How to Transcribe a Live Vimeo Video With a Third Party Tool

Live streaming on Vimeo is a great way to connect with your audience in an authentic way. However, to ensure that your audience can fully understand what you are saying, no matter where they come from and whether or not they have any hearing impairments, you’ll need a video transcription. Here’s all you need to know about transcribing your Vimeo live stream.

Can Vimeo automatically transcribe my video?

Yes, if you have a premium or enterprise Vimeo account, Vimeo’s live closed captioning software will add captions to your live videos. Once your video is finished, you can download your Web VTT file with all of your captions for editing or reusing. Vimeo’s automated captioning service uses Google’s API, although you can also choose to set up your event with manual transcriptions or a third party transcription service.

Vimeo’s paid Livestream Studio software can automatically transcribe your live video audio, as well as controlling numerous aspects of your video setup and production. If you like, you can use it to stream your transcripts to various free video hosting platforms, including YouTube. While Livestream Studio is really useful for improving your broadcast’s quality, if you are looking for highly accurate captions, you may like to consider using a specialised service for your transcripts.

How to transcribe a live Vimeo video

In order to display captions on your live Vimeo video with a third party service, first of all, you will need to choose a service provider that supports live transcription, such as Happy Scribe.

Vimeo needs to receive an RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) that contains captions so that they can be displayed on your live video. Your third-party caption service will need to enrich the RTMP signal with your captions before it is inputted into the Vimeo platform.

RTMP is basically a streaming protocol that is essential for online conferences and live streams. To use a third party transcription service for your Vimeo live video, you will need to push your video content to your transcription provider’s RTMP server. Once the audio is received, the captions are generated automatically and then pushed directly to your stream URL at your live stream hosting platform. There is no need to use a file downloader or to upload your transcripts with a click, the whole system is automatic.

Your transcription platform will be able to best advise you on how they will set up your live Vimeo video subtitles. While some sites have some interesting technical documentation that you can wade through, the best solution is to contact the company directly so that you will receive the best performance for your set up.

Note that It is important to do a couple of test runs before you start to live stream with captions. You can set up your live transcript as advised by your transcription provider, then create an event and set the privacy settings to private. To verify that your subtitles are working correctly you will need to check your Vimeo video clip’s page as they will not show in your live preview window.

Alternatively, for your pre-recorded videos, you have plenty more options with numerous online tools that provide captioning and subtitle services. If you are looking for an easy to use, highly accurate service for your Vimeo video recording, you’ll want to try out Happy Scribe. They provide both human and software generated transcripts, an interactive online editor and they are currently offering a free trial to help you get started with video audio transcription.

How to choose the best live transcription service

Choosing the best live transcription service for Vimeo can be a little tricky. Here’s what you need to consider before you make your choice.

Accuracy

You’ll want to make sure that your chosen transcription service has the most accurate captions for your live stream. Not all automatic transcription tools have the same accuracy levels and the figures given can vary wildly depending on your audio content.

We recommend trying out a captioning service with a video recording before moving on to live transcription. This way you get to see just how accurate their service is, plus you'll also get a good idea of how easy it will be to work with them.

Customer Service

Setting up captions for Vimeo live videos can initially seem to be a fairly complex process. However, if you choose an experienced transcription specialist with excellent customer service, they will be able to explain the process to you. This will allow you to set up your captioning service with ease and to better concentrate on your video.

Contact several companies well before your live stream date and discuss your needs with them. Evaluate their responses and get in touch with the ones who take the time to send you personalised advice without a lot of complex jargon.

Custom Vocabulary

If you tend to use a lot of specialised or unusual words in your videos, you may want to look out for a transcription platform that allows you to add custom words. This will help the software to correctly transcribe your audio to text, ensuring fewer mistakes.

Obviously, you will want to use the software tools at least a few times before your live stream video so that you can gauge how well it performs and which words are causing problems. Choosing a platform with a free trial will give you a better idea of the accuracy of their transcript text files before you commit to paying.

Extra Features

The best transcription platforms have numerous extra features to improve your work flow and to make the whole transcription process go more smoothly. Speaker identification will help to make your subtitles clearer for your audience. They can also provide a great solution to organising and searching through your transcript text files. After your live video is completed, you may want to make some adjustments to your subtitles, so an interactive online transcription editor can be really helpful. Some versions also allow you to highlight your text, as well as making notes and sharing your transcript files.

Final thoughts on transcribing your live Vimeo video

Live streaming is a great way to expand your reach and to better connect with your audience. However, it can be a challenging format to master. Choosing the best transcription service for your Vimeo live stream will enable you to better concentrate on your performance, rather than worrying about the accuracy of your subtitles. While setting up captions for your live Vimeo video can be a little tricky the first time around, with the advice of a professional transcription platform, you’ll be able to get everything set up more easily and in less time.