3Play Media Introduces Virtual Caption Encoding

3Play Media, a video accessibility provider, has launched a live virtual caption encoding solution that streamlines the live captioning workflow from listening through delivery.

With the live virtual encoding solution, 3Play Media customers send a real-time messaging protocol (RTMP) stream to 3Play Media's platform, where 3Play Media generates automated or professionally created captions. That stream with encoded captions is then delivered to any platform supporting RTMP streams and the decoding of CEA-608 captions, the standard captioning protocol for analog television.

The 3Play Media live virtual caption encoding solution includes the following:

• An event scheduling interface.
• Low latency captions that will appear at about a two-second delay vs. the broadcast standard of four to six seconds after the visual content.
• Live Auto Caption failover. In the case human captioners lose their connections, 3Play Media's solution will automatically failover to automatic speech recognition captions.
• The ability to send captions to any streaming platforms that support RTMP-based streaming protocols and decoding of CEA-608 captions.
• Post-event that guarantees 99 percent accuracy. After the event, the raw transcript of the entire event can be downloaded and upgraded.

"Captioning of live video is causing significant challenges for corporations, higher education institutions, and over-the-top (OTT) platforms that broadcast live events. There simply are not enough resources to watch carefully over every detail of a live event, especially once it has started, and there's more need than ever to ensure accessibility is seamless,"Josh Miller, co-CEO and co-founder of 3Play Media, said in a statement. "Our virtual caption encoding solution takes a modern approach to live captioning, simplifying captioning workflows to deliver highly accurate and low-latency captions to our customers, ensuring a seamless experience."

Live virtual caption encoding is a new product offering made possible by 3Play Media's acquisition of Captionmax last year,