Although I’ve shamelessly stolen the title from Joe B (@zbutcher on Twitter) I think it does represent a shift in the way we work with our source media.
Now, before I start let me be clear. I am NOT saying timecode is unimportant. I’m NOT saying that timecode is passé and suddenly irrelevant. Timecode remains incredibly important for any tape based access.
What I am saying is that text search – or phonetic search derived from text – is becoming a highly viable, and in many ways superior, way to search and find content. Timecode’s primary role was in being able to identify any given frame from a tape by tape and frame number. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, but as humans we don’t think in “reel and Timecode”, which is why text is a superior option.
In this technology summary, I’m going to consider:
- What tools are at our finger tips right now and their relative merits,
- Why speech transcription is ultimately more valuable than phonetic search (long term),
- Developments in speech transcription, and
- Transcription technologies.
