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Proxy Video & How to Upload it

How to create a proxy movie

You can use any video editing software (Final Cut Pro, Avid, Premiere, QuickTime Pro, Windows Movie Maker, or a number of free video utilities) to save your video into a compressed format which is faster to transfer online. (If you do an internet search for “video converter,” you’ll find lots of information and free software which can convert your file.) Usually there will be a export preset for “iPod Quality”, “mobile device”, “web streaming video” etc. which creates a small file that is good enough for us to do the closed captioning. The most important consideration is to keep the original frame rate of the video (i.e. don’t convert it to a lower frame rate as this might affect the timing of the captions.)

If you’re still not sure what format to choose…

QuickTime (.mov, .mp4): Use “iPod” preset if available, or 320×240, H.264 or MPEG-4 codec 400kbps, AAC audio 128kbps.

Windows Media: 320×240 400kbps (broadband medium quality preset)

Note on Burnt-in Timecodes: If you can insert Burnt-in Timecodes near the top of the video, it helps captioner to match time codes for the captions with the displayed time codes on the screen. Do not worry at all if you do not have burnt-in time codes.

1. Use our Box.com space

Please login to Box.com and upload videos and other files to your space.

If you do not have a Box.com account to share with us, please contact our service department to create an account on our Box.com page. After you receive an invitation from Box.com as initiated by Caption Depot, please follow the Box.com link for details.

2. Or use your file transfer systems

If you have your own FTP or web server, you can simply e-mail us a link to the file. You can also use file upload services such as YouSendIt, File Factory, Rapidshare, DropBox, iDisk, etc. to send us a download link.

No need to send a physical tape to Caption Depot

There is no need to mail us a video tape or a hard drive containing huge video files, even if your end product needs to be pristine HD quality. For virtually all types of closed captioning, you can simply upload a proxy movie. A proxy movie is a smaller sized video file which is easier to upload, and which gives our captioners a reference for the picture and audio when creating the closed captions.

Once we create a caption file and send it to you, you can easily combine it together with your original full-quality video. This is called e-Captioning and was invented by Caption Depot. Your end result will be a full-quality, full-resolution, broadcast-ready video file or master tape with closed captions, but without the headaches of needing to ship video tapes or upload massive video files.