RE: Captions for audio clips (was RE: SMIL Validation)

Thanks everyone.

I swear I tried a few permutations on this before posting my question to 
the list.

The discussion came up on the WAI GL list about real-time captioning of 
audio-only presentations.  Geoff makes it clear that this is pretty 
straight forward using current technology.

For a live test, start up RealPlayer 7 and enter the following URL into the 
"Open Location" (under File in the menu, also Ctrl-L) dialog box:
http://www.dors.state.md.us/car-novid.smil

Please note that the binary files in question are located at (and hosted 
by)the AbleChannel.  You cannot just select the above URL (link) since 
there is no RealMedia server on the DORS server.  If you do try and 
surf/browse to above URL though, one CAN "view source" to see the SMIL 
code.

Bruce Bailey


On Tuesday, December 21, 1999 9:39 AM, geoff freed 
[SMTP:geoff_freed@wgbh.org] wrote:
> Hi, Bruce:
>
> It *IS* possible to write a valid SMIL presentation and play it using the 
G2 (and the RealPlayer 7).  I don't want to spread untruths, so I'm sorry 
for the misunderstanding.  However... when it comes to adding text to the 
presentation, things change.  SMIL has no standard markup language for text 
presentation, so RealNetworks created their own-- RealText.  (By the way, 
Oratrix has just released a version of GRiNS that will play RealText files, 
too.)
>
> As far as I know, it isn't possible to download a streamed SMIL 
presentation (unless you present the files in downloadable manner, like a 
zip file).  The whole idea behind streaming files is that downloads are 
rendered unnecessary; this obviates rights problems and media theft, among 
other advantages (I do know that RealNetworks presentations can be coded to 
allow the user to record onto a local drive, but I haven't seen any 
examples of this yet).
>
> Re an example of a SMIL presentation without video:  since you already 
have a copy of CAR.SMI and its associated media files, just replace its 
<layout> section with the one below:
>
>   <layout>
>    <root-layout background-color="black" height="60" width="250"/>
>    <region id="textregion" top="10" left="-37" height="120" width="250"/>
>   </layout>
>
> Save the .SMI file and play it with the G2 or RealPlayer 7, and you will 
see the CAR clip without a video region but with captions in English or 
subtitles in German (if you change the language specification in the 
preferences menu).  Is this the kind of thing you're looking for?  If not, 
let me know.
>
> I'll have to spend some time reviewing the validation report; thanks for 
giving me the URL.
>
> Geoff Freed
> WGBH/NCAM

Received on Tuesday, 21 December 1999 13:28:19 UTC