicated and most other vendors get it wrong. We were involved with • Vantage + CaptionMaker is the ideal solution SMPTE and many top content providers for the creation of this spec, so our software has the best Q: How do you handle automation of captioning tasks, support.) such as conversions and delivery? • How often is your software updated with new features and format support? A: “We already have a solution.” • Does your current software support all the delivery types you need? • Is your solution fully integrated on both the • Does your current software automate the caption transcoding side and the captioning side? timing and formatting process? • Does your solution require any manual or linear • Does your current software integrate with Vantage steps? for transcoding? • Are there any formats you’ve been asked to deliver • Will your current solution still work if you switch which your current solution does not handle? NLEs or OS platforms? A: “We don’t have a solution” or “Our current solution doesn’t meet our needs.” A: “We’re currently exempt from captioning requirements.” • Vantage + CaptionMaker is the ideal solution Q: Are you prepared for the upcoming new FCC Response: Even if you’re exempt (and exemptions are requirements on the quality of closed captions? always decreasing, not increasing), captions are how 20% of your audience access the audio content of your programming, so they have to be there and they have A: “What?” or “No.” to be good, not an afterthought. • Starting March 30 2014 – clips on the internet must be captioned within 45 days after the programming • (For any government, academic, or other public is shown on broadcast TV institution): Are you Section 508 compliant? In addition to the rules already in effect, the FCC Accessibility is required for any institution that • recently announced new mandates on caption receives any federal funding. quality, requiring content providers to improve their (For commercials): 20% of your audience relies • captioning (accuracy, technical compatibility, etc.) on captioning and won’t receive your message favorably. Also, this exemption is already gone • CRTC in Canada is already enforcing new mandates for Canada and will be going away soon for the on caption quality (e.g. 100% accurate script for all US. post produced content.)

11 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

• Shows that rely on low quality live captioning or 1. Create a Watch action in Vantage. Set it to look for outdated captioning software will have to invest *.scc files, and create 2 variables: SCC File Path in new post production and QC solutions like our (complete path to file), and SCC File Name (will be software used to create the output file names).

Vantage + CaptionMaker workflow examples Setting up CaptionMaker functionality in an automated workflow is easily done with a “Construct” and “Notify” module in Vantage. This operation is extremely valuable to broadcasters who need to repurpose TV captioning that is archived to an internet caption file such as SMPTE 2052 Time Text .xml. In addition, our software has a variety of other commands that can automated such as frame rate conversion, support for a variety of caption files that are not supported in Vantage, timecode offset of .SCC files, and quicker CC extraction for input video files to .SCC. Below is an example of a Vantage and CaptionMaker workflow to convert .SCC to WebVTT (internet captioning file compatible with Vimeo, YouTube, and JW Player). Many broadcasters upload video to these online playback platforms and now will be required to also delivery CC files. Workflow 1: Watch a folder for SCC files, and use CaptionMaker to convert them to WebVTT, SMPTE-TT, DFXP, etc.

The screenshot above actually shows 2 example actions branching from the same SCC file: Convert to SMPTE-TT, and Convert to WebVTT. You can have any number of actions apply to each source file.

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2. Connect this watch action to a Construct action, 4. The external shell command should point to a using the “Construct a Path” operation. This action .bat batch file which has been prepared with will take the SCC file name and use it to create the right arguments for CaptionMaker. (See an output file path/name for the new WebVTT file. sample at end of document). Then add 2 The result will be stored in the new variable called new argument items. The first argument is “WebVTT File Path” the variable “SCC File Path” from step 1 (path to source SCC file). The second argument is set to the variable “WebVTT File Path” from step 2 (path to the output WebVTT file).

3. Connect this Construct action to a Notify action. This is where CaptionMaker comes into play. First select the “External Shell Notifier” action type.

“SCC File Path” “WebVTT File Variable Path”

5. You should enable the “Set state to failure on non-zero result code or timeout” option. 6. The “Timeout after” setting is optional and if desired should be set to 3 minutes or so, which should be plenty of time for Caption- Maker to finish even a long conversion job (unless you are reading/writing from the video media, which can take longer). 7. When the workflow is complete, Release and Activate the workflow. Now when you put an .scc file in the watch folder, the workflow should activate and convert it to WebVTT.

