Nexidia, a leading developer of dialogue and audio analysis products and technologies, today announced that PBS has installed Nexidia QC(TM) with automatic caption retiming in its Media Operations Center. Nexidia QC is Nexidia’s software tool for automating quality control of closed captions, video description, and languages for broadcast and IP workflows. PBS uses Nexidia QC to verify caption quality and automate caption alignment before distributing content to PBS member stations and over-the-top (OTT) providers, or before publishing it to the Web.

“Before Nexidia QC, OTT files had to be spot-checked for caption sync at the five-minute point of each program and then manually tweaked to adjust the errors — a process that resulted in overtime and lost productivity,” said Stephan Scheel, senior director, PBS media operations. “Nexidia QC was the answer to a wide range of QC issues. It replaces almost all manual efforts while giving us confidence that the captions are the best we can make them — resulting in greater productivity and reduced costs.”

PBS has integrated Nexidia QC into all of its existing automated file QC and preparation workflows. Nexidia QC works seamlessly within PBS’ AmberFin UQC environment, which handles the overall QC process and through which all of PBS’ program submissions pass several times at various stages. Nexidia QC also integrates with PBS’ Telestream Vantage automation system, which submits jobs to AmberFin UQC and also triggers individual QC passes for products going to iTunes(R), Netflix, Amazon, and other OTT services.

The broadcaster must certify to its member stations that the programs it distributes meet FCC captioning quality requirements, so deploying state-of-the-art captioning technology was a key consideration for PBS. Nexidia QC is unique in its ability to quantify whether a program meets the quality standard, making it easier for PBS to prove compliance. PBS now also avoids delays in posting content to OTT partners due to caption problems.

PBS considers caption alignment to be Nexidia QC’s most valuable feature. When Nexidia QC determines captions are not properly aligned, the Caption Alignment feature automatically adjusts the timing, eliminating another time-consuming manual process.

Another PBS goal is to ensure that clips used by the online interactive teams meet the same requirements as the broadcast and OTT content and do not suffer from missing captions due to editing. To that end, PBS’ Digital group is further exploring Nexidia QC both to make sure the right caption file is associated with a given clip and to correct timing and accuracy for files already in the cloud.

“PBS has a proud history with captions that began in 1972 and continues to this day as evidenced by the network’s efforts to stay at the forefront of caption technology and compliance. They also have received a Technical Emmy award for their work in implementing closed captioning, which makes their deployment of Nexidia QC a significant decision,” said Drew Lanham, senior vice president and general manager of Nexidia’s Media and Entertainment division. “Our relationship with PBS has been highly collaborative, and it has been very rewarding working with them to refine the capabilities of Nexidia QC to meet their demanding requirements.”

More information about Nexidia QC and other Nexidia products is available at www.nexidia.tv.