Quickly Checking Results and Synchronization

There are some media players that allow you to quickly check your caption results and their synchronization. 

CaptionSync Smart Player:

If you used our List of URLs feature to have your YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, or MP4/M4V/F4V/MP3 file captioned, our Smart Player is a great tool to see the captions.

YouTube:

Upload your media file into the YouTube platform (listed as private) and associate a caption file with it.

Vimeo:

Upload your media file into the Vimeo platform (listed as private) and associate a caption file with it.

VLC:

The VLC player supports a wide variety of media file formats. If you have a .srt, .ass, .vtt, .2014.vtt, or .rt caption file, then you just need to place the caption file with the exact same basename in the same directory as your media file. E.g., Movie_2.mov and Movie_2.srt. Ensure there are no other files in the directory.
Then open VLC, click Media -> Open File, and browse for the media file. Click Open. You should see the captions being displayed immediately.

If you don't see captions right away, try the following:

  • On VLC, click Tools -> Preferences -> Subtitles & OSD. Ensure you have Enable OSD checked.
    Under Subtitles Language, next to Preferred subtitles language, write the name of the language you want to make default. E.g., if you usually display English subtitles, then write English. Then click Save.
  • If you still can't see the captions, click Video -> Subtitles Track, and choose Track 1 (it could also show as English, or Closed captions 1). You should then see captions being displayed.

Windows Media Player (Windows):

NOTE (2017): The method described below for the Windows Media Player no longer works in some recent releases of Windows 10 + Windows Media Player 12.

If you have a media file that Windows Media Player supports and a .smi caption file, then the quickest way to check your results and its synchronization is to associate the .smi file with your media file. You just need to place the caption file with the exact same basename in the same directory as your media file. E.g., Movie_1.mov and Movie_1.smi. Once you start playing your media file, Windows Media Player will automatically display the captions. See our detailed tutorial on Associating Captions with Windows Media Files for more information.

Remember and remind your customers that Captions are visible only if enabled. To enable captions in Windows Media Player (if you can't see the following menus, you'll need to expose them by clicking Ctrl-M):

  • Open the Play menu, then the Lyrics, captions and subtitles option, and make sure On if Available is selected.
  • In Windows Media Version 10 and greater, you'll also need to open the Tools/Options menu, select the Security tab, and then:
    • Check Show local captions when present. Click Apply.
    • Exit the Player and relaunch for the changes to take effect.

QuickTime Player 7 (Mac):

QuickTime Player 7 supports a wide variety of media file formats, including MOV and MP4. If you have a .qt.smil and .qt.txt caption files, place them in the same directory as your media file. To ensure the .qt.smil file makes reference to the correct .qt.txt and media files, open the .qt.smil file with a text editor (TextEdit, for example). For example, if you have a media file named Movie_Sample.mov, and a .qt.txt caption file named Movie_Caption.qt.txt, the following section in the .qt.smil file needs to make reference to the correct names of these files:

</head>
  <body>
    <par>
      <video region="videoregion" src="Movie_Sample.mov"/>
      <textstream region="textregion" src="Movie_Caption.qt.txt"/>  
    </par>
    <!-- Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com -->
  </body>
</smil>

If the file names in the .qt.smil don't match the names of your media and .qt.txt files, please change them accordingly in the section illustrated above, and save the file again as .qt.smil.

Then you just need to right-click the .qt.smil file, select Open With, and choose QuickTime Player. The media and caption files will be opened and displayed at the same time.

RealPlayer:

The RealPlayer supports a wide variety of media file formats, including MOV and MP4. If you have a .rt.smil and .rt caption files, place them in the same directory as your media file. To ensure the .rt.smil file makes reference to the correct .rt and media files, open the .rt.smil file with a text editor (Notepad or TextEdit, for example). For example, if you have a media file named Movie_Sample.mov, and a .rt caption file named Movie_Caption.rt, the following section in the .rt.smil file needs to make reference to the correct names of these files:

</head>
  <body>
    <par>
      <video region="videoregion" src="Movie_Sample.mov"/>
      <textstream region="textregion" src="Movie_Caption.rt"/>  
    </par>   
  </body>
</smil>

If the file names in the .rt.smil don't match the names of your media and .rt files, please change them accordingly in the section illustrated above, and save the file again as .rt.smil.

Then you just need to right-click the .rt.smil file, select Open With, and choose RealPlayer. The media and caption files will be opened and displayed at the same time.

Additional Notes:

  • If there are sync or wording errors, and we provided the transcript, please open a Support ticket so that we can troubleshoot further.

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