On this page, you will find resources to assist you in obtaining professional captions for your videos, and/or in captioning them on your own.
Professors, students and IT administrators share the benefits of using captions for videos used in postsecondary education in this video titled Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education.
The table below lists organizations that provide CART and/or captions. CART transcriptions from events, if available, may be used to facilitate creating captions for recordings of those events. Additionally, some CART transcriptionists may be willing to create captions and send the finished caption file to you, for you to attach to a video you have uploaded to a streaming site.
Please note that the services and rates described below are current as of July 2015.
| Organization/Company Name | Services Offered | Rates | Contact Information | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3PlayMedia | Captioning & transcription Translation & subtitling Spanish captioning & transcription Interactive transcripts Various tools & plugins | $2.50/min with Pro Plan 4 business days turnaround | t: 617-764-5189 f: 617-245-0510 | Fully integrates with Ensemble to submit videos for captioning. See 3PlayMedia Ensemble Video Integration for more details. |
| Automatic Sync Technologies (CaptionSync) | Captions & subtitles Transcription Video encoding Caption translations Production transcripts Interactive transcripts DVD/MP4 transfer Digital NLE captions | $2.59/min 3 business days turnaround $3.25/min 1 business day turnaround $2.49/min 4+ days turnaround | t: 877-278-7962 | Fully integrates with Ensemble to submit videos for captioning with just a few clicks. See How to Caption Video with Ensemble / Automatic Sync Integration
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| Caption Advantage, LLC | Real-time captioning Post-production video captioning | Contact Caption Advantage for pricing information | t (local): 315-492-0069 f: 315-492-1426 | |
| Ensemble/CaptionEx | Captioning Transcription Translation
| Rates are for videos hosted in Ensemble $1.50/min for transcription & captioning for 3 business days turnaround $2.30/min for transcription & captioning for1 business day turnaround | t: 844-552-2739 | Read more about pricing for videos hosted in Ensemble. |
| Rev | Transcription Captions Subtitles Translation | $1.00/min 1 business day turnaround | t: 888-369-0701 | Rev.com has a loose integration with Ensemble. It is not necessary to upload an Ensemble video to Rev.com, but finished caption files must be downloaded from Rev.com and uploaded to Ensemble. See Instructions for captioning Ensemble Videos with Rev.com. Some errors were found in caption text. Best practice is to review the captions provided by Rev.com and make corrections as needed. |
| SpeakerText | Captions Interactive transcripts | Premium (95% accuracy): Same day (12 hrs or less): $2.00/min Priority express (24 hrs or less): $1.00 Superior (99% accuracy): Standard (2 business days): $1.50 | t: 1-888-809-0229 |
***Please note: Automated captions use voice recognition technology to create a transcript of the video. This technology is not perfect so the transcript will always have errors. It is imperative that you review and correct errors.
| Vendor | Description of Services | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ensemble Video | Automated captions that can be edited with the Amara caption editor which is built into Ensemble | $3/hour of video |
| trint | Automated transcript that can be edited with the trint editor that "marries a text editor to an audio/video player. Click on a word and hear your original audio, making it easier than ever to quickly search, verify and (if necessary) correct your content." | Starting at $15/hour with reduced pricing for monthly plans. |
| YouTube | Automated captions that can be edited with the YouTube caption editor. (Note: YouTube's automated captions do not include punctuation or capitalization at the beginning of sentences. Captions must be edited to be usable.) | Free |
Audio description (sometimes referred to as Described Video) is provided by a trained describer that provides descriptions of the visual components of the video. Audio description makes video accessible to blind/visually-impaired persons who would otherwise miss out on information presented visually. This information is synchronized with the video, but provided in a separate sound track.
For a full description and example of audio description, see the Penn State whitepaper titled "An Introduction to Audio Description in Higher Education Video Content."
| Organization/Company Name | Services Offered | Rates | Contact Information | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3PlayMedia | Transcription & captioning Audio Description | up to $9.50/min. 5 day turnaround Volume discounts available | 3PlayMedia website | Several output formats available Audio description plugin included for playing the audio descriptions with multiple video players |
Captioning and Described Media Services AMAC Accessibility Solutions | Transcription & captioning Audio Description CART | Captioning: $3.42/min. Audio Description:
| AMAC focuses on Higher Education market | |
| AUDIOEYES LLC | Captioning Video Description | Audio Eyes website | ||
Lists of Vendors:
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The table below will provide you with tools and resources to caption videos yourself, should you choose to do so. Before you begin captioning, please take some time to review the Quality Captioning Guidelines below.
| Tool Name | Features | Cost | Supported Platform(s) | For More Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Camtasia Studio Camtasia for Mac | Screen recording, video editing, special effects, basic captioning, and more. | Single-user Windows: $179 with educational discount Single-user Mac: $75 with educational discount Volume licenses also available. | Windows (Camtasia Studio) Mac (Camtasia for Mac) Please note that these two programs have some differing features! | Camtasia (on TechSmith website) |
| Express Scribe | Facilitates transcription by allowing the user to control audio playback (plus video playback in the paid version) using customizable hotkeys. Also works with foot pedal controllers. | Free, Basic $40, Professional $50 Please note: If you want the Free version, do not click the "Download Now" button or the "Download Express Scribe Transcription Software for Windows/Mac" link on the Express Scribe home page as this will download a full trial version that will expire. Instead, look for a section titled "Get Express Scribe Free" and the link "Download the free version of Express Scribe here". | Windows, Mac |
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| Subtitle Edit | Full-featured, free tool for creating, editing, syncing, and translating captions and subtitles (and more). Learning curve can be steep. Good tool for converting caption files to different formats. Note: Requires installation of VLC Media Player and LAV Filters (both free). | Free (open-source)
| Windows only (may run in OS X, with glitches, using Wineskin) | Subtitle Edit website |
| Subtitle Horse | Online tool for captioning streaming videos | Free to use online tool; paid license required to download and install | (Online) All platforms that support Flash Player | Subtitle Horse website |
If you want a vendor to caption the videos:
If you want to create captions yourself, an alternative is to ask the video owner to allow you to post captions to their video. There are instructions on how to do this in a YouTube video titled “Submitting Subtitles/CC for YouTube Videos”. YouTube also provides a text-based tutorial on how to submit captions.