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Live captioning and subtitling can be complicated and expensive. Breaking news or last minute changes make it even harder to coordinate with a human captioner, confirm the audio feed is clear and hope the captioner can understand what is being said and get the words right and keep complaints from viewers at a minimum.
VoCaption is a new, best of breed, solution that uses artificial intelligence to deliver accurate, real-time, speech-to-text processing across a diverse and expanding language base to assist with emergency captioning and subtitling for breaking news, remotes, files needing last minute subtitles and support so your human captioner can take a break periodically.
As part of a larger solution, VoCaption empowers you to deliver automatic subtitling across the most comprehensive range of linear, OTT and file-based formats on the market today. It can be stand-alone with 3rd party subtitling but it’s full benefits are felt when used in conjunction with BroadStream’s market-leading Polistream captioning encoder and OASYS playout.
Languages
Currently available in 31 languages:
Bulgarian
Catalan
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Finnish
Dutch
French
German
Global English
Greek
Hindi
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Romanian
Malay
Mandarin
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Inputs
Line-in / microphone
Audio sound card
SDI or HDMI capture card
AES 67 over IP
AES 67 over XLR
MP4 file
Transport stream (coming soon)

Advantages
Available in a single 1RU chassis or as software only
Purchase annual license or minutes in increments of 25 hours
Custom dictionary that you can use to add unfamiliar names or local/regional words. Once these are in the dictionary the system will remember them. This feature allows you to teach the system rather than waiting for it to learn.
Also includes an Alternate Word List that can be used to replace words you don’t want to go to air or words that need to be capitalized, as an example.
Results are automatically recorded to a TTML for archive, compliance, repurposing and metadata harvesting.
VoCaption can detect the absence of subtitles and instantly begin providing live captions to a live feed or file-based program that is missing captions.
VoCaption is a complimentary product to re-speaking workflows to increase productivity at a reduced cost.
VoCaption excels at newsroom applications where teleprompters are not available for certain segments or as a way to enable breaks for human captioners or re-speakers.
Integrates with Polistream U8000 caption/subtitle encoder.
Integrates with OASYS Integrated Playout or OASYS Channel-in-a-Box solutions.
FAQ’s
What is VoCaption?
VoCaption is an AI based, live, automated captioning and subtitling solution that provides automated speech-to-text processing of live video to display highly accurate live subtitles in real time without human involvement.
How does it work?
VoCaption uses a speech-to-text processing engine based on AI or artificial intelligence that “listens” to a live audio feed and converts the spoken language into words on the screen so viewers can read the subtitles while they watch the program.
What about accuracy?
Artificial Intelligence has improved dramatically over the last few years thanks to advancements in computer hardware and software development and along with these improvements accuracy is much improved over just a few years ago and will continue to improve in the future. However, accuracy also depends on the quality of the audio; the presence of background noise or music; the number of speakers; whether the speakers talk over each other and how fast they talk. As an example, a single speaker talking at a normal speed will generate accuracy levels in the high 90’s. As you add in noise or other speakers the accuracy level will decrease and this is also true with human captioners.
Our captions must be 99% accurate, can you do that?
99% accuracy depends on a number of things including quality of the audio, the number of speakers, cross talk by those speakers, background noise, music, use of localized or foreign words etc. Given those variables neither machine nor human can maintain 99% accuracy for a full, live broadcast.
The FCC rules for US broadcasters do not provide an accuracy benchmark but instead say: FCC rules for TV closed captioning ensure that viewers who are deaf and hard of hearing have full access to programming, address captioning quality and provide guidance to video programming distributors and programmers. The rules apply to all television programming with captions, requiring that captions be:
- Accurate: Captions must match the spoken words in the dialogue and convey background noises and other sounds to the fullest extent possible.
- Synchronous: Captions must coincide with their corresponding spoken words and sounds to the greatest extent possible and must be displayed on the screen at a speed that can be read by viewers.
- Complete: Captions must run from the beginning to the end of the program to the fullest extent possible.
- Properly placed: Captions should not block other important visual content on the screen, overlap one another or run off the edge of the video screen.
Obviously, our goal is to provide the most accurate speech-to-text conversions possible, given the quality of the audio. To that end, we provide two additional ways to improve accuracy:
- Custom Dictionary: A custom dictionary is available to include local, regional and hard to pronounce words, names and geographical places and references, including foreign names and words so you can pre-load these items into the system.
- Alternate Words Dictionary: In addition, we provide an alternate words dictionary that you can populate to swap out words you don’t want going to air, ensure certain words are capitalized or referenced properly to match the needs of your audience.
- Additionally, the entire vocabulary of the speech engine is updated quarterly to ensure continued improvement.
We run lower thirds on most programs.
Can we shift the subtitles to a different location?
Yes, there is an overlay box that you can select with a mouse to reposition the subtitles manually.
How is the system controlled?
The system will respond to GPI’s, UDP and HTTP triggers from a traditional button box, keyboard hotkeys or from Secondary Events within OASYS Integrated Playout. When integrated with both Polistream and OASYS the system can sense the absence of captions and turn on automatically for emergency captioning and off again when captions return.
How many languages are available?
Currently the system provides 31 total languages including Global English. The number of languages will grow as the system matures and expands.
Is the system sold as a product or service?
VoCaption’s software is available as follows:
-
- In a 1RU rackmount unit to work with 3 party subtitle encoders.
- As software only integrated with Polistream and/or OASYS.
- As software only with customer provided hardware that must match a specific and supportable platform.
- Once the software is installed you can purchase minutes in blocks with 25 hours being the minimum purchase and minutes can be re-purchased as needed.
What’s the lead time and commissioning process?
Lead times depend on which installation option you choose. It takes about 4 hours to commission the system including about 90 minutes for training. All commissioning is done remotely. During commissioning we can assist with the creation of the Custom and Alternate Words dictionaries to ensure you get off to a fast and accurate start.

VoCaption is available as follows:
- In a 1RU rackmount server for stand alone operations
- In a 1RU rackmount server with Polistream
- As software only integrated with OASYS Integrated Playout
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