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Subtitling recognised as essential to Broadcasters to meet Accessibility Goals

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New regulations have come into force that require audio-visual content to be made accessible to everyone, includinghearing-impaired people. As a consequence, this has generated a seismic shift in the broadcast industry’s attitude towards subtitles, resulting in increased demand for subtitling and captioning solutions. Broadcasters all around the worldnow have to ensure that their scheduled programmes have sufficient subtitling to meet these new guidelines.

Optimistically, subtitling is finally being recognised as essential, and no longer merely an optional add-on, as previously perceived. This positive move has revealed how valuable subtitles are to programme makers and filmmakers, as they not only promote growth, but they also dramatically increase profits by reaching out to vast global audiences in different languages.

Until recently, regulators only specified legal targets for linear channels. With OTT platforms dominating the market, the focus on regulating access services is switching to this area of content delivery.  Targets for accessibility are set by regulatory bodies in each country. For example, in the UK the targets are set by Ofcom, and other regulators include ACMA in Australia, FCC in North America, CRTC in Canada, CSA in France and CNMC in Spain.

However, meeting these guidelines can seem like a daunting challenge for broadcasters that have to work in fast-paced environments that demand constant live content and consistently updated news. This is where companies such as PBT EU come in and can confidently ensure that their broadcast customers are well-prepared ahead of time, to meet these obligations.

CEO of PBT EU Ivanka Vassileva notes, “There is a growing understanding of accessibility, and the definition is broad – from motor disabilities, sensory, to cognitive, the key element is to ensure that content is made accessible to everybody and that no one is excluded. Broadcasters need software that provides them with flexibility so they can enjoy a seamless in-house network to share live output across multiple different production teams on a global scale. With reliable and affordable software systems on the market like SubtitleNEXT, subtitling should no longer be a regulatory burden for broadcasters. SubtitleNEXT is a convenient all-in-one solution that can be used for captioning live events and offline content in real time. It can stream content in multiple formats that are suitable for linear broadcasting, including VOD platforms and social media platforms.”

SubtitleNEXT can also be set up to be based around remote working. Working in live news environments, a system enabling subtitlers to have access to newsrooms running orders is vital, as is the ability to deal with late schedule changes and breaking news.

In addition, it is crucial that skilled professionals working in subtitling have a good command of the language they are working in with regards to spelling and grammar.  Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is becoming more prominent and used by many of PBT EU’s partners and customers such as Linxstream in Dubai and AppTek in the States. AppTek hasintegrated its award-winning NMT, ASR and Intelligent Line Segmentation (ILS) technologies directly into SubtitleNEXT captioning, subtitling and localization platform, further enhancing SubtitleNEXT’s subtitling and captioning workflows.

Veronique Denis is a well-respected accessibility professional and specialist in real-time subtitling with speech recognition and also Co-founder of Max Live Media Access Services in Belgium. She has already been creating accessible audiovisual content for the hearing and visually impaired since 2015. She shares her thoughts on the topic of media accessibility, “Over the last few years, people have started consuming media in a different way: they consume audiovisual content anywhere and anytime. This is challenging for broadcasters wanting to meet accessibility standards and want their content subtitled on different platforms. SubtitleNEXT enables us to meet broadcasters’ demands and high standards by being our one stop shop for all of our subtitling needs: live, semi–live or pre–recorded, the result is always of high quality.”

Sonya Chakarova who is the Sales and Marketing Director at Pro Systems adds, “We are impressed with PBT EU’s refreshing approach and their impact in the broadcast sector with SubtitleNEXT. This remarkable software platform is playing a relevant role, not only in exceptionally constructive and helpful areas such as advancing accessibility for the hearing-impaired, but also in helping to improve communication and boost subtitling creativity in the broadcasting, media, and creative industries with a viable and affordable solution.”

When it comes to film and television production, Professor Agnieszka Szarkowska who works at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, passionately believes that subtitling is a creative process which requires ample time, experience, and imagination and believes that in order toensure the highest quality in subtitling, filmmakers should be interested in how their subtitled films can “speak” to audiences across the globe. She told the SubtitleNEXT team that she believes subtitling is crucial for the international success of a film, or TV series. “And yet”, she says, “It is surprising how little attention filmmakers typically allocate to subtitling, which – from their perspective – is probably merely an afterthought, a minor part of the post-production process.”

