SysMedia Powers Sweden's First Ever Live Translation In Subtitles

Specialist post production company Svensk Mediatext has used SysMedia's WinCAPS subtitling software to achieve a Swedish broadcasting milestone for Kanal 5 - and a global rarity - near real-time translation subtitles for a live entertainment show.
Svensk Mediatext is well known for its high quality work in the country, supplying language versioning, subtitlng and voiceover services to broadcasters, including SVT and TV4 and high profile cinema releases. The company was therefore approached by Kanal 5 to solve the challenge of providing live translation open subtitles for a new chat show Sondags party med Filip & Fredrik. The Sunday entertainment show is beamed in from New York and features both Swedish and English-speaking guests.
Lars Thorsell, Head of Technical Production with Svensk Mediatext, explained: "The challenge was that Kanal 5 did not want a delay greater than a minute, in order to keep the live aspect.
"Translating and subtiling 10 minutes of television normally takes three hours, so we were looking at a delay of one hour with maybe three-four translators if we were to do it the traditional way."
Thorsell continued: "We had tried using an interpreter dictating to a specialist Velotypist producing live word-by-word subtiltes, but that left too much of a delay between programme and subtitles and was unacceptable to Kanal 5."
SysMedia recommended use of its WinCAPS software, a truly multiuser live subtitling system, to ensure both accuracy of the subtitle text and accurate sychronisation with the programme audio even when using only a short programme delay loop of 50-60 seconds.
An interpreter listens to the non-delayed programme and dictates a translation to a Velotypist, who inputs that translated text into a shared, multi-user WinCAPS document in real-time.
A subtitle editor then quickly reviews the translated subtitles and corrects any small mistakes. The final subtitler listens to the delayed broadcast and manually cues out each subtitle in synchrony with the programme audio.
Thorsell added: "We are extremely happy with the way the system works. There are only two multiuser system vendors and we had a terrible experience with the other. The interest and the support from SysMedia has been excellent. Whenever there was the slightest thing we wanted to change, they found a solution. In Sweden, subtitles are part of almost any TV or film experience and the general viewing public expects quality of both translation and timing."
Andrew Lambourne, Chief Executive Officer of SysMedia said: "We particularly enjoyed this project - Svensk Mediatext knew exactly what they wanted to do and within a few days they were trialling a system which perfectly fitted their needs.
"WinCAPS is designed by professionals for professionals and live translation subtitling is one of the most demanding challenges broadcaster subtitlers face. We're proud to have provided a solution so quickly."
(KMcA/BMcc)