ENCO has released “another captioning innovation with Raptor, a cloud-based live streaming captioning encoder that injects the speed, power and reliability of real-time, proven AI capabilities into the streaming workflow. The solution represents a convergence of pure software-defined infrastructure with AI and automated captioning workflows, providing customers with an IP video stream with embedded captions,” the company says.
Receiving its global debut at IBC, Raptor “offers a simple and straightforward way to embed CEA-608 Closed Captions into a live program stream. That process incorporates the AI-based workflow from ENCO’s enCaption solutions to automatically generate captions with industry-leading accuracy. Users can also utilize outside cloud captioning sources,” ENCO says.
The company says the complete lack of hardware infrastructure also makes Raptor ideal for broadcasters as they shift more of their video workflows to the cloud, while its quick-deploy capabilities offer a powerful new captioning option for live events. “With no physical encoder to maintain, customers are assured a cost-efficient and agile solution that is quick to configure and deploy,” said ENCO President Ken Frommert. “Raptor represents a new threshold in flexible, cost-efficient live and automated captioning.”
Raptor was developed as a fully software-defined architecture to allow for customization at any point along the chain to best match the workflows and standards in use. Instead of SDI signals via fixed cabling, the solution employs SRT, RTMP or HLS video streams at the front end. As Raptor’s architecture can be hosted on a variety of public or private clouds, captions can be injected at nearly any stage, offering tremendous flexibility for deployment and operation. Upon engaging and regenerating the stream, captioning text is inserted and the outbound stream is made available to the customer.
Raptor’s convergence with the award-winning enCaption universe assures accuracy, ENCO says, “while compatibility with ENCO’s award-winning enTranslate solutions allow translations to dozens of languages that global, international and multi-lingual broadcasters can choose from. Users are also empowered with customizable word libraries and corrective filters, speaker identification, and the ability to recognize music, laughter, applause, and crowd noise.”
