Videolinq version 4 is here and it will be released in two parts. Version 4.0 was built based on feature requests and specific recommendations we received from customers in 2022. The main two features of Videolinq 4.0 are:
Part 1: Automated closed captioning service.
Part 2: Virtual online meetings for up to 10 participants.
There is a lot to write and explain about these two exciting new features. In the next weeks, we will make more articles available, publish educational webinars, and help everyone adopt Videolinq to their specific use case. In the meantime, here are the highlights of part one. Stay tuned for part two, coming up in June!
New Interface
Create Sources, Destinations, and Schedules moved to the left side. The "Go Live" button is at the upper right side and displays the broadcast counter.
Expand the control bar under the preview player to access the public Player section, select Captions, set Privacy, or see the RTMP Encoder settings.
Automated Captioning
Click on the closed captions (CC) tab to access the old caption options, or begin using our new automated speech recognition (ASR) service.
Captions Editor
Edit is a new way to add automated closed captioning to live video, with the ability to improve text accuracy by editing captions, before they are displayed! Edit offers great tools to create closed captioning:
Automated closed captioning for live video (Live).
Custom stream output delay for manual error correction.
Ability to export the caption file or transcript after the broadcast ends.
Create caption files and transcripts from recorded media (VOD).
Don't have caption files to use with recorded media? No problem! Upload MP4 files as you did before, but now, click on the file and start the automated closed captioning processes. When the captions preparation is done click on the "Editor".
In Editor, correct mistakes you find, and export the ready-to-use data as SRT, VTT file, or as a transcript in PDF format.
Supported Languages
Automated closed captioning for video-on-demand services (captions and transcript file creation) supports 60+ languages. Adding real-time closed captioning to live video is limited by the CEA-608 standard and supports only the English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese languages.
Known issues our team is working on:
Some languages will not show proper captions in the "Edit for media files" preview player.
When using languages with non-Latin characters, the printed transcripts will show blank lines in the PDF output.
Service Fees
Automated closed captioning is a fee-based service billed by the minute. The first 2 hours are free. The cost of the service is priced at $0.50 per minute. We will be offering the service at an introductory rate of $0.25 per minute until October 31st, 2023.
Learn more about when this fee will apply. To use the automated closed captioning service customers must have a Videolinq paid subscription plan.
Few tips to remember when using the service:
Real-time live automated closed captioning will show on the video only 60 seconds after the task begins.
Do not change the Editor delay settings during a live broadcast to prevent the video from shifting in time. Before making the change, stop the output stream to destinations or to a player.
Stop publishing the live stream to destinations before stopping the automated closed captioning service. This will prevent a jump in the live stream. Recommended order: Stop the destinations, stop the automated captions service, and finally stop the channel.
Real-time live automated closed captioning service is limited to a maximum of 8 hours. To cover broadcasts of 8 hours or more, stop the automated closed captioning service process for 2 minutes, leave the live stream running, and start the closed captioning service again.
Online Virtual Meetings
The COVID Pandemic is credited for making online virtual meetings a technology we all use to communicate. While customers of popular web meeting platforms such as Zoom or Streamyard take advantage of Videolinq's closed captioning, player, or multi-stream distribution, others asked why they can't host their meetings on Videolinq. Part two of Videolinq 4.0 will introduce a way to conduct these online meetings with Videolinq:
Invite up to 10 guests to a virtual conference room.
Add live video (RTMP pull).
Display pre-recorded media.
Support custom backgrounds/green screens.
Host controlled meeting layout.
Use the meeting program output as a channel video source.
Integration with Videolinq's Studio.
The new online virtual meeting service is coming in the Winter of 2024.