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Troubleshooting Sample .bat Batch File If the CaptionMaker notify action fails (CaptionMaker (must reside locally on the Vantage node) times out or returns a non-zero error code), then the Here is a sample batch file’s contents for converting Vantage Notify action will be notified of the failure. SCC to WebVTT via CaptionMaker:

“c:\Program Files (x86)\cpc\CaptionMak- aa er\CapMaker.exe” /ImportType=04 /Im- portFile=%1 /ExportType=91 /ExportOut- File=%2 EXIT /B %ERRORLEVEL%

Notes: • ImportType and ExportType numbers are listed in the CaptionMaker Command Line Documen- tation document. In the above example, Import- Type=04 is for .SCC files, and ExportType=91 is for WebVTT output. • %1 and %2 are the two arguments supplied in the Vantage Notify action – these are the source file input path and output file path variables, respectively. • The last line (“EXIT /B %ERRORLEVEL%”) en- You can right click on the failed action to find the status sures that the CaptionMaker status result code is code. passed back up to Vantage.

Glossary

508 (Section 508) –

Section 508 refers to accessibility law, which requires video broadcasts and many webcasts to be made accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. Please see the official Section 508 web site for more details. Not directly related to CEA-608 and CEA-708, which are technical standards.

608 (CEA-608) – CEA-608 refers to the technical standard for captioning standard-definition NTSC video. It is also commonly referred to as “Line 21 closed captioning”.

708 (CEA-708) – In the above screenshot, the result code is 500. Refer- CEA-708 refers to the technical standards for encing the CaptionMaker Command Line Documenta- captioning high-definition video. It is also commonly tion document, we see that this error indicates: referred to as the VANC data or “Line 9 closed captioning”. 500 CLI_BAD_HASP = no valid protection key was found

(This means the dongle or software license is not valid, e.g. expired or deactivated key.)

14 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

A In addition to broadcast SD video, CaptionMaker encodes captions for web formats like Quicktime, Flash, Active Format Description – YouTube, and Windows Media, and also tapeless work- Active Format Description (AFD): A standard for telling a flows like MPEG-2 Program Streams. receiving device how to best frame video. For example, Closed Captioning – without AFD, a 16:9 signal which contains a pillarboxed Closed Captioning is text that appears over video that 4:3 video would then be letterboxed for display on a 4:3 can be turned on and off using a decoder built into TV, making a tiny image surrounded by black bars on most consumer television sets and cable boxes. Closed all sides. With AFD, the TV knows that it can crop the Captions differ from subtitles in that they contain infor- video so that the actual picture fills the whole screen. mation about all audio, not just dialogue.

ATSC – Codec – ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) is the Codec stands for “coder-decoder”, it is a method of digital television (DTV) standard used by broadcasters compressing video in order to strike a balance between for HDTV and the digital broadcast of SD in the United file size and quality. Different codecs have different data States and Canada. ATSC supports closed captioning rates, aspect ratios, and methods of closed captioning (608 and 708) in the metadata of the video signal. in order to achieve this balance. Some examples of codecs are DV, MPEG-2, WMV, H.264, Uncompressed, B and ProRes. To watch a video, your computer needs the specific codec that video uses, otherwise it will not Burn-in – play. Not all codecs are available for all operating sys- Burn-in refers to a graphic, text, or image that is super- tems, and they may not be free to use. imposed on video, and thus becomes part of the video itself. Closed captions are not burned in, since they can Container Format – be turned on and off, unlike open captions and many A container format is a way to encapsulate video so that subtitles which cannot. it can be viewed in a video player, edited in an non-linear editor, or processed in some other way. Examples of C container formats are QuickTime, AVI and MXF.

