We now offer a direct connection to Zoom from StreamText.net . It is very easy to use and also provides the output formatting to ensure you the best quality delivery possible.
Note: Update 7/25/2020: An update has been made to allow the caption provider to control in detail how the output looks in Zoom. Please note that the default settings match the previous release settings. The delay is not the same as before and now called "send on timer". Previously if you set the delay to 0 the actual time to send captions was 3 seconds. This was hidden before but we have now exposed more of the controls directly to the caption provider. This will allow you to decide how much text and how quickly the captions will be displayed.
You can now update the Zoom meeting settings on a live event as well. The settings will come up under the Event Control using the "change settings" button. This is helpful for breakout rooms where you need to get a new Caption URL/API token and update the live event.
To use StreamText with Zoom: (How to get the Caption URL/API token from meeting room)
1. Log into Zoom meeting room. The link will be send to you by the host.
2. Have the meeting Host make you the caption provider.
3. Retrieve the Caption URL. You will want to click on the CC button at the bottom of the zoom page. A popup will show the "Copy The URL to your Clipboard" button. See below this is a screenshot of the popup that will appear after you click on the CC button in the lower menu.
4. Schedule event in StreamText.Net. You will setup the event just like a normal StreamText event except for one added step on the Cart/Captioning tab. In the screenshot below are the Zoom setup options. Note you can also add this to a live event using the event control and clicking on the "change settings" button.
This is a screenshot of the Zoom settings on the CART/Captioning tab when you schedule an event.
New Zoom settings
- Check the "Stream to Zoom" checkbox.
- Paste in the "Caption URL" that you copied from Zoom
- Correction Buffer. Most caption providers will not need to use this unless they have captioning software that does not buffer their output before it is sent out. If you are noticing broken words at the end of captions then you may want to try it. If you do use this setting usually 1 or 2 seconds is all that is needed.
- Setting Options - Each active setting will affect when the text is sent The first setting condition to be triggered will cause all the text in the buffer to be sent. For example, if the send timer is set to 3 seconds a line of text will be sent after 3 seconds expire or the text length has exceeded three lines. For each setting selected if any condition is met the text will be sent.
- Send on timer. This is a timer that when expired it will send the caption buffer to Zoom. The longer the timer the more text will be sent up to the maximum of 3 lines. Note if this is turned off the text will be held until another condition has been met, either the line count or send on line feed or send on sentence end.
- Send on line count. This can be 1,2 or 3 lines. Each line is 42 characters and a new paragraph or margin will start a new line. The default is 3 lines or 126 characters. This is the most text Zoom can show at once. When this value is exceeded the text buffer will be sent to Zoom.
- Send on Line feed. If selected every new line or new paragraph will force the send of the text in the buffer to Zoom. We recommend turning off the Send on Timer using this option.
- Send on sentence end. If selected when a sentence terminator is reached the text will be sent to Zoom.We recommend turning off the Send on Timer using this option as you can control the output.
Recommendations:
- If you want to have more text showing on the Zoom caption. - You will want to set the send on line count to 3. You can turn off the send on timer. Just remember that text can be held in the buffer. You may want to use the send on line feed to help flush that out if you have text in the buffer that is not the full three lines. Or you can turn the send on timer but set that to a higher number like 7 seconds. That way after 7 seconds the text will be sent out.
- If you want captions to appear quickly - To have captions appear more often you will want to adjust the send on timer so the text will be sent more often. Having this set to 3 seconds is the fastest we offer. The other option is to turn off the send on timer and just use the Send on sentence end option.
- Clean formatting option- Turn off the send on timer and use the Send on sentence end. It will be logical blocks of text that usually are easier to read.
Writing Software setup. If you are on Eclipse or CaseCat make sure to turn off your right hand margins for your outputs. A return will start a new line in Zoom and in Many cases except for a speaker change you will not want to show that margin setting. Also if you notice suffixes not joining prefixes or duplication you will want to increase your hold strokes in CaseCat and your flush delay in Eclipse. You can also increase the delay in ST which will give more time for those to complete.
Now Start the event or update the settings with the event control. You will see captions show in Zoom. Note the caption provider has a different view of the captions than the participants. If you click on the CC button you will see more of a transcript view when you are the CC provider. Participants will see normal popup captions in the middle right above the menu at the bottom of the page.
Notice the regular StreamText link does not have any delay so if needed you can use that as a backup or the user can use StreamCast with the same event name.
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