Professor Szarkowska adds further, “I am surprised how many content owners tend to downplay the role of subtitling by resourcing it to people with no experience or by allocating scant amount of funding for subtitling. Filmmakers and content owners need to realise that good quality subtitling is an excellent investment, a brilliant way for their films to travel across borders, and definitely not something where they would want to cut  costs.

Having put so much effort into creating credible film dialogues, filmmakers wouldn’t want their text to be stifled by unidiomatic turn of phrase and poorly synchronised subtitles. When done unprofessionally, subtitling – instead of enabling the viewers immersion into the story world – only shatters their suspension of disbelief, annoys them, makes them switch off and feel disappointed with the film as a whole.”

Defined as an exceptionally dependable subtitling software platform, it is no surprise as to why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver.” Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features.

SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success. Throughout the entire pandemic, it has continued to support customers, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Many of the companies that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include Polsat, Kino Polska, OiV in Croatia, Listen Up in Bulgaria, AMC in Hungary, Hayat, HD Media, OBN, University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Doli Media Studio and The European School of Translation. Others include Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse where SubtitleNEXT was used for well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Sirens, Vikings, and others.

Recently Spain’s UCM and Hellenic American College of Greece adopted SubtitleNEXT to equip Masters in Translation students with key localization skills to prepare future subtitlers with a definitive career path to face the pace of demand in the translation and creative industries.

The SubtitleNEXT subtitling platform provides subtitling professionals with many toolsets that can significantly enhance their work, one example being the “live dictation” function which can be used in live subtitling workflows in order to caption news and events in real time which is quite an exciting new development. Many more exciting features have been released and more are on the horizon for 2021.

Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com for further updates on the latestnews and join the SubtitleNEXT club to stay in the “know”.

More about Ivanka Vassileva, CEO of PBT EU, please visitwww.pbteu.com  

CONTRIBUTORS’ CREDITS



Picture courtesy Liesje Brockley Photograph

 

Complutense University of Madrid embraces SubtitleNEXT for its AV Translation Prospectus

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For immediate release – 27 May 2021, Madrid Spain – The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has selected SubtitleNEXT for their subtitling prospectus. The SubtitleNEXT software line has been included in the audiovisual translation degree courses at the university’s Department of English Studies, Linguistics and Literature.

The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) is a well-respected public research and one of the oldest universities in the world. It registers over 85,000 students, ranking among Spain’s top universities and offers a vast selection of degrees, providing some of the most prestigious PhD programmes in the country.

Responding to the growing demand for further education in the AV translation field, UCM holds courses in AV translation and media accessibility training which provides students with a detailed introduction into translation and technical aspects related to linguistic accessibility in audiovisual media.

Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics and Translation at the Complutense University, Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo states, “We have already started using the SubtitleNEXT software in my media accessibility audiovisual translation classes here at UCM. The students are eager to master it, and it is working very well, alongside all the other activities we have in class for AVT training. It slots in perfectly and equips our students with a stunning set of toolsets too. We are impressed with the professional and flexible approach that is tailored by the SubtitleNEXT team to meet our requirements.”

Armed with an exceptional background in his field of expertise, Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo teaches English Studies and master’s degrees in English Linguistics at UCM. His extensive research and publications deal with corpus linguistics, audiovisual translation studies, specifically linguistic accessibility such as subtitling for the hard of hearing and audio description for vision-impaired people. He has also published a large number of articles in magazines on the topic, written several books on translation studies and audiovisual translation and has played a major role in the UAB Transmedia Research Group, and in the UCM Research Groups Application of information and communication technologies to translation and Research Group in literary translation. He also heads the UCM Translation, Audiovisual Translation (TAV) and Linguistic Accessibility (TRADAVAL) Research Group. (Further information here https://www.ucm.es/tradaval/)

In addition, Dr Juan Pedro received several grants for research stays at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and at the Imperial College in London. In 2018 he carried out a research stay at the Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) at University College London as well. He has recently been appointed as a member of the ISO standard committee on accessibility including the Spanish standardization agency AENOR for the UNE standards on accessibility.

