Closed Captioning in Airmeet

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Revision as of 21:59, 19 March 2021 by Kyle (talk | contribs)
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In Sessions

Airmeet has built-in support for closed captioning in sessions. To turn it on:

  1. Join a session;
  2. Click the CC button at the bottom of the screen; and
  3. Sit back and read!

For more information on captioning, see the Airmeet help page.

Known issues with Airmeet-provided captions:

Airmeet does not support captions anywhere except within Sessions;

  • Captions do not work on the mobile apps;
  • Hosts do not have the ability to view captions;
  • Captions may be time-delayed for speakers with low bandwidth connections; and
  • When a viewer has captions turned on, their screen will no longer display multiple people—they can only see the window of the current speaker.

Everywhere Else

As of the time of publication, Airmeet only provides closed captioning in sessions, and nowhere else in their application. You can, however, use third-party video editing software to inject captions into your own video feed. We have had reports that using a combination of <a href=“https://webcaptioner.com/captioner/”>Web Captioner</a> (free!) and <a href=“https://obsproject.com/”>Open Broadcaster Software</a> (also free!) is one of the more user-friendly(ish) ways to do this.

If you want to try this, here’s how. (Please note: This info is provided for informational purposes only. Norwescon does not endorse either company, and does not officially support this solution, so if you have technical issues, we must refer you back to the help resources of Web Captioner or OBS.)

Before logging into Airmeet:

  1. Download and install OBS. We recommend optimizing it for virtual camera.
  2. Navigate to Web Captioner in your web browser and click Start Captioning. (For greater accessibility, we recommend adjusting your settings to use the OpenDyslexic font.)
  3. Launch OBS.
  4. Click Studio Mode (lower right) to display Preview and Program windows.
  5. Go to the Scenes window (lower left) and click the + to create a new scene.
  6. In the Sources window (lower, second from left), click the + to add sources.
  7. Add a Video Capture Device (your camera).
  8. Add a Window Capture (your web browser’s Web Captioner window).
  9. Adjust your windows.
  10. The Preview frame (upper left) allows you to move and resize your sources
  11. The Program window (upper right) lets you verify how your output will appear
  12. Use the slider bar in the Transitions window (upper middle) to display any updates to the Preview.
  13. Click the Start Virtual Camera button (lower right) to start sending OBS output to your camera.

Now, when you launch Airmeet, you should be able to select OBS Virtual Camera as one of your options.

OBS and Web Captioner Tips & Tricks:

  • If you are asked to allow OBS to use your camera, allow it.
  • You may need to restart OBS and your web browser after changing some settings.
  • If Airmeet cuts off part of your window, you can use the Preview window in OBS to rearrange your camera and captions at any time. Just use the Transition slider to update your appearance.
  • We recommend launching Web Captioner in a new web browser window with no other tabs—your captions will disappear if you minimize its window or click to another tab.
  • More info on OBS features can be found on the OBS Wiki.
  • Help for Web Captioner can be found on the Web Captioner help page.