FRANCE 24 Launches Automatic Transcription on Its HD Video Player

The Lab, the research and development arm of FRANCE 24, in partnership with Yacast Media, Exalead and Vecsys (Vecsys Research / CNRS technology), is launching a new feature on its broadband video player that automatically generates transcripts of the last 24 hours of programming.

ince December, FRANCE 24 has been offering an innovative interactive television experience: its HD video player.

The broadband player gives Internet users "hands-on control," allowing them to scan through the last 24 hours of programming in just a few seconds by dragging the slider under the video images on their web browsers.

Building on the momentum of this innovation, today the FRANCE 24 Lab has enhanced the application by adding a new feature that automatically displays transcripts of every word spoken during the broadcast, from the comments of program hosts, to journalist reports, to guest interviews.

This technological breakthrough is based on semantic analysis of the scripts extracted from each video. For a 24-hour period, without any human intervention, a set of keywords and the names of people, places and organizations mentioned on FRANCE 24 can be generated, thus optimizing search visibility.

"In most cases, the transcription algorithm generates an accurate transcript of spoken material from the broadcast. This ability to transcribe content in near real time (within a few minutes) opens up significant options. Of course, the transcripts do occasionally contain errors, but in the near future, all of the content could automatically be categorized, have metadata and subtitles added, or even be translated. In the short term, this technology could greatly improve the visibility and relevance of our content in search engines. Plus, for those who have trouble with audio content, particularly the hearing-impaired, it offers the option to read. Finally, it could be used as a helpful educational tool for learning new languages", says Michel Lévy-Provençal, Multimedia Studio Director at FRANCE 24.

You can access a prototype demonstrating this new feature at this address: http://playerhd.france24.com/france24/playerHD/playerHDv2.html