Regardless of your workflow - Closed Captions, Open Captions, Subtitles (Web), or Player Integration - follow these best practices to ensure smooth setup and trouble-free live broadcasts or events.
If you have questions, our support team is here to help. Start a live chat on this page or use the chat bubble in the lower-right corner of your Media Dashboard.
Technical Guidelines
Use high-quality audio equipment.
Clear audio is critical for accurate captions. Use directional microphones whenever possible and avoid built-in laptop or camera mics.Maintain proper microphone distance.
Keep the microphone at least 10 cm (5 inches) from your mouth to prevent distortion and ensure clarity.Use a stable internet connection.
Prefer a wired Ethernet connection over Wi-Fi to minimize latency and prevent interruptions.Choose an appropriate display device.
For best results, use a device with a screen width of 1024 pixels or higher.Avoid changing delay settings mid-broadcast.
If you must adjust Editor delay settings, stop the output stream first to prevent time shifts between video and captions.Understand real-time delay options.
Captions may appear with 1, 2.5, 10, 60, 120, or 180-second delay, depending on your selected workflow.
Note: Captions set to 1, 2.5, or 10 seconds delay will not display in the Editor preview.Restart long sessions.
Do not exceed 8 hours per captioning session. For longer events, stop the captioning service for one minute and restart while keeping the live stream active.Avoid silent sessions.
If a session runs without audio for 20 minutes, it will automatically disconnect. To prevent this:
Play background music or continuous audio during short breaks.
For planned breaks longer than 15 minutes, keep the live stream running but stop the caption generation.
Restart captions 5 minutes before resuming the event.
Verify language, delay, model, and region settings before going live again.
Recover from stopped captions.
If captions unexpectedly stop generating, go to your Channel > Captions tab, stop captioning, wait 30 seconds, and start again.
Important: How to Recover from Stopped Captions.
If captions unexpectedly stop generating, go to your Channel > Captions tab, stop captioning, wait 30 seconds, and start again.
Operational Guidelines
Avoid overlapping speech.
When multiple people speak at once, captions may become inaccurate or incomplete. Encourage turn-taking.Allow time when switching languages.
Wait at least 1 minute after changing the spoken language before restarting captioning.
Do not stop the live stream unless changing the caption method (Closed, Open, or Data Feed).
Stop the captioning task, wait one minute, and then restart.Follow proper shutdown order.
When ending your session, stop components in this order to prevent stream disruption:
Destinations → Captioning Service → Channel.Monitor usage to manage costs.
Automated captioning is billed hourly. Stop the captioning service when not in use to avoid unnecessary charges.Edit after the broadcast.
To refine captions post-event:
Navigate to Sources > Content Management > Recorded Captions, locate your file, rename or edit it, then export in your preferred format.
Set Caption Delay
Read this article and learn how to set stream delay for optimal captions & subtitles generation!
Following these best practices ensures the most accurate captions, smooth event operation, and optimal performance from Videolinq’s GenAI captioning engine.