Automatic Video Transcription Software Mac

  1. Transcription Software For Free Mac
  2. Best Transcription Software Mac
  3. Automatic Audio Transcription Software
  4. Automatic Video Transcription
  5. Automatic Transcription Software Free
  6. Video Transcription Software

Audio transcription – the process of converting recorded speech into text – isn’t the most glamorous topic. But there are many good reasons for transcribing videos. Here are just a few of them:

  • Transcripts are easily indexable by search engines, increasing your opportunities to rank for long-tail keywords.
  • Adding a transcript below your video content makes it more shareable, especially in combination with click-to-tweet plugins.
  • Many people prefer to scan a summary of the video content before deciding whether to watch it.

Aside from marketing-focused benefits, one of the best reasons for transcribing videos is to make your content accessible to all your users, including people who can’t hear the audio or see the video.

Posting a transcript alongside a talking-head video, for instance, makes it possible for users with disabilities to read the text or listen to it using screen-reading technology. Transcripts can also be converted into captions or subtitles and synced to the video for an even better user experience.

The downside of transcribing videos yourself is that it can be a long and tedious process, cutting into time that might otherwise be spent creating. Power bi desktop mac download.

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So I’m going to share a few of my favorite tools and tips for transcribing faster that I’ve picked up in my work as a professional transcriptionist. The tools covered here range from free to under $100 USD, and they can dramatically improve your transcription speed, saving you hours of time.

There are plenty of 'transcription applications' for the Mac but Transcriva remains in a class of its own. Whereas most transcription aids offer little more than a text editor with a media player attached (and perhaps a few satellite features), what sets Transcriva apart is that it is designed to maintain the structure of your transcript information. To reiterate, the main advantage of a transcription software over a normal audio/video media player is the ability to control audio/video playback. Here were my requirements when I was searching for transcription software for my Macbook Air. 1) Easy configurable transcription controls. 2) Support video and audio of various formats and codecs.

Get started with 30 minutes of automatic transcription for free! Upload your audio (.mp3,.flac,.wav) or video (.mp4,.mov,.ogg,.webm) to Vocalmatic. Vocalmatic will convert your audio to text using AI. Finally, once your automatic transcription has completed, we'll email you a link to your text where you can edit! One of the following sections also discusses a few tips and tricks for the best transcription. Best Transcription Software to Transcribe Zoom Meetings 1. Automatic Audio Transcription in Zoom Zoom is capable of recording your meetings and conferences, and storing them onto its Cloud server from where they can be obtained and manipulated as.

Tools for Boosting Transcription Productivity

Even with a crash course in touch typing and lots of practice, you may never be able to reach pro typing speeds of 80+ wpm. But with the help of technology, you can “artificially” increase your typing speed – in some cases by multiple times.

Here are five tools you can use to do this:

1. Transcription software

Transcription Software For Free Mac

If you’re transcribing videos yourself, at the very least you’ll need to install special transcription software to enable audio playback using just your keyboard or a foot pedal. This eliminates the frustration of constantly using your mouse to start and stop the audio.

The following transcription programs have limited free versions with affordably priced upgrades:

  • Express Scribe by NCH Software (Mac or PC)
  • InqScribe (Mac or PC)
  • The FTW Transcriber (PC)

2. Transcription foot pedal

Using a foot pedal to control playback is the easiest and fastest way to ramp up your transcription efficiency. I’ve heard several people, initially skeptical, say they don’t know how they ever managed to transcribe without one.

Foot pedals take care of audio playback without the use of a mouse, eliminating the need to multitask with your fingers while transcribing. Many of today’s foot pedals, like the popular Infinity USB, are plug and play, so you can benefit from the extra speed boost immediately.

If you decide not to invest in a foot pedal, you can configure your transcription program to control audio playback using the numeric keypad or function keys, which is still more efficient than using a mouse.