Dr Juan Pedro is also involved in the “COST LEAD-ME” Project which celebrates its 50th year in 2021. It is the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and is a funding organisation for the creation of research networks. These networks offer an open space for collaboration among scientists across Europe, giving impetus to research advancements and innovation by promoting and spreading excellence, fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science and empowering and retaining young researchers and innovators. COST implements its mission by funding bottom-up, excellence-driven, open and inclusive networks for peaceful purposes in all areas of science and technology. (More info here https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19142/#tabs )

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva comments, “We are delighted to support Dr Juan Pedro and his team at the UCM. It is exciting to hear how passionate he is about his work and how enthusiastic his students are to learn how to use a new system such as SubtitleNEXT and engage with its features and capabilities for their work. It is inspiring to see our SubtitleNEXT platform playing such a vital role in such an established university of UCM’s calibre, which is a positive move forward for the industry, not only in Spain but also for future language and AV professionals worldwide that can follow their lead.”

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the SubtitleNEXT team has also been available to help assist universities that want to transition to remote training. Ivanka adds further, “We are in a position to support educational organisations such as universities and colleges with SubtitleNEXT licenses if they need to continue to work remotely during an evolving and changing situation.”

To find out more about SubtitleNEXT visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com

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Media Information

About PBT EU

What they do – PBTEU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and customisable engineering system integration to empower content providers, broadcast, production, and post-production professionals to operate efficiently at the forefront of an ever-evolving digital environment.


Who they are & Product Line – PBTEU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof.

A Global Company – PBTEU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria with a global outreach including centres outside of the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. www.pbteu.com

About UCM
Visit www.ucm.es for further information.

About Dr Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo
For further information about Dr Juan-Pedro-Rica-Peromingo, visit https://www.ucm.es/departamento-estudios-ingleses-linguistica-y-literatura/juan-pedro-rica-peromingo

“The Minari Controversy”

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Following the Korean-language movie success of Parasite, which made history in 2020 by becoming the first film in a foreign language to win a best picture Oscar, new American film Minari received a Golden Globe and is now the talk of Tinseltown.

It was directed by American film director / screenwriter Lee Isaac Chung and filmed in America. Minari is unlike “Parasite,” which was a dark satire about class and society in South Korea.

The SubtitleNEXT team approached a few prominent professional language specialists in the industry to get their views on Minari, with regards to subtitles and the awards controversy generally.

The Director of Localization of the Americas at Pixelogic Media as well as the co-founder and Administrator of ATA’s Audiovisual Division, Deborah Wexler offered to share her thoughts on the topic.

Deborah comments on what the Minari controversy is all about, “Minari is an American movie by an American writer filmed in the United States. The film portrays the life of an immigrant family from Korea with two different American Dreams (the wife’s and the husband’s), but seemingly with no place for both. Minari won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Picture instead of Best Picture.”

Deborah further points out, “Because most of the movie’s dialogue is in Korean, it does not qualify for the Best Picture category. According to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association rules: ‘Motion picture dramas, musicals or comedies with 50% or more English dialogue are eligible for the Best Motion Picture – Drama or Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy awards.’” ¹(See Footnote)

“To add fuel to the fire,” Deborah says, “It appears as though there have been exceptions to the rule, and those exceptions were not made for Minari.”

Deborah continues, “The diverse linguistic backgrounds of the US population create the engine that keeps pumping rich and vibrant words that are embraced by the English language as a whole. Some languages have the same number of words in their dictionary as they did three decades ago, but English just keeps expanding its vocabulary.

With the explosion of international  content creation, I would understand if the HFPA felt the need to distinguish between an American film award and an international film award to create a clear geographical distinction (with its own caveats, mind you).

If that is the goal, then one of the possible solutions would be to distinguish language from country of production. Perhaps something like Best Foreign Picture and Best American Picture. That would take language out of the equation.”

Deborah remarks, “This controversy reminds me of a joke I heard back when I was a kid:

[Jill: “I am French and speak French.”

Jack: “I am English and speak English.”

Paul: “I am American and speak English.”

Jack: “Why don’t you speak ‘American,’ Paul?”]

I think Minari does speak ‘American,’ Jack.”


On the topic concerning subtitling, a film like Minari is certainly good news for boosting subtitles as Professor Agnieszka Szarkowska, who works at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, believes that in order to ensure the highest quality in subtitling, filmmakers should be interested in how their subtitled films can “speak” to audiences across the globe. “I think it’s great to see another success of a non-English speaking film reaching out to international audiences. I am happy to welcome more and more non-English language content which we can be accessed thanks to subtitles.”

