Make Videos More Accessible; Telestream Updates Caption Software

While video marketers know that adding captions to online videos improves accessibility and search engine performance, they might still be confused how to do it. Updated software from Telestream aims to simplify the process.

Americans with hearing loss number over 48 million, says Telestream, and that's over 20 percent of the population. Adding closed captions to online videos helps a larger group of viewers than many would have thought. Captions also help in noisy conditions, Telestream notes, such as restaurants or airports.

That's why transcoding company Telestream acquired CPC and its two captioning products -- MacCaption and CaptionMaker -- in August. Telestream is now releasing the first major upgrade to both of those products since the acquisition.

Both titles are now upgraded to version 6.0, and with the upgrades Telestream is extending the captioning abilities to a wider audience. The upgrades promise more complete features at competitive prices.

MacCaption and CaptionMaker let video publishers author and edit captions. They can also repurpose captions, so videos used on television that include TV captions can easily be repurposed for online use. The applications comply with FCC regulations that require captions on TV, online, and mobile video.

Both products now offer simplified product configurations. The starter configuration, Desktop, is meant for companies getting started with caption authoring. It lists for $1,095. The Pro configuration supports more formats and includes TV broadcast exporting. It lists for $5,750. Finally, the Enterprise configuration for $10,950 can be automated in high-volume environments.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net