Video Captioning
Please email Digital Video Services (DVS) (video-support@harvard.edu) if you have any questions.
Harvard University Preferred Video Captioning Vendor
To support staff in their video captioning efforts, Harvard has partnered with 3Play Media as a preferred online video captioning vendor. This selection was based on factors including accuracy, turnaround time, cost, workflow, integration with video platforms, and range of services.
HUIT Digital Video Services and University Disability Services and 3Play Media have negotiated special Harvard pricing that applies to all Harvard schools and departments.
More details on the 3Play Media Harvard captioning service, including how to sign up for an account, and pricing details.
HUIT Digital Video Services Recommendations
Aspect ratios & frames per second
- Always create the presentation and any associated slides in a 16 x 9 Display Aspect Ratio. The number of pixels should preferably be 1920 x 1080; however, it needs to be at least 1280 x 720 pixels.
- Frame rates (frames per second – fps) should be between 24 fps and 30 fps.
Voice-over
When recording a voice-over for a slide presentation, the presenter’s computer should be completely setup BEFORE the presenter starts talking and recording. This is important, because without this, the video image and voice-over can be out of sync when closed captioning is invoked.
Closed captioning
Harvard’s Digital Video Services need the captioning vendor to deliver both a .VTT file as well as an .SCC file that match the frame rate of the corresponding video (i.e., the .MOV file). Without these files, closed captioning cannot be created for the video.