NOVI, Mich.—At the 2025 NAB Show, April 6-9 in Las Vegas, ENCO is unveiling a new cloud relay service that establishes a secure connection to on-prem captioning workflows for third-party remote stenographers and captioning services working in live broadcast environments. ENCO’s new CloudCap Delivery Network builds a bridge to ENCO DoCaption closed caption encoders, giving third-party captioners a direct and secure line into the broadcaster’s workflow. CloudCap’s accessibility also provides the broadcaster with the freedom to work with any third-party captioning service operating in the cloud.

CloudCap’s debut coincides with the availability of ENCO’s DoCaption EN848 closed captioning encoder, introduced at NAB New York in October. Now shipping, the DoCaption EN848 provides reliable, automated conversion and delivery of captions and translations produced in-house or via external services. The EN848’s availability provides broadcasters with the opportunity to deploy the system over the IP network, with connectivity to cloud-based captioning services such as those offered by ENCO’s partner Verbit.

The EN848’s core function is to reliably and securely insert closed captions coming from any source in compliance with global captioning standards. Its dual connectivity options also allow broadcasters to deploy redundant captioning workflows with immediate failover from cloud to on-prem automatically-generated captions should connectivity to the cloud service drop. When connected to an EN848, the CloudCap service becomes part of a redundant failsafe solution that ensures broadcasters remain in compliance when faced with technical difficulties. The CloudCap Delivery Network also connects to ENCO DoCaption EN448 encoders for less intensive captioning environments.

Third-party captioners that connect to either encoder via CloudCap have immediate access to the encoder’s user interface to configure the service. CloudCap bypasses traditional configuration of firewall rules and port forwarding to alleviate connectivity challenges. Upon establishing the connection, human captioning services and AI-powered systems can listen to live audio streams coming from the encoder and return a compliant data stream for live broadcast. ENCO DoCaption encoders conform to a broad range of closed captioning specifications, including the encoding and insertion of CEA-608/CEA-708, and Teletext/OP47 ancillary data through standardized and legacy communication protocols.

“Our new EN848 encoder was developed with both CloudCap and our enCaption all-in-one captioning solution in mind to provide our customers with more freedom and choice while ensuring they remain protected through a secure and fully redundant solution,” said Ken Frommert, President, ENCO. “In addition to ensuring 24/7 on-air compliance, we can offer broadcasters a single source of support across their entire closed captioning workflow.”

The EN848 is a 1RU solution featuring a software-defined, FPGA-based ultra-low latency SDI captioning encoder and inserter that can be powered by human or advanced speech recognition (ASR) sources both on-prem and in the cloud. For on-prem workflows, the EN848 offers a specially engineered built-in server to process ASR sources from enCaption systems.

ENCO is exhibiting at W1743 in the West Hall during the show.

Amazon Prime announced this week that it is testing a new AI process for translating foreign languages for closed captioning in its programming.

The initiative, designed to “make its vast streaming library accessible to even more customers,” targets dubbing on licensed movies and series that would not have been dubbed otherwise, the company said. Starting this week, AI-aided dubbing in English and Latin American Spanish will be available initially on 12 licensed movies and series, including titles such as El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mamá Lora, and Long Lost.

The AI-aided pilot program will take a hybrid approach to dubbing in which localization professionals collaborate with AI to ensure quality control. “AI-aided processes like this one, which incorporate the right amount of human expertise, can enable localization for titles that would not otherwise be accessible to customers,” the company said in its blog.

“At Prime Video, we believe in improving customers’ experience with practical and useful AI innovation,” said Raf Soltanovich, VP of technology at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. “AI-aided dubbing is only available on titles that do not have dubbing support, and we are eager to explore a new way to make series and movies more accessible and enjoyable.”

Using AI to translate closed captions has become among the most popular uses of AI in media production; Microsoft announced an AI-powered translator for closed captioning on its Edge browser last year and the Sinclair Broadcast Group just announced last month that it is testing AI translated subtitling in real time.

It's also being tested on NextGen TV as well. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) announced in December that it is now providing real-time translation of closed captioning from English to Spanish on PMVG’s NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) test bed station in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Interra Systems will showcase new versions of its Orion monitoring and Baton QC platforms at the 2025 NAB Show, April 6-9 in Las Vegas.

The company will talk about new advances to its end-to-end video quality monitoring, content-aware quality control, advanced captioning, and in-depth video analysis tools. Harnessing the latest technologies, Interra Systems’ cutting-edge solutions enhance accuracy and efficiency, set new standards in QC and monitoring performance, and empower customers to optimize their workflows for peak video quality, the company said.

