User:Jettoblack/eCaptioning

eCaptioning is a workflow for adding closed captioning to videos.

Prior to the advent of eCaptioning, closed captioning was done using a linear deck-to-deck process, which required the use of a physical master video tape, two tape decks (play and record), and a hardware closed captioning encoder. Since this equipment is very expensive, it was not practical for most video production facilities to own it on site. Instead, video editors had to first output a video to tape, then mail the tape to a special closed captioning facility. In the process, a second video tape with closed captions would be created, incurring generation loss. Finally, the tape would need to be mailed to its final destination. If the video later required edits or changes, then the producer would have to ship another master tape to the closed captioning facility, repeating the process and possibly incurring additional fees.

eCaptioning eliminates the need to ship physical tapes and incur generation loss, because it accomplishes the closed captioning using a file based workflow. Since it can be accomplished via e-mail, FTP, or other file transfer methods, there are no costs for physically shipping a video tape, and less impact on the environment. This also means that eCaptioning can be performed faster, and the resulting video can be of higher quality due to the lack of generation loss. Finally, eCaptioning opens up new options for closed captioning tapeless video workflows, further editing of the video in a non-linear editing system, or converting videos from one format to another (for example, from tape to web video) while preserving the closed captions.