3. Word expander software

Word expander programs, such as Instant Text by Textware Solutions and Shorthand for Windows by OfficeSoft, are another tool of the trade for professional transcriptionists. Used properly, they can increase your typing speed by an estimated 30%.

Word expanders let you define your own text shorthand for commonly used words and phrases, eliminating tons of keystrokes. For example, you might tell the program to expand “tsm” to “thanks so much.”

If you don’t want to pay for a word expander program, you can also use your computer’s autocorrect feature to achieve the same thing – it works the same way, just with fewer features.

4. Noise-canceling headphones

If you’re transcribing in an environment with high levels of white noise, a pair of noise-canceling headphones, like Bose QuietComfort or the Sony WH-1000XM2, can work wonders for your productivity (and your sanity).

Best Transcription Software Mac

5. Voice recognition software

If you find that your fingers get fatigued during long typing sessions, try the “echo dictation” technique by re-dictating the audio and letting a VR program do the actual work of typing.

While there are built-in speech recognition features for PC and Mac, I’ve had the most success using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You can ask the software to scan specific documents to learn any jargon and unconventional spellings that you use often.

The latest version of Dragon, v15, costs a hefty $300. I’ve used several versions, and everything from version 11 onward works well. So, if you’d like to get your feet wet with echo transcription, consider getting an earlier version of the program for closer to $50. (Make sure to check for compatibility with your current setup.)

Tips for Transcribing Faster

Automatic Audio Transcription Software

Great tools can make your job a lot easier, but good technique is just as important. Here are some quick tips for further improving your transcription efficiency.

Boost audio quality.

If you know what you’re doing, you can fine-tune audio quality using an audio editing program like Audacity or WavePad before importing it into your transcription software.

That said, you don’t have to be an audio wizard to enhance the audio quality of your videos: Some transcription programs ship with features designed to do just that. For example, to access the audio enhancement features in Express Scribe, go to File > Special Audio Processes.

The three options are:

  • Background Noise Reduction. This feature works by eliminating sound below a certain volume threshold. It’s useful for when the background noise is quieter than the speakers.
  • Extra Volume Boost. This setting boosts the volume by 10%. This feature comes in handy when you’ve maxed out the volume controls on your computer and you’re still straining to hear the audio.
  • High Pass Filter. This setting is similar in functionality to Background Noise Reduction, but instead of differentiating sounds by a volume threshold, it differentiates by pitch, filtering out frequencies below 450Hz. Experiment with this feature on “muddy” sounding files, when the background noise is competing with the speakers.

Automatic Video Transcription

Easily insert timestamps.

There may be times when you need to make note of the current time position in a video so you can go back and review it later. To do this, you can insert a timecoded tag into the transcript, such as such as [?? 00:07:02]. Typing out lots of timestamps manually is a hassle, but fortunately there’s an easier way.

Using your transcription program’s timecode feature, you can copy the current audio position to the clipboard and insert it using a keyboard shortcut. Since I’m using Express Scribe, I’ll use it as an example here, but you can do this with any good transcription program.

Go to Options > System-Wide Hot-Keys. Click “Add.” From the Command dropdown menu, choose “Copy Time.”

Click “Change” and assign the program a key or key combination of your choice, such as one of the function keys.

Now, whenever you press the assigned key, Express Scribe will make note of your current time location in the file (e.g., 00:07:02) and copy it to the clipboard.

Then, whenever you want to paste the copied timestamp into your document, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V.

Use autocorrect to transcribe speaker labels.

Repetitive typing of speaker labels can be a nightmare in video files with multiple speakers and lots of dialogue. Using the built-in autocorrect function on your PC or Mac’s word processing program, you can automatically insert generic speaker labels, such as Speaker 1: and Speaker 2: tags.

Here’s how to do this in Word 2016:
Navigate to File > Options > Proofing. Click on “AutoCorrect Options.”

On the AutoCorrect tab, the “Replace text as you type” check box should be selected. Here, you can enter shorthand text, which will be replaced with text of your choice whenever you press space or tab. Click “Add,” and then click “OK.”