“We’ll be commemorating our 25-year anniversary at NAB 2025, where we'll present our latest innovations that enhance every aspect of media workflows,” said Anupama Anantharaman, vice president of product management at Interra Systems. “Our high-density, scalable solutions set industry benchmarks in media QC and monitoring, while our AI-driven tools demonstrate why global leaders in broadcasting and service provision rely on us to streamline workflows and deliver high-quality content faster."

Interra Systems will spotlight the Orion suite's latest capabilities, including a state-of-the-art multiviewer feature that transforms monitoring by enabling real-time visualization of multiple video and audio streams. This tool not only ensures seamless quality control and efficient workflow management but also allows operators to quickly verify alerts and resolve issues, thereby maintaining high broadcast integrity with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Alongside the multiviewer, Orion-OTT offers real-time monitoring of both linear and IP-based infrastructures and a comprehensive monitoring solution for live and VOD assets. Designed for flexible deployment across various environments and supporting an array of formats and protocols, the solution now features industry-first, all-frame decoding and deep-dive analysis for critical channels — significantly improving video quality checks and service playback.

In addition, the Orion suite now includes support for RHEL 8.10, Rocky 8.10, Dolby Atmos, IPv6, and more. The suite also boasts end-to-end ad insertion monitoring, which enhances workflow visibility from pretranscode to edge by comparing externally supplied ad scheduling information with actual DAI markers. Updates include closed caption availability reports, enhanced QoS and QoE scoring, comprehensive DRM integration, and flexibility in deployment models.

OCM, Interra Systems’ flagship video monitoring and management solution, provides quality tracing that monitors service quality and pinpoints issues across various stages of the video workflow. New features at the 2025 NAB Show will include advanced probe management and improved user group permissions, ensuring both efficient and secure video operations.

Interra Systems will also showcase Baton 9.2, now with enhanced autoscaling, enhanced video quality checks for 4K files, and new support for video quality, such as blank bars check and CIE color gamut check. It accommodates ITU-R BT.1702 2023 PSE video flash guidelines and contains algorithm improvements in QR code, freeze frames, duplicate frames, media offline, blockiness, defective pixels, video dropout, burnt-in text, shot transition, and more.

Baton 9.2 also supports Sony 360 Reality Audio, LZW compression in TIFF files, AV1 video format, BW64 audio, 24-bit LPCM audio in an MP4 container, sidecar Dolby Vision metadata files, an integrated Whisper model for audio language identification, and more. The latest Baton release also features significant installation process improvements for enhanced usability and resilience, along with UI support for dark/light themes, a new database manager tool, and enhanced diagnostics and alerts.

Interra Systems will also demonstrate advanced new updates to its award-winning Baton Captions solution — including caption placement as per scene change guidelines to avoid burnt-in text overlap and a host of QC and correction features. All of the updates take advantage of cutting-edge machine learning, automatic speech recognition, and natural language processing technology.

A new UI layout comes with many new features, including an integrated relay workflow service; vertical zoom on audio waveform; and intelligent caption segmentation during review, which enables automatic splitting, merging, and resegmentation based on properties such as row count and character count while adhering to clause boundaries and natural pauses.

Interra Systems will also demo its Vega platform for standards compliance, debugging, and stream interoperability assurance. The platform has been enhanced to support an extensive range of compression standards, including the latest in VVC, AV1, HEVC, MV-HEVC, AVS3, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, ATSC 3.0, and more.

This broad compatibility reinforces Vega's role as a critical industry tool, Interra said. The platform's comprehensive capabilities enable media professionals to navigate the complexities of various video formats and standards with ease, ensuring high-quality content delivery across different platforms and devices.

Interra Systems will be in Booth W1921 in the West Hall of the LVCC.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Watching television for those with hearing-impairments will become a bit easier following adoption July 18 of a Federal Communications Commission Report & Order that gives viewers greater control over the display of closed captions.

The R&O, the third by the agency to make television more accessible to those with disabilities, puts in place a “readily accessible” requirement for the display of closed captions that makes it simpler for viewers to access the settings of many covered devices to adjust the font, size, color and other features of the captions.

Besides televisions and set top boxes, covered devices include any device manufactured or used in the United States that is designed to receive or play back video transmitted with sound.

While closed captions help all viewers in certain circumstances, such as when actors have accents, they are “vital for the 48 million Americans who are deaf and hard-of-hearing,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement released following the vote to adopt the R&O.

Noting that despite previous commission steps supporting closed captioning, many people have had difficulty finding and using them.

“Today, we correct hat by adopting updated standards for closed captioning regarding proximity, discoverability, previewability, and consistency and persistence,” she said. Manufacturers of covered devices and Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) will be responsible for complying with the rule. 

