See how we transcribed 8tb video files efficiently
This is a case study on a slightly unusual transcription request that we handled recently.Jason Gregory is a wildlife documentary videographer from the state of California, with boundless knowledge in the field of marine bio-diversity. He is well known for his expertise in the field and has been involved with a lot of researchdocumentaries on this subject.
Jason Gregory approached us because he needed an affordable transcription service that could help get his works online and fast.He was 60+ and wasn't comfortable in working with systems and applications.Heenquired if we could make the process of acquiring transcripts as plain and simple as possible. He dropped into our office in LA on a sunny California afternoon and gave us 4 hard disks that had to be transcribed.
Jason Gregory approached us because he needed an affordable transcription service that could help get his works online and fast.He was 60+ and wasn't comfortable in working with systems and applications.Heenquired if we could make the process of acquiring transcripts as plain and simple as possible. He dropped into our office in LA on a sunny California afternoon and gave us 4 hard disks that had to be transcribed.
The bottlenecks
The four hard disks contained 2 TB of data each, and we had just a week to complete it. That's 24 hrs. x 7 days, giving us 168 hrs. to transcribe those 8TB of content.So, our transcribers had to work at full tilt to transcribe 8000 GB of files in just 168hrs.!
Not a biggie, but of these 4 HDDs, 2 happened to be compatible only with the Mac systems and the other 2 were for the Windows PC.
Each HDD contained just 10 video files, which summed up to a total of 40 files; i.e. approximately 200 GB per video recording.He had been using a 4K video camcorder, to produceexceptionally high qualityvideos. Nowthat's a problem, working withsuch large files isextremely difficult.So, this meant that the source files had to be extracted and converted into a format that was more accessiblefrom our in-house transcription platform.
However, professional formatting services demanded$2500 for converting suchformats, whichhad led to affordability issues for our client. "They wanted such huge amounts to convert the files" he complained "I would appreciate if you guys could keep the overall costs as low as possible", he had insisted.
The solution…
But, before going ahead with converting the files, we had to setup two teams to handle the separate Mac and Windows setup, so that we could extract the files without any compromise to the quality.
Then, off to convert those large files...for this we turned toour dedicatedfile conversion team whowere able to get that done in 48straight hrs.;of course with no extra costs to our client.(Our conversionservices included a separate 24 x 7 support team for client's conveniences.)
Once the files were converted, the source materials were returned to ourclient.He was sure relieved and thankful that the original files were back with him in such a short time and in pristine condition.
Now, to get the transcription process rolling…
The Transcription Process:
This is where the rubber meets the road. Our transcription processesbegin with the creation of a secure account in the iTranscript platform for the client. This helped us ensure that the entire transcription process was trackable to Jason.
Now that we had just 5 more days to deliver the transcripts, Jason was already quite nervous if we could meet his deadline. But, our iTranscript's real-time status update really helped allay his nervousnessas he was able to instantly monitor the transcription processwhenever he wanted to.
After logging into iTranscript Jason could:
- Get real-time status updates ofthe transcription process
- Communicate with us easily 24x 7 via chat & phone support
- Make his editsto the transcripts by utilizing the interactive module
- View interactive transcriptsalong with closed captioning player
So, after we uploaded theconverted files to the iTranscript platform courtesy to the client's request (usually it is the clients who upload their files directly to the iTranscript platform),we were able to keep Jason intimated on the status at regular basis with utmost ease."iTranscript was easy to learn and work with even for someone as tech-phobic as me",said Jason.
Conclusion:
Once the transcripts were done and uploaded to iTranscript, Jason Gregory was impressed to be downloading themat the 161st hour, way earlier then promised and more affordable as well.
This is what he had to say:
"I never thought a transcription service could be so efficient at helping me manage my video files. When I began looking for one I was under the impression, this was going to be a lot of work. But, I'm truly happy withyour service that hardly required any input from my side."- Jason Gregory