One of the premier features within our platform is the Auto-Transcription & Caption functionality. These advanced features operate at the folder level, facilitating the automatic generation of a .TXT file (transcription) or a .VTT file (captions) subsequent to the completion of processing for uploaded video files. If you are a user of a Company Network and are interested in enabling one of these features, please reach out to the Ci Customer Success team by submitting a request here .
In this article, we will outline how to auto transcription works & other timed-text features.
Auto-gen Transcription
Navigate to the folder enabled with auto-Transcription and upload a video file. To do so, you could either (1) select the blue + Add New button, (2) select + Add New in the center of the page, or (3) simply drag-n-drop a video file into the folder directly:
Figure 1: Upload a video file
After the file completes processing, this will kick off the generation of the .TXT file. When the text file completes processing, it will be placed in the same folder as the video file. It will have the same name as the video file but have _TS.txt appended at the end (example: Trappers of Time Shot on Alpha 7 IV Sony Alpha Films_TS.txt):
Figure 2: Generated .TXT file in Folder
Auto-gen .VTT Captions
Navigate to the folder enabled with auto-Captions and upload a video file. It is completely possible to enable both auto-Transcription & auto-Captions for the same folder (and multiple folders).
After the file completes processing, this will kick off the generation of the .VTT file. When the .VTT file completes processing, it will be placed as an Element of the video file. This can be found by selecting the video > opening the Elements Panel > and scrolling down to the Timed-Text section (see figure below). It will have the same name as the video file:
Figure 3: Generated .VTT in Elements Panel
CC Playback in File Preview
To preview the captions during video playback, open File Preview by either (1) double-clicking the video, or (2) right-clicking the video and selecting Preview. To turn on closed captions, click the button near the bottom-right corner of the player tools and select the generated .VTT file:
Figure 4: Turning on CC's
Timed Text Search
Now that the .VTT file is an element of the video, users can utilize the Timed Text Panel working together with Timed Text Search. In doing so, users have the ability to be taken directly to a specific frame/sentence in the video playback with just a few clicks. Here is how it works:
Within File Preview, select the button to open the Timed Text panel and select the .VTT file (see figure below):
Figure 5: Opening Timed Text Panel
This will open the caption text results (see figure below). Upon selecting any of the text, users can jump to those specific frames within the playback. Users also have the option to search for text and filter through other caption files, as long as they are elements of the asset being previewed:
Figure 6: Timed text in Asset Preview
To learn more about other features the Timed Text panel has to offer, please visit our support article Timed Text Search & Panel .
For any additional questions, please reach out to the Ci Customer Success Team by submitting a request here in the Help Center.