“I’m pleased that today we adopt the details necessary to make our closed captioning display rules fully effective,” said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, in a statement. “Device manufacturers and MVPDs must ensure that closed captioning display settings are readily accessible.”

While lauding the R&O, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said accessibility requirements may need to evolve as new technologies become available to the public. “It will be our job to continue to look at the technology as it evolves to ensure that accessibility continues to meet the statutory requirement and take action if it falls short,” she said.

Stark acknowledged several groups, including the NCTA, the National Association for the Deaf, TDIforAccess, Communications Service for the Deaf, and Hearing Loss Association of America, for their effort their rapid accessibility proposal from with the agency drew for the R&O.

More information is available on the FCC website.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich.—To streamline its efforts to meet FCC mandates for closed captions, KTBS-TV3 and KPXJ-TV21, which are owned by KTBS LLC and based in Shreveport, La., installed the enCaption4 automated closed captioning system from Enco.

The stations’ setup prior to acquiring the enCaption4 was the Electronic Newsroom Technique, which converts dialogue on a teleprompter script into on-screen captions. However, this would eliminate closed captioning of informal banter, field reporting or other on-air presentations not included in the teleprompter.

KTBS/KPXJ Assistant Chief Engineer Bob Shafer said that between the two stations they are producing 51 hours of local news programming a week, and much of it contains unscripted content.

Shafer said that the enCaption4 system has produced highly accurate captioning, with caption data sent to two DTV closed captioning encoders that embed the captions into the program video for broadcast. The system also has speech-to-text artificial intelligence that can learn from ingested lists and scripts to correctly spell unusual words, like names and local places. It also doesn’t require the creation of speech pattern profiles for every person speaking, per Shafer.

In the event that two local shows are airing at the same time, enCaption4 handles the flagship over-the-air signal, while the other program audio switches to the alternate teleprompter-driven captions path.

Shafer said that KTBS/KPXJ is likely to acquire a second enCaption4 unit at some point in the future.

For more information, visit www.enco.com.  

FREMONT, Calif.—Digital Nirvana has pulled the curtain back on its new cloud-based closed-captioning and metadata enhancement system, Trance. Meant to provide new efficiencies for captioning and subtitling workflows, Trance offers features that include a cloud-based infrastructure, an integrated and automated speech-to-text engine and an easy-to-use interface.

Integrated with a proven STT engine, Trance has advanced speech-to-text capabilities for generating automatic, multilingual transcripts for every work item within the application.

The platform also centralizes workflows such as job allocation, caption edits, role assignment, report generation and status monitoring for streamlined project management. The cloud-based architecture allows for the access of content from anywhere as well as eliminating the need for individual software installs and updates. In addition, Trance can ingest Avid assets directly for caption generation and/or metadata enhancement.

Users have the ability to access media assets from cloud storage, Avid Media Central, SFTP, local servers or through an API, with the final output able to be automatically converted into multiple sidecar formats and sent to predefined destinations.

Digital Nirvana is expected to feature the Trance system at its NAB Show New York booth, N369.

WASHINGTON—The FCC has acquiesced to requests from the NAB and NCTA-The Internet & Television Association to shift the comment deadlines for the proposed rules for live closed captioning by a month. The deadlines, which were previously set for Sept. 13 and Spet. 30, are now set for Oct. 15 for comments and Oct. 30 for reply comments.

NAB and NCTA filed a motion to extend the deadline on Aug. 26 because of a conference that is scheduled for Oct. 2 between the associations and the deaf and hard of hearing community, arguing the extension would allow them “to prepare comments that reflect closed captioning quality discussions” during the conference.

The FCC found that the NAB and NCTA showed good cause for the extension that would serve the public interest.

At the NAB Show New York 2018, Global Media Solutions and Services Provider Digital Nirvana will present its powerful content-based metadata creation app Metadator for AVID media platform users, cloud-based closed caption generation and caption retrieval and synchronization service, and the latest version of its flagship Media Monitoring Platform. With over two decades of industry experience, DN's expertise in the development and application of innovative solutions is unparalleled. Digital Nirvana's revolutionary workflow ensures the best in automation and customization, providing sustainable solutions to its customers.

Digital Nirvana will showcase its offerings at booth #N546 during NAB New York from October 17-18 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

NAB New York continues to be a significant part of our year-long efforts to pitch our branding and outreach to prospective clients,” said Hiren Hindocha, CEO, Digital Nirvana. “New York area broadcasters and content creators who were not able to attend NAB in Las Vegas or the IBC in Amsterdam have the opportunity to attend a quality trade show with many of the same players in their own backyard. We’re eager to demonstrate our new software and services at NAB New York and connect with our current and prospective customers during this high-profile, regional show.”

