Transcription Results

Closed Captioning your files with CaptionSync allows you to receive different types of transcripts. This article shows how.

NOTE: The transcript formats described in this article are not suitable for captioning; but they can be requested as additional outputs in Captioning requests. To receive caption formats, you need to ensure you make a Captioning submission, and request the caption formats you require under the Advanced Settings, in your account. If you don't know which ones you need, check out our Which Caption Files Do I Need article.

Overview:

When you make a captioning submission and request that we generate the transcript, our trained transcribers will generate a verbatim transcript for your media, in the .txt format, as the first step in the captioning process. AST's transcribers are trained to follow specific guidelines for putting in non-dialog content, and marking off sections of music or noise. Because the CaptionSync system disregards whitespace in the transcript file, our transcribers have a good deal of latitude in how they use whitespace (i.e.: when they put in carriage returns, line spacing, indentation, etc.).

Getting a "Raw Text Transcript with Markers" for a Redo:

Open the Details page of your request and look for Text Transcript. This is the Raw Text Transcript with Markers as created by the AST transcriber. If you choose to Redo a submission, you need to use that version of the transcript. You can also have the Raw Text Transcript with Markers generated as a Captioning output, if you select it from the Advanced Settings, at submission time.

Getting a "Clean Text Transcript":

The variability in white space, and the use of various markup codes in the transcript, can make the Raw Transcript with Markers a bit difficult to read. If you would like to receive a transcript for use outside of the CaptionSync system (for example, to post alongside your video), then you should select the Clean Text Transcript output, in the Advanced Settings section. This will result in a clean, consistently formatted transcript being returned to you along with your caption results. The Clean Text Transcript will have the extension of .clean.txt, all markers removed, and paragraph breaks only at the start of each new speaker. All excess white space and extraneous carriage returns will be removed. In general, you will find the Clean Text Transcript much easier to read.

But remember, do not use the Clean Text Transcript for a Redo, as the missing markup tags in the transcript could cause your results to be poorer – for Redos, go back and get the Raw Transcript with Markers to work from.

Our system ignores "white space" in the raw transcript when formatting both the caption files and the transcript -- this allows us to accept a wide variety of poorly-formatted transcripts from our transcribers without trouble. And, of course, there is no concept of a "paragraph break" in the caption file.

Transcription-Only requests:

If you are requesting transcription only (that is, no caption results), then CaptionSync will automatically return only the Clean Text Transcript file to you. The Raw Transcript with Markers file is not available for transcription-only submissions.

Having periodic Paragraphs (Carriage Returns/Line Feeds) on the Transcript:

When we receive a transcript from our transcribers, our system formats it and line breaks (Carriage Returns/Line Feeds) are only placed when there are speaker changes ( >> ) or standalone parenthetical comments ( [ comment ] ). If the audio consists of speech from just one speaker, or has no pauses, then no extra line breaks will be available in the transcript.

For Clean Text Transcripts, extra paragraph breaks can be added, using a special style marker in the transcript. You just need to make that request using our Guidance feature. E.g.:

Please separate into paragraphs (using ^P markers) every couple of sentences.

Additional Notes:

• CaptionSync allows users to submit Guidance / Persistent Notes for the transcribers as long as they conform to our Transcription Guidelines for Captioning.

• Our transcribers identify speaker changes just with a double chevron, e.g. >> . If you wish to have our transcribers identify speakers by name (e.g. >> Pat: Speech.) you need to make that request using the Guidance for Transcriber or the Persistent Notes features, when making your request.