Captioning Terms Commonly Used in Television Transcription

Below is an introductory glossary of a few of the most common terms associated with television transcription and the captioning industry:

• Captioning: This is the process of converting into text the spoken words and sound effects of video material. The text is displayed on a television screen.

• Open Captioning: one of the captioning “formats;” they are similar to subtitles in that they are always displayed on the screen. They are a permanent part of the picture and are burnt into the video tape so they don’t need decoders to be viewed. The options for caption placement allow open captions to be placed anywhere on the screen.

• Closed Captioning: another captioning format; closed captions are only visible through use of caption decoders. Placement and font options are more restricted than for open captions.

• Subtitling: A third captioning format; subtitles are permanent on-screen text representing a translation of the dialogue into another language.

• Offline Captioning: A fourth captioning format; offline captions are prepared for pre-recorded programs or videos (post-production captioning) and are extremely accurate. They can be open captions or closed captions. Captioning method for offline captions is usually “pop on.”

• On-line captioning: Yet another captioning format; captions are provided at the time of airing of a program. These are closed captions and the captioning method is usually “roll on.”

• Live Captioning (Real-Time Captioning): A method of online captioning that aims at providing simultaneous verbatim transcription of speech. These are closed captions prepared by trained steno-captioners. They are less accurate than offline captions, and the synchronization with the video material is less than perfect.

• Digital Captioning: captions incorporated into multimedia software, Web-based video content, DVDs, and CD-ROMs. They can be open captions or closed captions.

• Pop On Captions: One of the captioning methods (how captions are displayed on a screen). Pop-On captions are one or two caption lines that appear on a screen for several seconds and then disappear.

• Roll-On Captions: A second captioning method; usually verbatim transcript of the speech information. The top caption line disappears as a new bottom line is added, leading to a continuous rolling of caption lines.

• Live Display Captioning: Used for live television programs that are scripted in advance, the script is stored in a computer before the program is aired, and the pre-scripted captioning files are sent to an encoder to produce captions, which are synchronized with the underlying audio track and displayed at the bottom of the screen during the broadcast.

• Closed Caption Decoder: An electronic device that decodes the captioning signal, it allows captions to be displayed on the screen

• Caption File: A computer file that stores caption information for programs (text, timing, and screen placement)

• Caption Encoder: A device that electronically inserts closed caption data into television signal

• Time Code: An electronic signal embedded in a videotape to identify each video frame.