Metadator

Metadator will make its New York debut this year after its introduction at the NAB Show in Las Vegas during April last year. Metadator is an application that simplifies content-based metadata creation for AVID users. The application has the ability to export media from AVID, create metadata automatically over the cloud along with locators, automatically ingest and attach itself to the video asset present in AVID Interplay. It helps creating a searchable database within the AVID MAM infrastructure that has multiple benefits in an increasing metadata-centric media world. With the introduction of Metadator, Digital Nirvana has been able to serve the rapidly growing AVID user community across the globe.

Closed Caption Generation

At NAB New York, Digital Nirvana will also showcase its automated, cloud-based Closed Caption Generation service for all pre-recorded and online video content. The service is backed by a powerful workflow with proven speech-to-text at its core and levels of checks based on customer quality requirements. Considering the delivery requirements to multiple platforms, customers can now request for any or all standard formats for broadcast and IP delivery for video content.

Closed Caption Retrieval and Synchronization

Digital Nirvana’s Caption Lookup service is an effective way to quickly look up for captions from broadcast content, synchronize it, and reuse for online publishing. Captions associated with any broadcast content can easily be retrieved by submitting media clips over Rest API. Digital Nirvana's state-of-the-art Retrieval technology makes content retrieval easy by maintaining a fingerprint database for broadcast content along with associated closed captions for selected channels.

MonitorIQ Media Management Platform

Also making its appearance at NAB New York is Digital Nirvana’s MonitorIQ Media Management Platform, Version 5.2, a broadcast monitoring and logging system that offers a host of new user-friendly features, including support for H.264 recording, strengthened IPTV protocol support for and updated calendar controls. MonitorIQ delivers a full range of multi-channel signal monitoring, logging, loudness monitoring, compliance, competitive analysis, advertisement verification, content repurposing and archiving functions - enabling broadcasters to capture live content from multiple sources live, and check the video for quality and compliance.

About NAB New York:

An annual trade show produced by the National Association of Broadcasters, NAB Show will be held during October 17 - 18, 2018 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York. With more than 14,000 registrants and 300+ exhibitors, NAB Show New York showcases the best in next-generation technology for media, entertainment and technology professionals from diverse industries. NAB is the largest show for media, entertainment and technology with conferences and workshops focused on television, film, satellite, online video, live events, podcasting, advertising, corporate A/V, production and post production.

About Digital Nirvana:

Founded in 1996, Digital Nirvana, with its repertoire of innovative solutions, specializes in empowering customers worldwide with knowledge management technologies. Digital Nirvana's comprehensive service portfolio includes media monitoring and analysis, media solutions and services, investment research services, and learning management services. Customers rely on Digital Nirvana to improve operational efficiencies, ensure compliance, reduce costs, and protect revenue streams. DN’s compliance driven solutions offers its customers unmatched quality, proven versatility, and best-in-class performance that help organizations to streamline operations and gain competitive advantage. Digital Nirvana is headquartered in Fremont, California with global delivery locations in Hyderabad and Coimbatore, India. 

BURLINGTON, MASS.—Volicon Vice President of Product Management Andrew Sachs has been announced as a presenter for the upcoming PBS Technology Conference. Sachs, along with PBS Senior Director of Media Operations Steve Scheel, will present a session titled “Closed Captioning Quality Lifecycle,” which he says will show how to effectively maintain broadcast compliance with FCC requirements.

Andrew Sachs

Among the points of discussion expected in Sachs and Scheel’s presentation are the comparisons of broadcast caption quality against the original caption quality report done prior to file-based distribution and how this approach enables identification and isolation of potential errors in the broadcast chain. It will also cover an automated solution that has been implemented at PBS for caption compliance and to improve viewer experience.

PBS TechCon16 is scheduled for April 13-15 and will take place at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. “Closed Captioning Quality Lifecycle” is slotted for 11:30 a.m. on April 15. 

BEAVERTON, ORE.—Tektronix and Nexidia have announced that they will team up to provide automated analysis of closed caption content to Tektronix’s Sentry video monitor suite using the Nexidia Comply software.

Sentry

In its current model, Sentry can verify the technical elements of closed captions, like whether captions are present, appear at the right time or are properly placed. With Nexidia Comply software, Sentry will now have the ability to that the text in a closed caption is accurate with the spoken dialogue. This will make the Sentry compliant with FCC Title 47.

Nexidia Comply uses patented speech recognition technology to verify the validity of closed captions to the spoken word. No changes will be needed in workflow, monitoring or reporting processes with the integration to Sentry.

The Nexidia Comply software will be available in an upcoming release of Sentry.

Tektronix is a provider of test, measurement and monitoring technology based in Beaverton, Ore. Nexidia develops audio analysis applications for dialogue search and closed-captions and is headquartered in Atlanta.