Most broadcasters use Live Closed Captioning (CC) services which are VERY pricey per hour or use a CC service for BetaSP/Digibeta tapes which can run $1000 per hour of programming and you can lose two generations. We decided years ago to go in-house with our CC and we hire a Transciptionist (usually a former court reporter) to handle all the script preparation and time stamping.

We have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in 5 years using CPC's products. We still use the Windows version for the transcriptionist (CPC-700NLE), export a ONL file and use that in the Edit suites (FCP) with MacCaption. We have a dongle, which roams from room to room so we don't have to buy multiple versions.

The whole process is a pain, but we are required by the FCC to do it and our audience appreciates it and lets us know when there is a problem. We use Line 21 mostly but as we are moving to Web and DVD based distribution, we are beginning to use the DV and MPEG capabilities.

Obviously this product is not for the independent producer creating a limited amount of projects, but for Broadcastors, TV stations and Post houses who are moving completely away from tape based editing (although CPC-700 with a hardware encoder can do tape based CC) MacCaption is a great product.

Brad Loflin
Senior Editor
JHM, Inc.