In the above example, I have set the keyboard shortcut as “sa.” (I used “sa” because it feels good to me, but you can use any key combination that’s comfortable for you.) Now to insert a Speaker 1: tag into the transcript, all I need to do is type “sa” and press tab. I could use the shorthand “sq” for a Speaker 2: tag, and so on.

This only takes a couple minutes to set up, and it’ll save you thousands upon thousands of unnecessary keystrokes for future video transcriptions.

Using the above tools and techniques, I’ve managed to vastly improve the speed in transcribing videos with only a short learning curve. I hope you find them useful when it comes to transcribing videos, so you have more time to focus on creating good stuff.

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Yesterday, I got this email from a reader of this blog. I’ll paraphrase (won’t bore you will the smiles and lols). “Hey Kongo, thanks for all the advice on choosing a transcription headset. What would you recommend as the best transcription software for Mac? Thanks, Maggie.” I replied to her email and I thought I should post the reply on my blog for other transcribers that might be searching for a transcription software to use on their mac computers.

Now, let me be clear. By transcription software, I’m referring to software that’s going to assist you manually transcribe audio/video files. I’m not referring to software that automatically converts speech to text: aka dictation software, voice recognition software, speech recognition software. I prefer to refer to these types of software as dictation software.

And since we’ve digressed, let me share with you my 2 cents on dictation software. The accuracy of dictation software is poor – on average about 60%. Accuracy improves with good quality, single speaker audio. If you’re looking for a dictation software to automatically convert your audio to text, I’d recommend you don’t buy software that’s not cloud based.

Here’s why, speech recognition algorithms improve every day (machine learning etc). And you’ll not be able to take advantage of these improvements with an offline software (for instance Dragon Dictate). I’ve tried a few cloud based dictation services and they’re not bad – I got 90% accuracy on a YouTube video transcript. Most use either IBM Watson or Google Speech API.

Transcription software for free mac

Anyway, transcription software are meant for those of us who want to get a software that’s going to assist the manually transcription (= type out the text using our fingers and sometimes our feet!) of audio/video files. To reiterate, the main advantage of a transcription software over a normal audio/video media player is the ability to control audio/video playback.

/is-software-installation-profile-specific-in-a-mac.html. Here were my requirements when I was searching for transcription software for my Macbook Air. 1) Easy configurable transcription controls. 2) Support video and audio of various formats and codecs. 3) Timestamp Support. 4) USB foot pedal support. Grab a cup of coffee and let’s look at each one of these in depth.

Key Features of a Good Mac Transcription Software

  1. Configurable Transcription Controls

Any transcription software worth its salt supports keyboard hotkeys. And they are easily configurable. But the really good ones support global hotkeys. Which means that you are not restricted to typing on the word processing plane provided with the transcription software. Thus, you can transcribe into any word processor of your choice (Pages, Word etc) and the transcription hotkeys will work. And the advantages of using a dedicated word processor are numerous (spell check!).

  1. Support Various Audio and Video Formats

As a transcriber, you do want to get a transcription software that supports a wide range of audio and video (very useful for slideshow videos) formats. For me, this is not usually a deal breaker because I can’t expect a transcription software to support all audio and video formats – and there is a lot of them. But a transcription software for mac must support .mp4 video format and .m4v/.m4a/.mp3/.mpg audio files. I have a dedicated audio and video converter that converts audio files to .mp3 files. And the .mp3 format work well on most mac transcription software.

  1. Timestamp Support

A lot of my clients ask for timestamps/timecodes to be inserted into the transcripts. Timestamps make it easier for them to refer back to the video or audio. And if they’re using the transcripts to create a paper edit for a documentary project, timecoded transcripts provide the easiest and most efficient way to get a handle on a large block of video footage.

