Tools for Captioning and Describing Video
When it comes to captioning video files, a designer has many options from which to choose. All of the three main streaming video formats have built-in tools that allow you to add captions to the videos. There are also free and purchasable third-party applications that can help with captioning video. Both Real's RealPlayer and Apple's QuickTime use Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) to combine the text track and video, while Microsoft's Windows media player uses Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI).
MAGpie, Media Access Generator, is produced by the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH (PBS) in Boston, Massachusetts. This is a tool for producing closed captions, descriptive video, and outputting files in multiple formats including QuickTime, RealPlayer, SMIL, and SAMI.
Apple QuickTime Pro supports multiple tracks for video, audio, closed captioning, description and others. The limitation of the current version is that captions and other accessibility functions are all part of one QuickTime file and are therefore not read by screen readers.
SMIL, Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C specification for coordinating synchronized display of multiple media tracks such video, audio, captions, descriptions, and other accessibility functions. SMIL is an XML application. RealPlayer can play SMIL documents, allowing users to toggle audio descriptions and captions on and off.
SAMI, Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange, is Microsoft Windows Media Player’s format for closed captioning.