Valentina Roldós is a subtitling and translation specialist based in Montevideo in Uruguay where her company Living Subtitles creates subtitles for films, television, DVD, VOD, and online streaming. She provides the following comments on Minari, “It started with Parasite, but once again a Korean-language film is making waves and challenging the mainstream cultural status quo. Minari is not a black comedy, but a sweet family drama. It cannot be just a coincidence that a new Korean-language film, also subtitled, is getting so much attention. Minari has already won multiple awards nominations, including the Golden Globes. It seems that things are definitely starting to change, and subtitles are starting to become more familiar for new audiences worldwide.”

Senior Researcher in Media Localization at the Computer Technology Institute & Press “Diophantus” in Greece, Dr Stavroula Sokoli shares her observations, “Interestingly, the film director of Minari, Lee Isaac Chung, considered making more of the film in English ‘to dodge the subtitling issue’. He had prepared a second version of the screenplay; in case he couldn’t get financing for a Korean-language film. According to Chung, it was thanks to the production company’s Plan B and the fact that its producer Christina Oh is also Korean American, that he was able to shoot in Korean. But maybe it’s also the fact that, especially after the success of foreign language films like Parasite, subtitles are not seen as such a big barrier any longer.”

Honorary Professor in Translation and Filmmaking at the University of Roehampton in the UK as well as Director of GALMA (Galician Observatory for Media Accessibility) at the Universidade de Vigo in Spain, Pablo Romero-Fresco notes, “Minari is a lovely film and I’m happy to see it’s been nominated for Best Picture at the forthcoming Oscars. It’s a modest but masterful film about the difficulty involved in sinking roots in a foreign land. It’s only fitting that it resorts to subtitles as the modest and deeply-rooted bridge that for so many years has enabled cinema to tell stories across languages and cultures.”

Footnote:

¹Golden Globe Awards Eligibility Descriptions. https://www.goldenglobes.com/sites/default/files/golden_globe_awards_eligibility_descriptions_2020_revisions_approved_3-19-20conformed_5-27-20.pdf

 

CONTRIBUTORS’ CREDITS

IT Pros Subtitles® embraces NEXT-TT to Remote-Manage its expanding Localization Services

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For immediate release – 16 March 2021, Perugia, Italy – Specialist audiovisual translation firm IT Pros Subtitles® has invested in the NEXT-TT localization platform to manage and organise its expanding remote workflow infrastructure. NEXT-TT is a powerful collaborative hybrid platform which combines SubtitleNEXT software with comprehensive business management processing system Profuz LAPIS. NEXT-TT provides IT Pros with a formidable all-in-one versatile, timesaving, cost-effective solution, therefore equipping them with a highly efficient workhorse to manage teams of freelance translators, and with the bonus of immediate remote access to SubtitleNEXT’s proprietary tools, technologies, and delivery capabilities at the same time.

IT Pros has vast creative experience working with a number of VOD and online content providers, filmmakers, directors, post-production studios, and larger subtitling companies, offering services that include multilingual subtitling, SDH subtitling, AV, subtitle translation services, dubbing, voiceover, subtitle permanent embedding into HD digital files and much more.

Having adopted the SubtitleNEXT application back in 2018, IT Pros was already familiar with the software and ahead of the curve by offering the very first remote SubtitleNEXT online training course long before the pandemic even began. More recently, after exploring various innovative and business management systems that could meet their specific and complex growing requirements, they chose NEXT-TT as the most reliable and extensive system on the market. It was a logical next step for IT Pros to embrace NEXT-TT and be able to virtually connect to the industry’s most inclusive localization platform that would be able meet high standards of performance and delivery that IT Pros clients demand.

IT Pros Subtitler and Translator Monica Paolillo affirms, “We are absolutely delighted with our recent investment in NEXT-TT, which is an SSL secure on-premises based subtitling platform. It gives us the peace of mind that all our content is handled and subtitled securely and confidentially without ever leaving our in-house server. The NEXT-TT system was professionally supplied and installed by PBT EU and is developed by Profuz Digital – they are also the developers of SubtitleNEXT which is, in our opinion, the best subtitling software available on the market right now and great value for money.”