.CAP – D A .cap file can refer to many different types of files, so you need to be careful when using them. Several for- Decoder – mats of caption files have the .cap extension, including A decoder is a device that enables closed captions the popular Cheetah .cap format. A .cap file can also be to be turned on if they are present in the video signal, a project file for CPC Caption maker (PC) which must essentially turning closed captions into open captions. be opened in CaptionMaker before exporting to another Typically a decoder is inside your TV or cable box and caption format. you can turn captions on using your remote or a setting in the menus. There are also hardware and software Capture Card – decoders available that allow you to preview captions A capture card is a piece of hardware for your comput- on your computer or a master tape to ensure that they er that allows you to bring video into your computer for are present. editing and output back to a physical format like tape. Many capture cards support closed captioning for HD Drift – and SD, including ones from Matrox, AJA, and Black- “Drift” is a term used to describe a specific type of magic. behavior of closed captions. It can either mean they are appearing progressively later than they should, or CaptionMaker – progressively earlier. Most often, this occurs slowly over CaptionMaker is closed captioning software developed the duration of a program, resulting in a discrepancy of by CPC for the PC platform. CaptionMaker reads and over three seconds by the end of an hour. Drift is most writes all major captioning formats and supports many often caused by a drop-frame / non-drop discrepancy. traditional workflows involving hardware encoders.

15 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

Drop-Frame- G Drop-frame timecode refers to a method of counting timecode in 29.97 fps video. It does not refer to actual Gio – frames of video being dropped that would affect video Short for Giovanni Galvez, Telestream Captioning Ex- quality. Since 29.97 fps is not exactly 30 fps, when pert or “Captionista” that was hired during the acquisi- counting in drop-frame certain numbers in the time- tion of CPC. code counter are skipped in order to ensure that the timecode will reflect the real-time length of the program. GXF – The counterpart of drop-frame is non-drop which does A video file format popularized by Grass Valley (owned not skip numbers when counting timecode. To prevent by Belden). This file format is a native wrapper that can drift, it is important to timestamp in the correct mode contain different video codecs that are compatible with (or convert your captions’ timecode using Telestream- K2 and other Grass Valley playout servers. Captioning software) when closed captioning a 29.97 fps program. lives in the wrapper of the GXF for HD, but can also be VBI lines for SD. DTV- DTV stands for “digital television” and is a general term H encompassing digital television around the world to distinguish is from analog television (such as NTSC). In High Definition (HD)- the US the standard for DTV is ATSC. High Definition is a television standard with either 720 or 1080 lines in the video signal. Closed captioning for E HD is sometimes called Line 9 or VANC, and is codified under the 708 standard. Elementary Stream – A data stream that contains either video or audio data, I but not both. Usually associated with MPEG video files and given the extension .m2v for video, or .m2a or iOS Captioning – .ac3 for audio. Elementary MPEG-2 video streams can Closed captioning internet video files that are com- contain closed caption data. A Program or Transport patible with the native H.264 video player on devices stream can be demultiplexed, or separated, into its that support the Apple iOS operating system. These component Elementary streams. devices include iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.

Encoder – J The term “encoder” typically refers to a hardware JW Player – encoder, but can refer to software encoders as well. A is the world’s most popular HTML5/Flash embeddable hardware encoder is usually a rack-mounted device media player for websites. It supports a wide array of that accepts a video signal, marries it to closed cap- platforms (including robust mobile support) and media tions, and then outputs a new closed captioned video formats. It is open-source and easy to configure, cus- signal, usually resulting in generation loss. A software tomize and extend. Has support for closed captioning encoder, such as MacCaption, can add captions to vid- via WebVTT .VTT file format. This player is used by eo without a hardware encoder. You can simply encode many major broadcasters for internet video distribution. captions to video files already present on your computer, or to file formats that will add captions as you output K from your NLE with no generation loss. K2 Server – This is a popular playout server from Grass F Valley. It can accept GXF SD and HD captioned files transcoded from Vantage. Recently, they added sup- Flash captioning – port for MXF OP1a with captions in the SMPTE-436M. Flash is a product owned by Adobe which supports Telestream captioning products and Vantage can also closed captioning when creating a flash video player do 436M. with its corresponding skin. However, Flash captioning extends to all internet video players both custom and packaged that support both an interface for users to turn closed captioningon/off and a side car closed caption file.

