eCART - Preparing your session and choosing a delivery method

In addition to our professional Live Captioning services, we now have a new alternative solution that uses automatic speech recognition (also known as ASR), combined with trained real-time editors, to provide a very scalable option for adding accessibility to your live events. You can either select this option when scheduling a request, or switch to it, after booking regular CART.

Preparing for the event and choosing a delivery method:

You can send us guidance and the link to the audio source, just like you would do for a regular Live Captioning request. Then, there are a few possible delivery methods, depending on the video platform you're using and the type of audience:

Verbitext - web browser text feed:

The default method for caption delivery is a text feed called Verbitext (similar to StreamText, for users familiar with this system) that any user can access on a web browser. You can request the Verbitext link when scheduling the session in the system, in the Comments section of the request page. Then, you just need to share it with the audience, prior to the session, or at the start of the event. The participants will then be able to open the link and watch the live feed on a browser. The captions will be displayed on a text box. You will see first the captions being delivered by ASR, and then, a few seconds later, the edited text, after being reviewed by our human editors. Users can mark up the transcript during the session by adding notes, highlighting information, etc. They can then save this custom transcript to their devices.

Embedding a Verbitext page into a live stream:

The Verbitext live feed of captions can be embedded into a web page, along with the live stream player, using an iframe that can be configured to various sizes, colors, etc. E.g.:

<iframe style="width:100%;height:1000px;border:0px;" src="https://platform.verbit.co/live_jobs/d24e7324-3e64-4a8a-8d92-c2439daf2a3d/attendee?header=0&footer=0&ff=Arial&fs=32&fgc=FFFF00&bgc=000080" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen></iframe>

See this example on how the embedded Verbitext player looks like on a web page. To customize its appearance you can use the parameters below:

Hide header: header=0
Hide footer: footer=0
Choose font family: ff
Font size: fs
Font color: fgc
background color: bgc

Note that, the color names need to be in hexidecimal value. Also, the controls bar and chat function cannot be disabled, and so they will remain available to the viewers.

Zoom:

For Zoom meetings, we also support delivering captions directly on the Zoom window. Here's what you need to do:

1. Provide us with Zoom's API token:

Launch the Zoom meeting, click More at the bottom of the window (3 dots), then click Closed Caption, and finally click Copy the API token. Please send us this information.

2. Enable real-time captions on Zoom:

• Ensure your Zoom Administrator enables both the Manual captions and Save Captions options, under Account Management ->  Account Settings -> In Meeting (Advanced), prior to the session:

Note: If you want this setting applied by default to all users in your account, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

• Webinars: If you are hosting a webinar, you need to send an invitation to livecaptions@verbit.ai as a panelist, since only users elevated to the panelist role can caption webinars.

3. Start Live Captioning on Zoom:

• In the Zoom session you're hosting, click Closed Caption in the controls bar, and select the Assign a participant to type option, under Assign someone to type.

• From the participants list, select AST Captions and click More. Finally, click Assign to Type Closed Caption.

• Viewers can then turn on/off captioning in Zoom as needed, by clicking Closed Caption in the controls bar.

Note: Closed captioning on mobile devices will appear automatically, if this option has been previously enabled by the user under Settings -> Meetings. To disable closed captions during a meeting, tap on More -> Meeting Settings and toggle the option for Closed Captioning to off.

RTMP feed:

The RTMP technology (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) allows us to receive your audio/video stream and process it for captioning, with a near real-time experience, to send the stream along with captions into the end-user platform. This method is most commonly used to deliver captions along with the video for Vimeo Live, YouTube Live, among many other platforms that support RTMP.

When choosing this delivery method, please ensure you provide us with the following information:

• Encoder source information (encoder type and model)
• Server stream key
• Server URL
• End-User Application (e.g.: Vimeo, YouTube, etc)
• Link to the event (optional, but it will help us monitor the stream)

In the Live Captioning confirmation email we'll then provide you with our server details where you should direct your stream.

Note: In order to use the RTMP feed, you'll need to have a software or hardware encoder set up for your event, like Wowza, OBS, TeraDek, Telestream Wirecast, etc, from which you'll send your audio/video stream to our server. If you haven't used this method in the past, or are unsure if your encoder supports RTMP, we would recommend setting up a test request prior to the actual event.

Live Room app:

Live Room is an app users can install on their devices to watch the captions (you can download the installer file here). It works similarly to Verbitext, but it requires authentication from the attendees, and also that they install it on their devices. So, once a request is placed, we will require the email address of the attendees and will send them instructions on how to access and install the app. On Live Room, the captions will be displayed on a text box. You will see first the captions being delivered by ASR, and then, a few seconds later, the edited text, after being reviewed by our human editors. Users can mark up the transcript during the session by adding notes, highlighting information, etc. They can then save this custom transcript to their devices.