The advantages NEXT-TT commands are unparalleled to other localisation platforms by providing full automation, template proficiency, artificial intelligence in combination with SubtitleNEXT’s user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. In addition to its remote work capabilities, the NEXT-TT solution supports unlimited users and provides configurable workflows, including the ability to import BPMN workflows. It boasts advanced project management tools that are packed with endless options and settings for customising tasks and project metadata. The platform’s unique hybrid approach to subtitling tools includes a simplified online subtitles editor for translators; and offers advanced subtitling toolsets through integration with SubtitleNEXT. Other highlights include NEXT-TT’s advanced management of video content including watermarking and encryption to secure the highest levels of protection and security for localization service providers. The software interface is available to customers with their own branding and company logo integrated along with the added option to choose in-house hosting or to use a public or private cloud service provider.

Monica points out a few of the many advantages the team at IT Pros are already benefitting from by using NEXT-TT, “Over the past few months, selected projects have been handled within this protected environment where clients can upload and download their files, freelancers can log into the platform and securely transcribe, translate, subtitle from their home office using SubtitleNEXT’s powerful features without downloading or moving files from our server. Our QC team can finalise projects as and when they are ready in a fast-paced, but rewarding, subtitling supply chain. During the subtitling process, all content is watermarked and converted to low res to add an extra layer of security. It’s been a worthwhile transition.”

PBT EU’s CEO Ivanka Vassileva states, “We feel confident that our NEXT-TT solution provides localization companies with a collaborative and reliable platform that solves security and management challenges. Conveniently, the system tackles a plethora of organisational concerns all under one roof. These include content copyrights protection, the entire supply chain management, project management, task planning, translation, QC, and delivery. It even takes remote working into consideration. In addition, we offer our clients the option to customise the system to meet their unique working processes in tune with their organisational structure. We also provide exciting opportunities and incentives to suit all budgets, by offering several licensing packages that cater for small, medium and large enterprises, effectively optimising processes of smaller companies with the same innovative toolsets that larger organisations enjoy.”

Adding further, Ivanka notes, “We cherish our special partnership with IT Pros and are proud to cooperate with world class professionals like them in order to provide to the market a product that fits real users’ expectations. They are early adopters of our technology solutions and we are incredibly appreciative of the role they have played in adding so much value to the growth of our products over the last five years by incorporating invaluable feedback and suggestions. We continue to support them in their ongoing success.”

To find out more about NEXT-TT, visit https://pbteu.com/products/next-tt/

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MEDIA INFORMATION

About ITPros
Visit https://itpros.it/

About PBT EU
PBTEU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and customisable engineering system integration to empower content providers, broadcast, production, and post-production professionals to operate efficiently at the forefront of an ever-evolving digital environment.

PBTEU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof, including the NEXT-TT platform.

PBTEU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria with a global outreach including centres outside of the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. Visit www.pbteu.com

Multilingual Film Productions rely on efficient Subtitling

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SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov talks through “what’s NEXT-TT in subtitling software to equip subtitlers”

Subtitles support upcoming filmmakers by providing accuracy and fluency. They play a vital role in ensuring that directors receive the recognition they deserve on the regional and international stage.

Subtitles are beginning to feature in international films. They help movie makers gain global recognition and even win awards.

Now in 2021, subtitles are a hugely important topic more than ever before. Subtitles recently hit the radar again with Minari receiving the Golden Globes award for best “Foreign language film”. The multi-Oscar award-winning South Korean black comedy thriller Parasite made history by winning best picture, a feat that no other subtitled film achieved in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards. The film’s director Bong Joon-ho used his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to champion subtitles and encouraged audiences not to be put off by international films. He said that once audiences “overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” they will be introduced to so many amazing films, further noting that we use only one language: “the cinema.”

This outlook reflects the mindset of Profuz Digital’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov, a passionate and inspiring developer who also believes in opening audiences up to a whole new world. By creating a subtitling application to help surpass language barriers, he hopes to make subtitling more widely accessible and user friendly.

SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov discusses what’s next in subtitling software to equip subtitlers with efficient toolsets and achieve results that filmmakers require.

From the very beginning, Kamen wanted to make a platform available to everyone at every level. This meant it had to be equipped with familiar text-editing application tools. He set out to make the subtitling software-only platform SubtitleNEXT to achieve just this.

Kamen notes, “No longer are subtitles only deemed necessary for those with impaired hearing but are perceived as imperative to anyone wanting to watch content when in noisy places or with the sound off.”