16 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

L MPEG-2- MPEG-2 can refer to not only a video codec, but also a Line 9- container format. MPEG-2 can come in three different Line 9 refers to the location of the VANC closed cap- file types, Elementary Streams, Program Streams and tioning data in an HD video signal. In the full raster, it Transport Streams. MPEG-2 files are becoming a more appears it is the 9th line from the top of the frame. common form of video delivery because they allow a broadcaster to put them directly on their server instead Line 21- of ingesting from tape. MacCaption can add captions to Line 21 refers to the location of the VBI closed caption- all three forms of MPEG-2 files. ing data in an NTSC 720x486 signal. It actually appears on lines 21 and 22 since line 22 is the second field of N the closed captioning data. Non-drop- Live Captioning – Non-Drop timecode refers to a method of count- Live captioning is captioning process used for live web- ing timecode in 29.97 fps video. It does not refer to casts or broadcasts to add captions to video on the fly. actual frames of video being dropped that would It requires several important tools. The first is a source affect video quality. Since 29.97 fps is not exactly 30 of transcription such as a stenographer or speech rec- fps, when counting in non-drop, the timecode will get ognition software. Please note, getting speech recogni- progressively further and further behind “real time.” tion software to usable levels of accuracy still requires For instance, after 2000 frames a drop-frame count- an individual to operate it. The second item required for er will display 00:01:06:22, while a non-drop counter live captioning is a hardware encoder which will accept will display 00:01:06:20, but the content and real-time the video signal and the closed caption data and com- length of the video will be the same. The drop-frame bine them for output. Last, you may need captioning counter is slightly ahead because it’s goes straight software to tie these two things together (especially if from 00:00:59:29 to 00:01:00:02. To prevent drift, it is you’re using speech recognition software). important to timestamp in the correct timecode mode (or convert your captions’ timecode using Telestream M software) when closed captioning a 29.97 fps program.

MacCaption- Non-Linear Editor- MacCaption is Telestream’s closed captioning software A non-linear editor (NLE) is a piece of software that for the Mac platform. MacCaption reads and writes all allows you to edit video by moving pieces of it around major captioning formats and supports the latest closed in a timeline with multiple layers of video. This is in captioning workflows for Final Cut Pro. In addition to contrast to linear editing, which forces you to add one broadcast HD and SD video, MacCaption encodes piece of video after another to tape in a linear fashion. captions for web formats like QuickTime, Flash, You- Many NLEs support closed captioning for HD, SD, or Tube, and Windows Media, and also tapeless workflows both. Examples of non-linear editors are AVID, Final Cut like MPEG-2 Transport Streams, DVCPRO HD and Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Sony Vegas XDCAM. NTSC- .MCC – NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) is the A .MCC is a MacCaption closed captioning file, and the analog television standard for North America, Japan, only file format that supports both 608 and 708 (SD and some other parts of the world. NTSC supports and HD) closed captioning, unlike .SCC, which only can closed captioning (608 only) on Line 21 of the video encode 608 (SD) closed captions. This comprehensive signal. format is being used by several companies for integration into their closed captioning workflows. O

Open Captions- Open captions are captions that do not need to be turned on, they are always visible. This is opposed to closed captions which must be turned on with a decoder. Open captions are actually part of the image itself, this is also known as burned-in captions.

