Where do captions come from?
Captions can be placed on a video signal in one of the two methods: Real-time (Live) or Post Production. Real-time captioning is a style of captioning that is performed for live events (i.e. news, sports, live music, telethons). It is used in situations where it is impossible to provide post display or off-line captioning for a taped program due to the tight turnaround or technical challenges. Real-time captions are produced by a specially trained real-time captionist who uses a steno machine (used by court reporters) to “write” captions which are then translated through their software, sent to the broadcaster via modem and embedded onto Line 21 of the VBI. There are three types of Post Production captioning: Off-line (pop-on) captioning is used primarily for movies, or episodic productions where turnaround times or delivery schedules allow. This style of captioning is more laborious and requires anywhere from eight to ten hours to produce one hour of off-line captioning. This allows f
