Blog

copy@right satriya. Diberdayakan oleh Blogger.

Why Captioning Services are now Considered an Essential Teletext Feature

19 Agu 2011 - - 0 Comments

Since the arrival of teletext services in the 1970s, television viewers have been able to do much more with their televisions that just sit and watch them. As the service grew through the 1980s, they could read the news when they wanted to, check the weather, check arrival times and even get information on holiday destinations. However, of all the services, captioning, through page 888, has become one of the most important services. For that reason, broadcasters have invested considerably in technologies that provided the finest teletext services, and because of its popularity, developments in modern captioning software has been tied closely with the relevant teletext platform. Ensuring clear and faultless teletext insertion has been essential for all subtitle and caption software providers, and indeed equally so for teletext service providers. One might have thought that this symbiotic relationship would be strained with the arrival of digital television and their teletext services, with the switch over by many broadcasters to digital only services spelling a complete end to their analogue services. However, even when the BBC announced in 2009 that the original teletext service, Ceefax, would be ceased, the survival of their Page 888 service was assured with clear confirmation that the service would still be available.
Now, with the digital television era having begun in earnest, the future availability of subtitles and captions are still assured through the digital teletext services that have been developed, or though the digital set top box that some television owners require. Generally, closed captions have been available to access through the teletext services provided by the particular local broadcasters. Viewers who wish to avail of the service for a particular programme simply entered a specific page number on the teletext service, usually 777 for closed captions and 888 for regular subtitles. The success of the services has been widespread. The technology involved in providing teletext is not complicated, even if the technical aspects are. Special content managing systems make good use of user friendly interfaces in that they are specifically designed to make everything simple. However, there are three key stages to the process of getting teletext content from a computer screen onto the television screen. They are, firstly, generating the content, secondly, editing the content and, lastly, inserting the content. The content managing systems allow staff members to literally write the content, and to review and edit it. This covers content generation and editing, with the user able to input short articles into a specified area and then reenter to edit any grammatical or factual mistakes that may have been made. It also allows the user to update an article, which is especially useful when irrelevant information needs to be removed. So, for example, a sports preview can be easily replaced by a report by entering the content management system and replacing the preview content with a report. The latest generation of teletext systems can be operated remotely, through a simple internet connection and Microsoft Windows, making it easy for almost anyone to use.  This has two main advantages, namely that costs in training staff are kept to an absolute minimum and that the chances of errors or complications occurring are reduced dramatically. Another aspect of modern teletext systems is that updates of content can be automated through the use of external data sources, reducing the reliance on inhouse staff to maintain the content. An example can be that of the airport arrivals and departures information, which has straight forward data that can be easily changed. Of course, the chief advantage with this feature is the speed with which teletext insertion can take place, with an almost immediate update possible. The arrival of digital television services has meant a switch from the old broadcast standards to more advanced standards, such as MHEG5. With these new standards has come a greater range of capabilities for viewers to use and enjoy. The use of modern captioning software means that there are no problems with providing innovative and interactive aspects to the service. While the technology involved and the range of services on offer are certain to develop over the coming years, as the new generation of teletext services grow, there is no doubt that captioning will remain an essential part of the overall teletext product.

This entry was posted on 00.13 You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

0 Comment: