How do I sync a transcript with the video of a deposition and edit clips?

 

Hardware and Software Requirements

TranscriptPad syncing is supported in TranscriptPad 23.7.1 or later, and requires an iPad running iPadOS 16 or later (iPadOS 17 or later is recommended for faster syncing), or a Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later. Because syncing is a processor and RAM-intensive task, we recommend using one of the latest iPad Pro or Mac models with Apple Silicon processors as they have hardware acceleration with the fastest processors and the most RAM. We also recommend keeping your iPad or Mac up-to-date with the latest iPadOS or macOS updates as we develop for and test on the latest versions of the operating systems released by Apple. Using older iPad or Mac devices will significantly lengthen the time required to sync, and may not have the necessary RAM capacity to complete a sync.

 

File Formats

• Transcript files have always been required to be in .TXT format, the standard file format created by court reporters, and the universally-accepted file type used by transcript review software. Make sure your court reporter provides the TXT file following these guidelines to ensure compatibility: https://support.litsoftware.com/why-wont-my-txt-transcript-work-in-transcriptpad If your transcript is in .PDF you will need to ask the court reporter to provide the transcript in .TXT format.
• Video files must be in .MP4, .M4V or .MOV format. If your video is in a different format you can use the free Handbrake desktop program, which is available for macOS and Windows (https://handbrake.fr), to convert the video into a compatible format. (Audio-only files have to be in .M4A or .MP4 format.)

 

Naming Your Video File(s)

Court reporters or videographers sometimes provide video deposition files with cryptic file names. A best-practice recommendation is to rename your video files in a way that makes them recognizable and sorts them chronologically. The file names should include the name of the deponent and the date of the deposition, especially if this person has been deposed more than once. If there are multiple video files associated with a deposition, add a suffix to the file name to indicate the order of the videos. This naming convention ensures that the video files will always be sorted by deponent name, and in chronological order, for example:

John Smith 2022-12-15 VOL 1
John Smith 2022-12-15 VOL 2
John Smith 2023-01-10 VOL 3

 

Important Information About Time Expectations and Multitasking

• Syncing speed will depend on your hardware and operating system, with the latest iPad or Mac devices and the latest operating system offering better performance. You can expect the sync process to take about 5 to 20 minutes per video deposition hour depending on your configuration.
• During the sync process you can continue to read, review, and annotate other transcripts in the same Case File.
• The sync process will pause if you close TranscriptPad, open a different Case File, or allow the iPad to lock. You can manually restart the sync when you re-open the Case File.
• You may want to disable Auto-Lock to prevent the iPad from locking and stopping the sync process. You can disable Auto-Lock by going to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock > Never.
• TranscriptPad uses your device’s speech recognition engine for U.S. English only.

Syncing on iPad or Mac

1. Open the Case File and import a new transcript, or open an existing transcript.

2. While viewing the transcript in the preview window, tap/click on the Link and Sync button a the top of your screen.

3. In the popover that appears, tap/click on Import and Link Video or Audio Files. A new popover will appear that will allow you to navigate to the location where your video files are stored. This is the same popover you are accustomed to seeing when importing documents and transcripts into any of the LIT SUITE apps.

4. Tap/click on the video file(s) (Shift-click on Mac to select multiple files) to choose files to associate with the open transcript, and tap/click on Open. You will get an Import Complete confirmation dialog once the import completes and your videos have been added to the Case File.

5. If you have multiple video files, it’s important that they are listed in the correct chronological order for the sync. You can click on the Preview button to confirm they are in the right order, or reorder them by dragging them up or down by the three horizontal grab bars.

6. When you are ready to start the sync process, tap/click on Start Sync at the bottom. The first time you use the sync process, iPadOS or macOS will request your permission to access Speech Recognition, and you need to tap on OK to proceed. The sync process happens entirely on-device and none of your data is sent to Apple or any third party.

7. Once the Synchronize Transcript process is finished, you will get a Synchronization Complete message.

 

Differences Between Video Clips and Video Segments

• A Video Clip is made up of one or more Video Segments, similar to how a book can contain multiple chapters. So you might create a Video Clip called “Playback For Mediation” and save multiple Video Segments to that Video Clip.

 

Creating Video Clips From Existing Issue Codes or Text Designations

• To create a Video Clip from an existing Issue Code or text designation, tap/click the More Options button to the right of the Issue Code name or page/line designation, then choose Convert to Video Clip.
• To create a Video Clip from multiple Issue Codes or text designations, tap/click Select > [select the Issue Codes or text designations] > Edit > Convert Selection to Video Clip.
• Text Designations that are converted to Video Clips will remain as Text Designations, and new Video Clips will be created retaining the text designation’s Issue Code name and color.
• View your video clips by choosing All Designations or Video Clips from the Show dropdown at the top of the designation browser sidebar.

 

Creating Video Clips

• To create a new Video Clip, tap/click the starting page/line and the ending page/line in the transcript, the same way you would create a text designation. Make sure that either All Designations or Video Clips is selected from the Show dropdown at the top of the resulting popover. Tap/click Create New Video Clip… and enter a name and choose a color, then tap/click Done.

• To add a Video Segment to an existing Video Clip, tap/click the starting page/line and the ending page/line in the transcript. Make sure that either All Designations or Video Clips is selected from the Show dropdown at the top of the resulting popover. Then tap/click on an existing Video Clip name.

 

Editing Video Segments

• After you create Video Segments you can edit the In Point and Out Point of the segments to make sure they start and end at the right moment, including or excluding spoken words as necessary.
• To edit a Video Segment tap/click on the Chevron button of the Video Clip to reveal the Video Segments, then tap/click on the More Options button of the Video Segment in the cell of the designation you want to edit, then tap/click on the Edit Video option in the resulting popover, which will open a new video editing window.

• At the bottom of the video editing window you will see audio waveforms representing the spoken words for the In Point and Out Point of the Video Segment. Drag the In Point waveform left and right to get the Video Segment to start at the right moment, then do the same with the Out Point waveform to get the Video Segment to end at the right moment.

• As you edit the In Point and Out Point for a Video Segment, the changes are automatically saved. If you want to edit multiple Video Segments within a Video Clip, tap/click on the Next (or Previous) button as necessary to go through all the segments.
• When finished, press Done. You will always be able to return to the video editing window to make further adjustments as necessary.

 

Exporting Video Clips or Video Segments

• To export Video Clips or Video Segments, tap/click Select > [select the Video Clips or Video Segments] > Edit > Export Selection as One Video File (or Export Selection as Multiple Video Files) > Export > [select the destination]. The exported file(s) will be named using the deponent name and either the page and line numbers for a Video Segment, or the Issue Code name for a Video Clip.

• The file type of the exported video clip is .M4V. This file type can be played back using QuickTime Player on the Mac, or various other video players on other platforms.

• Note: If you export Video Segments from different Issue Codes, and select Export Selection as One Video File it will still create multiple files based on the Issue Code name. If you want to export a video directly to TrialPad, bypassing the Files app, it has to be sent as one video file as multiple video files cannot be transferred between apps.

 

Closed Captioning (Subtitles)

• Before exporting you should choose whether to include closed captions (subtitles) with the video file. You can change the Video Preferences by going to Cases Screen > Settings > Video Preferences.
• The Video Preferences also gives you the option to Position Closed Captions either Over Video or Below Video (which will shrink the video slightly so no part is obscured).