So, timecode support is a must. But again, this is a feature that is not very well supported in any of the mac transcription software. They usually do support it on their word processing plane, but getting the timecode to Pages or Word is challenging. There are workarounds that I’ll share with you.

  1. USB Foot Pedal Support

Again, most mac transcription software support USB foot pedals. However, compatibility is an issue and it’s not guaranteed. Having said that, I own the Infinity IN-USB-1 and I’ve yet to come across a mac transcription software that does not support it.

Having gone through the 4 basic requirements for a mac transcription software, you really have only 2 choices: F5 or Express Scribe. InqScribe is a good transcription software, but it doesn’t support global hotkeys, which is a real shame. If you’re okay transcribing into their word processor, you can try it out. All other mac transcription software I found were very old versions (5 years) and were no longer actively supported.

Best Transcription Software for Mac

  1. F5

I really like F5 and I use it exclusively to transcribe on my mac. It’s checks all the boxes and is perfect for my transcription needs. A while back it used to be free (as in beer), but that’s no longer the case. To be honest, I find their pricing model to be complicated. There’s a free version of F5 – which only allows you to transcribe the first 10 minutes of a video/audio file. A standard version, unlimited transcription (you can transcribe any length of audio/video file) but no USB pedal support, no waveform, memos and auto speaker changing. I recommend you get the pro version, mainly because of the USB pedal support (not sure why this is not in the standard version), and you’ll need a foot pedal (here are 3 I recommend) to play and pause F5 in the background.

My other gripe with F5 is inserting timestamps into my transcripts. It’s easy enough when you’re transcribing into the F5 word processor – just press F8. Which reminds me. You’ll need to activate the F keys under System Preferences > Keyboard, for them to work on your Mac.

Anyway, back to inserting timestamps, there is no easy way to insert timestamps into Pages. You’ll have 2 options. Option 1 is switch to the F5 window, CMD + T (to generate the timestamp),and copy and paste the timestamp to Pages. Works, but as you can imagine, if you want to insert timestamps every 30 seconds, it’s a lot of work going back and forth between the F5 and Pages. The second option is write an apple script or use Keyboard Maestro to record a macro. I’d recommend keyboard maestro – very easy to use (if you want me to create a short how to video let me know in the comments section below). Here’s a link to the video – I don’t know why, but I ramble a lot in this video; bear with me.

I do know my way around code, so I have an apple script that I use to insert timestamps into my transcripts with one keyboard stroke. Other than that, F5 is simply great. I get better audio quality using F5, and it’s really very easy to use and customize. Definitely the best transcription software for mac. Download from Mac App Store.

  1. Express Scribe Pro

Where to begin with Express Scribe. Some people love it, others hate it. Personally, I’m ambivalent. I’ve used it a lot in the past, but that’s before I found F5. I do have a lot of issues with NCH – the company that makes this software, but the software is pretty good.

You’ll want to get the pro version. I’ve had numerous issues with the “free” version and vowed never to install it again! But the pro version doesn’t come with adware, supports most USB foot pedals, and plays videos and a lot of other formats. Though, the audio quality is not that great – especially if you slow it down.

Automatic Transcription Software Free

The interface is a little complicated and you’ll have to take time to get used to this mac transcription software. For instance, here’s how you insert timestamps into your transcript. You’ll need to first create a system wide hotkey to copy the timecode to the mac clipboard. You can create a hotkey via Options > Hot Keys. Once you’ve created the hotkey, adding a timestamp to your transcript on Pages involves hitting the hotkey and then CMD + V to paste the timestamp.

Very easy, but I wish it was more intuitive. So yes, there is a steep learning curve on how to use Express Scribe for transcription – well worth it, because this software has a lot of customizable features that are going to help you become a very efficient transcriber. Download from Mac App Store.

Video Transcription Software

That’s it for this post on mac transcription software. I hope you’ve found it worthwhile and please feel free to use the comment section below to share tips, suggestion, frustrations, reviews etc on the transcription software of your choice. Happy transcribing!