He points out, “When conducting timed text representations of the spoken text in another language, in other words, translating spoken text from one language into written text into another language, especially in the audio-visual field, you need to pay attention to the time restrictions and cultural differences. Therefore subtitling is never pure text translation, as there should always be some adaptation involved in order to transmit the message of the speaker. However, localisation is key to account for the viewer’s cultural references. The SubtitleNEXT system we have created, offers many helpful tools to assist the translation and interpretation processes incorporated into the new Smart Text Assist features for example. The software offers alternatives and suggestions when preparing subtitles which facilitates translation and adaptation processes, but it also provides additional visual materials such as emojis and a variety of text formatting and styling features which are really useful when interpreting.”

 

Kamen established Profuz Digital back in 2014 with his colleague Ivanka Vassileva to develop software solutions for the digital media industry. With headquarters based in Toronto, they use their R&D Centre in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia as a technology hub. Ivanka is CEO of systems integration firm PBT EU in Bulgaria and naturally took the position of CEO of Profuz Digital as well.

Profuz Digital and its SubtitleNEXT team are constantly evolving to meet the needs of subtitlers. Kamen expands further, “SubtitleNEXT stems from a proven and well-established 30-year legacy based on world-wide renowned subtitling tool for broadcasters “SubtitlePlus”, which originally evolved from “Subtitle”, one of the first file-based subtitling tools. 2016 marked the year that SubtitlePlus quickly migrated to the fully-fledged product SubtitleNEXT that is used today by many subtitling professionals. By referencing a system as “legacy” means that it paved the way for the standards that would follow and that it is tried and tested, solid, trusted and a reliable product that has had time to prove itself to the market.”

SubtitleNEXT is used by the likes of the University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Polsat, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation and Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse, where it was used on well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Sirens, Vikings and many more. In addition, the Hellenic American College of Greece invested in SubtitleNEXT to equip Masters in Translation students with key localization skills to prepare future subtitlers with a definitive career path to face the pace of demand in the translation and creative industries.

Defined as reliable timed-text subtitling software, it is no surprise why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver”. Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features. Available in a single compact application, it punches above its weight and can be put to work on heavy deadline-driven workloads.

Primarily aimed at audio-visual translation freelance professionals, through to Language Services Providers, production, post-production companies and broadcasters, SubtitleNEXT has proven itself as a time-saving, but also a productive profit-making product to media organisations worldwide.

Another exciting offering on the market is the localisation platform NEXT-TT – Profuz Digital’s complete cloud solution that combines SubtitleNEXT with Profuz LAPIS – already adopted by the likes of Canal + Myanmar FG, Linxstream Media, Doli Media Studios and IT Pros Subtitles.

“NEXT-TT can be configured to work in a “hybrid” way.” Kamen adds, “ Profuz LAPIS is our dedicated business management system that ties all business processes under one roof and adds an additional layer of security and creates a single environment to control the management, usage, structure, storage of business data and audiovisual processes. We want our customers to enjoy a user-friendly interface that anyone in their organisation can understand, and NEXT-TT is designed to be convenient and easy to use.”

Kamen continues, “SubtitleNEXT’s impact on Profuz Digital due to its historical role has been a positive one. To have an established product that the market already believes in, provides a great foundation to build further features that can bring efficiency speed and proficiency to users in a busy environment. In essence, the Profuz Digital outlook has always been fully committed to deliver simpler and versatile solutions without compromising functionality and performance.”

Kamen concludes, “Our secret is that even if we have a lot of experience we listen carefully to what everyone has to say, and we genuinely care about the challenges the industry faces. As a team, we take an interest. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have ensured that our systems can be used remotely where required to serve our clients. We encourage feedback and use it to implement positive changes, develop new capabilities to deliver ground-breaking functionalities that benefit users more than ever before. We never stop evolving, learning, and growing on this exciting journey, and we want to make subtitling fun for everyone to enjoy, across various genres, appealing to the novice and the pro!”

Further information and a free trial, visit www.subtitleNEXT.com and  https://profuzdigital.com/about-us/

SubtitleNEXT powerfully accelerates Live Subtitling with Google ASR integration

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SubtitleNEXT holds Silver-Sponsorship status at Berlin’s Languages & The Media Conference attracting commercial opportunities

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3 – 5 October 2018 –  Hotel Radisson Blu, Berlin-Mitte, Germany

Profuz Digital and its partner PBT EU are delighted to support the Languages & The Media 2018 Conference in Berlin with its flagship product line SubtitleNEXT logo proudly displayed as official Silver Sponsor product of the show. This year marks the 12th international conference on language transfer in AV media and takes place from 3 – 5 October. Major themes at the conference, sponsored by PBT EU along with big brand names such as Netflix, VSI and STAR, will include new distribution models, language tools, interlingual transfer, accessibility, the future of work and quality standards.

