Overview

Kaltura supports captions - which display in the media player as it plays - as well as transcripts, which are automatically generated based on the caption file. Anyone who can see the transcript widget below a Kaltura media player can download the transcript. 

This tutorial applies to all UCSD Kaltura users: students, instructors, and staff with active directory credentials. Transcripts can be downloaded in Canvas and in MediaSpace.

Critical Concepts

What's the Difference between Captions and Transcripts?

Sometimes the terms "captions" and "transcripts" are used interchangeably, but there are meaningful differences, particularly within the context of media management. While both contain a textual representation of words spoken during a video, here's where they diverge:

• Caption files contain timecodes that indicate the start and endpoints of when a piece of text should be onscreen while the video is playing. They can have a variety of file extensions, such as .srt or .vtt.
• Transcripts contain no timecodes at all, and always have a .txt file extension. It's just a big block of text.

Kaltura generates its transcripts based on the captions. So if you edit the captions, the changes will be reflected in the transcript. The transcript can be found in a widget below the player when viewing a video in My Media, a Media Gallery, or a MediaSpace channel. Most embedded videos use the transcript widget as well. The nice thing about Kaltura's transcript widget is that it will highlight the text that's currently being spoken, and you can click on parts of it to jump to that part in the video.

Things to Keep in Mind

• You need to see the transcript widget in order to download the transcript. The transcript widget sits in a small gray box below the Kaltura media player and is collapsed by default. Most videos in Canvas and MediaSpace use it, but users can choose to embed videos using a player that doesn't have it. So we can't guarantee you'll see it everywhere. With this in mind, you'll find the transcript widget:
  • When viewing videos in "My Media" in either Canvas or MediaSpace
  • When editing videos in "My Media" in either Canvas or MediaSpace
  • In videos viewed within a Canvas Media Gallery
  • In videos viewed within a MediaSpace channel
  • In most videos embedded within Canvas
• For the purposes of this documentation, we're assuming that you're looking at a Kaltura media player with the transcript widget visible.
• Want to edit the text? You can only edit the text for a video if you're the owner or a co-editor (see our documentation on Kaltura collaborators if needed). You can't just be a viewer. There are currently 3 ways you can edit the words associated with a Kaltura media entry:
  • You can edit the captions using Kaltura's web-based closed caption editor
  • You can download the captions, edit them on your computer, and upload them
  • You can download the transcript, edit it on your computer, and upload it

Steps to Take

Under the video with the transcript widget, click the download button. That's it!