Transcription Quality Tiers

Since our founding over 16 years ago, AST has focused on providing affordable transcription and captioning without compromising quality. The reason for our commitment to quality is simple: the primary purpose of closed captioning is to provide equally effective communication to people who do not have full access to audio in the media. At the same time, not all content is alike, and not all captioning projects are the same. For these reasons, AST offers three transcription quality tiers.

Tier One: Professional

Our flagship Tier One transcription provides ADA-compliant professional quality transcription and captioning with rapid turnaround, no matter how complex the content. If you are ever unsatisfied with your Tier One results, simply open a Support ticket and we will promptly assess and repair the results. Most customers select this option, as it provides equally effective communication to their audiences quickly and easily, with minimal manual intervention. You can select Tier One at submission time, in the request page; or make it the default Tier for all requests going forward. See below how to select a Tier for requests placed via AST-Link or 3rd-party integrations.

Tier Two: Offshore

Tier Two is a more affordable offering, utilizing a smaller pool of junior transcribers. Tier Two is useful for captioning promotional videos, video with clear audio and simple subject matter, or cases where you have ample lead time for review and correcting before publishing your videos. Turnaround time varies, but results are typically delivered within 4 to 10 business days. Tier Two is available only for English content, and there are limited domain expertise options. Content with challenging audio or complex subject matter may be rejected, but you will have the option to upgrade your submission to Tier One. If you're interested in our Tier Two offer, please open a Support ticket so that we can enable your account for this service.

Once your account is enabled for Tier Two Transcription, you'll be able to select it at submission time, in the request page; or make it the default Tier for all requests going forward. See below how to select a Tier for requests placed via AST-Link or 3rd-party integrations.

Both tiers leverage all the quality assurance checkpoints and efficiency benefits of the CaptionSync platform, and are the highest quality transcription options in their class.

Setting a default Tier in your CaptionSync account:

You can make a Tier the default for your account, under Settings -> Transcription Turnaround. This Tier will then be applied to all requests, going forward:

Selecting a Tier on AST-Link or 3rd-party integrations:

3rd-party integrations will use the Transcription Tier set as default in your CaptionSync account, under Settings. But the AST-Link apps (Windows and Mac) allow you to choose the Tier:

• On the AST-Link 2.x Windows or AST-Link G2.x on the Mac apps, you can select the Tier next to Transcription Turnaround, under the Settings section/tab.

• For 3rd-party integrations, you need to first set the desired Tier as default, under Settings -> Transcription Turnaround, in your CaptionSync account. This Tier will then be applied to the requests made via the integration, going forward.