Considered “the fourth Industrial Revolution reshaping languages in the media”, this dynamic conference will examine crucial challenges and the way in which cutting-edge technologies like SubtitleNEXT are changing how AV media is delivered globally and how it’s consumed across languages.

The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition, whereby international solutions providers will showcase a range of innovative products and services. It provides an opportunity to learn about the sector’s pioneering timed-text technologies including SubtitleNEXT. Visitors to the conference can discover how SubtitleNEXT can be tailored to suit and adapt to specific requirements. As part of the lecture agenda, we will present our new web-based hybrid platform NEXT-TT which gives operators the best of both worlds with desktop and Cloud compatibility.

The complete NEXT-TT solution has resulted in new capabilities enabling extremely fast and efficient generation of managing timed-text, dubbing and localisation services of any type of content, or managing teams of translators, audio-visual professionals, and creative freelancers, providing an ultra-secure and super-fast private workspace, toolsets, and workflows for ensuring quality.

Sales Director at PBT EU, Alexander Stoyanov states, “We are thrilled to sponsor and support this important conference which is a high-level podium for all professionals involved in captioning, subtitling, timed-text, interpreting, and translating across a variety of media. Language essentially shapes who we are and in turn shapes the industry. How technology fits into the equation as a disruptor provides challenges as well as opportunities.”

CTO of Profuz Digital Kamen Ferdinandov, who will also be present at the event, adds further, “In my view, we are at a historic turning point in our civilisation and it is imperative to discuss the implications of how new solutions are making languages more accessible and affecting communications across cultures through media. So, this will be a fascinating topic threading throughout the 3-day period. As a company, we have embraced these changes  ahead of time. We are very excited to present the adaptable capabilities that SubtitleNEXT already offers to help solve the challenges facing subtitlers today in a market that demands constant content at a rapid pace.”

SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive and affordable timed-text software platform. Already adopted across various multimedia industries, it is designed for personal and professional use. It easily adapts to any settings, resolutions, and formats such as AR, MR, VR, 8K, 4K, 2K, HD, SD, 3D, UHD across online video, TV, film, theatre, concerts, festivals, conferences and events. It can be applied throughout the entire video production process from concept to distribution. Visit the “home of subtitlers” here https://subtitlenext.com/

For more information about ‘Languages and the Media,’ please visit the website to register www.languages-media.com

Are you captivated by what’s ahead in subtitling localisation?

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Current influences affecting and shaping subtitling in the localization industry

 

The relentless influx of rapid global demand for high-quality localized content for TV, streaming sites, social media and other platforms are immense challenges to the localization market right now but also brings very exciting opportunities to subtitling providers.

As social media platforms continue to grow, these new trends provide great sales and promotional opportunities. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other popular sites are embracing streaming commercials and always hungry for compelling content which always needs multilingual on-screen titles, captioning and subtitling.

Many viewers all over the world are now watching content across social media, usually on their phones, with the sound off, and this has generated even more demand for timed-text services across a large range of cultures and languages.

Short & sweet, customized and repurposed film clips are the rage to grab online viewer attention spans these days as people move on to the next thing fairly quickly.

The tendency that viewers crave bite-size content on demand at speed, are all playing a major role in accelerating the volume of requirements for video subtitling at an enormous rate.

Other influences include 360 videos and VR which are formats already making use of localization subtitling tech. YouTube has allowed for traditional captioning for VR videos. Broadcasters such as the BBC is looking to develop standards so that VR content will be fully accessible to the hearing impaired eventually.

The subtitling sector has become saturated and there are many reliable and professional software systems to choose from such as SubtitleNEXT as an example. The key is to test them out and trial the complimentary demos on offer to see if they work for your specific needs. It’s an exciting time to be a subtitling expert and embrace exciting toolsets that are out on offer with SubtitleNEXT. The online world is literally at the fingertips of the timed-text creative artist. With SubtitleNEXT, you can be the best at what you do, and the world is your oyster.

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