Captions in PlayPosit

Why are captions important?

Captions assist learners viewing bulbs and can add to the retention rate of information that has been presented. In addition, if a viewer is on a mobile device, captions can help accommodate their experiences if they can't play audio out loud. This is a mandatory requirement of many bulbs that require Americans with Disabilities Act compliance as well.

Upload/Fetching captions in the Designer

Private video host

The PlayPosit 3.0 designer supports uploading .vtt and .srt caption files, as well as fetching caption files that are already attached to video streams from other media hosts like YouTube, Kaltura, and MediaSite.

YouTube captions

1. Switch to the Video Segments tab.
2. Click the triple dots icon for the video you want to caption and select Edit Video Segment.
3. Click Customize.
4. From here, you can either drag and drop caption files directly over the dialog menu or click View Available YouTube Captions to retrieve existing caption files for that stream.
Note:

• If you are part of an institutional license, all captions except the auto-generated captions will be auto-fetched to the Bulb.
• To enable live transcripts for YouTube videos, you must view captions to import caption files.
• There are key differences between Free, Pro, and Institutional users when fetching captions.
  • Pro users must press the view button to receive captions on all YouTube videos.
  • Institutional users will have captions automatically fetched when adding YouTube videos.
  • Free users will not have the option to fetch auto-generated captions from YouTube videos.





5. After clicking the View Available YouTube Captions button, click the check mark next to the captions file needing to be uploaded to the video segment.

6. Lastly, click Download to add the caption file to the video segment. 

To learn more about how to set your captions to autoplay in your bulb first open the instructor profile and then, click here. 

Note: If multiple captions are fetched to the video segments, learners will see the first caption on the list by default, and they can select other captions in the setting. Instructors can rearrange the order of the captions in the list by dragging the icon in front of them. Also, for captions fetched from YouTube, if there is an English caption (not auto-generated) in the list, PlayPosit will display it as default regardless of its order.



Note: We recommend checking all .srt and .vtt files with an srt checker before uploading. This is to ensure that any formatting errors can be identified and corrected, so that do not affect playback. If there are errors in the captions file try running this recommended online checker to fix the file https://subtitletools.com/srt-cleaner.

1. Click the Add Video button in the Video Segments stepper.

2. There are two options to upload videos for requesting captions.
   Option 1:  Upload Video button (if you belong to an institution that has video hosting)
   Option 2: Paste an URL to the video into the  Input URL field. 

   1. 

3. After making your selection and the video has finished uploading click the Customize button.
4. Click the Caption Orders button.



5. Click Submit Order.
6. You will now see a processing message.
7. Processing can take some time depending on the length of your video clip. After your captions finish processing, usually within 24 hours, refresh the designer. You will see the captions appear for your video clip. Enable them by clicking on the settings gear located on the bottom right corner of the Designer, and selecting the specific caption file.

How to edit captions

Launch the Designer and make sure that captions are already present on the bulb.

1. In the Video Segments tab, select the CC (closed captions) button on a video with a caption file.  
2. Click the captions file dropdown menu that needs to be edited.
3. Select the pencil icon.
4. The captions editor will open in a new tab. Click on the text box of the caption line that needs to be edited.
5. Enter in new text for the caption at the given timestamp. To find the exact timing for a caption in a bulb, switch back to the PlayPosit Designer tab and reference the timestamp in the bottom left of the screen when a caption appears. 
   Note:  Timestamps are not editable and cannot be changed. 

   

   Edit the caption as needed at that time stamp on the captions editor page.

   Note:  Caption lines must have text, they cannot be left blank. 

   

6. When editing is complete click the Save Captions button. 
7. Captions will be saved when a toast saying Captions successfully updated appears.
8. Close the tab and return to the designer. The newly edited captions file will be automatically added to the video segment.

How to download captions

Download captions for learners who need a copy of the transcripts. 

In the designer

1. Select the video and click the Captions tab. 
2. Click the drop down arrow of the caption file that you would like to download. 
3. Select the copy icon to copy the caption URL. 
4. Paste the URL into a new tab. Right click on the screen and select Save As. This will save a copy of the captions that can be provided to the learner. 

How to enable captions

In the designer

1. Once captions are automatically fetched or uploaded, you may use them in the designer. When previewing a video clip, select the captions you would like to use by clicking the Settings Gear.
2. Then select the captions you would like displayed from the drop down.

In the player

1. Once captions are automatically fetched or uploaded, you may use them in the player. When previewing a bulb in the player, select the captions you would like to use by clicking the Settings Gear.
2. Then select the captions you would like displayed from the drop down.
3. In the player you may also view a transcript of your captions by clicking Transcript in the sidebar.

Show captions only in transcript

Instructors can disable the captions and only show the transcript on the sidebar for learners. Please follow the steps below to enable this feature.

1. There are two ways to access the bulb settings:
   1. On my bulbs page, click the thumbnail image of the desired bulb and select Settings.

      

   2. In the bulb designer, select the Review tab on the top.

      

2. Expand the Playback options.

   

3. Select the “Disable captions for this video” option, then select the “Make transcript available” option.

   

4. Click Save change.

   

Learners can also toggle whether to show the captions while displaying the transcript from the PlayPosit Player. Please click the gear icon on the lower right of the player, and select the “ Show captions only in transcript” option.

Set captions playback preferences

To set playback preferences for all the bulbs in your PlayPosit account, follow these steps.

1. Click your User Profile in the left sidebar.
2. Scroll down in your user profile until you reach the Bulb Defaults section.
3. Toggle on Enable captions on for all videos. If the toggle is on, captions will automatically display for all of your bulbs. If the toggle is off, no captions will automatically display on all of your bulbs.
Note: A bulb that has multiple co-owners will abide by the caption preferences of the bulb's first owner.

Caption complexity

Determine a video's approximate grade level by analyzing the complexity of the available captions. 

In the PlayPosit Designer, upload captions or Fetch the available captions. Note: Auto-generated captions are not currently supported for this feature. Click here for more information on how to add captions. 

Once captions are added to a Bulb, the Caption Complexity icon will become available. 

Select the captions from the dropdown menu to view Caption Complexity Visualizer. 

Move the cursor over a point in time to view the complexity at a specific part in the video. 

Troubleshooting

My captions have typos

There may be cases in which captions provided by your caption provider are not accurate. In the case where the user has ordered captions through PlayPosit from an external caption provider such as a private video host, the user will be able to edit the captions using the following steps:

1. Select the captioned video segment and switch to the Captions tab.
2. Click the copy icon for the caption file to be edited. 
3. Use Amara (or your caption editor of choice) to edit your caption file.
4. Upload the edited caption file to the PlayPosit Designer (more instructions here)

My captions aren't displaying

Caption format issues can cause caption files to not display in the player. 

1. Select the captioned video segment and switch to the Captions tab.
2. Click the link icon below the caption file you wish to edit.
3. Use SRT cleaner (or your caption cleaner of choice) to reformat your caption file.
4. Upload the edited caption file to the PlayPosit Designer (more instructions here).