17 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

P SMPTE Timed Text 2052- The W3C published a Timed Text Markup Language Paint-on- (TTML) specification that covers timed text on the Web. Paint-on captions appear on the screen from left to SMPTE created additional metadata structures for right, one character at a time. This mode of displaying use in TTML and developed a profile of TTML called captions is uncommon except as the first caption of SMPTE-TT. The DECE incorporated the SMPTE Timed many commercial spots to reduce lag. Text in its UltraViolet Common File Format specification. This file format is supported by both MacCaption and Pop-on- CaptionMaker software including the raw 608 data. Pop-on captions appear on the screen one at a time, usually two or three lines at a once. This mode of Softel – displaying captions is typically used for pre-recorded A Windows based captioning company that makes television. Swift software for captioning preparation. Also, they make several other caption related products. They Program Stream- are currently owned by Beldenand are considered an A data stream that multiplexes, or combines, a single enterprise product with prices higher than MacCaption video and a single audio stream together. Usually given or CaptionMaker. the extension .mpg, and used for files to be played on a PC, some DVD authoring systems, and some tapeless Speech Recognition- distribution. Speech recognition software takes spoken word and translates it into text. State of the art speech recognition Q technology can only achieve 60-80% accuracy without the use of a shadow speaker. Software that uses a R shadow speaker can achieve up to 90-95% accuracy, Roll-up- but is limited to recognizing one person’s voice at a Roll-up captions appear from the bottom of the screen time and needs to be used in a clean audio environ- one line at a time, usually with only three lines visible ment. at a time. This mode of displaying captions is typically used by live television like news broadcasts. Standard Definition (SD)- Standard Definition is a television standard with (typ- S ically) 480 lines in the video signal (486 when NTSC). Closed captioning for SD is sometimes called Line 21 .SCC file- and is codified under the 608 standard. SCC stands for “Scenarist Closed Caption”, a file type developed by Sonic. SCC files have become a popu- Stenographer- lar standard for many different applications of closed A stenographer is a person who can transcribe video captions. Some programs that use .scc files are Sonic from audio on the fly (like a court reporter). Stenogra- Scenarist, DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Com- phers can dial in to a hardware encoder remotely over pressor. a phone line so that closed captions can be added to a video signal for live broadcast. See also: Live Caption- Shadow Speaker- ing. When using speech recognition software, a shadow speaker is a person who repeats everything said in a Subtitling- program into a microphone so that the speech recogni- Subtitling is text that appears on screen that normally tion software only has to interpret that shadow speak- only gives information about spokendialogue . With er’s voice and not the multiple voices in the program. the exception of DVD and Blu-ray, subtitles cannot be After training the software (about 15 minutes), it can turned off, but are burned into the image. achieve accuracy rates up to 90-95% in a clean audio environment. Swift Create – Softel captioning software comparable to our Caption- Maker/MacCaption Pro offering.

18 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

T X

Transport Stream- Y A data stream that multiplexes, or combines, multiple video and audio streams together with other metadata. YouTube Captions- Usually given the extension .ts, .m2t, or .m2ts, and used Google’s online video hosting service which supports a for DTV broadcast, VOD, tapeless delivery, and other variety of closed caption files including but not limited systems where multiple channels are mixed together. to WebVTT, .SCC, and SMPTE TT 2052. When upload- ing an MPEG-2 with A/53 captions, YouTube will also U extract closed captions that can be viewed by the end user using the YouTube player CC button. UVault – CDN internet streaming service that can receive live text Z stream from CaptionMaker software and marry the text with video in the cloud for live video HLS streaming. Zeitanker- Makers of Annotation Edit subtitling software for Mac V OSX. This software is designed for subtitling for Eu- ropean STL EBU, Teletext, and PAC. They have added VANC- support for U.S. captioning recently but do not support VANC stands for “Vertical Ancillary data space” and the full 608 or 708 specifications. This product has a refers to the data stored on Line 9 in HD video (outside price of 245 Euros. the display area) that holds the 708 closed captioning data while it is going over an HD-SDI signal or on an HD tape format. VANC data appears on only the part of Line 9 towards the left, but VANC data can also carry different information, like V-chip data.

VBI- VBI stands for “Vertical Blanking Interval” and is the time between the last line or field drawn in a video frame and the first line or field of the next frame. This is usually measured with lines; in NTSC there are 40 lines for VBI. Closed Captioning data for NTSC video is stored on Line 21 of the VBI.

WebVTT Internet CC File – WebVTT is a standard for subtitles, captions, and related timed metadata. A web media text track comprises a set of cues, each of which has an optional identifier, timestamp, optional settings, and the actual payload text. The cues are listed in a dedicated WebVTT file (having the .vtt file extension by convention) associated with a web media file using the src and kind attributes of the HTML5 track element.

19 Closed Captioning Products Sales Overview

Specifications subject to change without notice. Copyright © 2014 Telestream, Inc. Telestream, CaptionMaker, Episode, Flip4Mac, FlipFactory, Flip Player, Lightspeed, ScreenFlow, Vantage, Wirecast, GraphicsFactory, MetaFlip, MotionResolve, and Split-and-Stitch are registered trademarks and Pipeline, MacCaption, e-Captioning, and Switch are trademarks of Telestream, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of 20 www.telestream.net | [email protected] | tel +1 530 470 1300 their respective owners. March 2014