At NAB2008, SysMedia announced a strategic range of product additions for closed-captioning services for the U.S. market. The new version of the company’s InFILE software now enables the embedding of Line 21 closed-captioning data into SD or HD MPEG-2 media files. In a file-based workflow, embedding Line 21 caption data (or European and Australian teletext captions) in digitized media files compares to the traditional method of striping a tape with VBI signals prior to broadcast.

This means that broadcasters can now take a small caption file (delivered by e-mail from an outsourced captioning facility, for example) and easily add closed-captioning into their digitized assets in a tapeless environment. The Windows-based application works in the same way as an SDI-based inserter but operates on MPEG-2 files, eliminating the need for a manual dub or reingestion.

SysMedia also announced new features for its established closed-captioning preparation system, WinCAPS. The new features add extra productivity and export capability. New exports include Blu-ray Disc and support for W3C Timed Text for MXF and Flash video, enabling captioners and subtitlers to extend their range of delivery platforms.

In addition, there is a new feature that builds on the success of speech recognition tools for real-time captioning transcription by providing an option to integrate speech input to speed offline captioning. The new SpeechTime feature means that a trained respeaker can capture dialog and initial timing for suitable material in just one pass through the media file.

For more information, visit www.sysmedia.com.