Positives
- Intuitive interface
- Accurate AI
- Reliable transcribing and subtitling
- Translation services
- Free trial
Negatives
- No 24/7 customer support
- Lack of text editor on mobile app
Video and audio recording are a great help for various types of businesses. If an engaging video showcasing your product is a great way to gather new customers, interviews are much easier to do when using an audio recorder. However, it’s essential to add subtitles to cater to people who don’t know your language, and interview transcriptions help tremendously when going over the data. Doing this manually is time-consuming and expensive, though. This is where Amberscript steps in, a cloud-based transcriber partnered with major household names, such as Netflix and Disney+. With its attractive online interface and close-to-perfect transcriptions, Amberscript may easily become the go-to service for anyone who needs to add helpful text to their video and audio recordings. The service supports a variety of file formats and boasts a comprehensive support page. All this is wrapped up in an affordable plan, and the best part is that you can try everything yourself for free.
Features
Amberscript provides subtitling and transcription services for 39 languages. The software goes as far as including different accents and dialects, such as British or American English. When using Amberscript there are two options: take advantage of the company’s advanced AI or hire its language experts. It goes without saying that prices will differ depending on this, and Amberscript itself recommends using its manual services only for recordings longer than 20 minutes. For smaller files, the AI is able to finish the written text within minutes with near-perfect accuracy.
The list of supported file formats is also impressive. Of course, the most common ones (such as MP4, WAV, and MP3) are supported, but even lesser-known formats like OPUS are included. The process is fairly simple. If you’re using the AI, upload your document, wait for the software to work its magic, and then go over Amberscript’s editor to correct any mistakes that may have occurred. This is even more straightforward if you use the company’s language experts, as they will manually ensure your transcription or subtitles are done perfectly.
Transcription Services
Transcribing audio with Amberscript is easy: upload the file, select the number of speakers, and the AI transcribes it within minutes. The machine-made transcription is accurate, but some mistakes may pass through. This is usually due to bad pronunciation, poor audio quality, or words that the software doesn’t recognize. It’s also essential that you correctly select the number of speakers present in the audio. If it’s only your voice, make sure to set the transcription to one speaker or the AI may identify your voice as a different speaker when you take a break or slightly change the way you speak.
Luckily, the service gives you full control after transcribing the audio file, allowing you to manually correct mistakes. Furthermore, you can highlight important information, and rename speakers. The final step is exporting the transcription in the text format of your choosing. This can be in TXT or a Word document, but JSON is also an option.
Subtitling Services
The subtitling services work similarly to the transcription services. In fact, the first thing the AI does is create a rundown transcription of the audio, which you can export right away. However, in this case, the software offers the option to export in SRT, VTT, and EBU-STL, syncing the audio to the text automatically. You can either set customized subtitle rules or choose the ones used by Netflix or BBC. Unfortunately, downloading a video with subtitles isn’t possible at the time, but the feature is already on its way.
This automatic sync may not be 100% accurate, though. So, Amberscript allows you to edit the subtitles and timestamps within the software itself. Strangely enough, the software only allows for Netflix rules in this case. Still, it’s possible to configure the maximum number of lines, characters per line, and display time. If you want to download the transcription as a text file, make sure to do this before generating the subtitles, as this option stops being available afterward.
Finally, it’s important to mention Amberscript’s translation services. Up until uploading a video file, it’s the same process as before, but you have to choose human-made subtitling at checkout to hand over the video to the company’s experts and tick the box next to the translated subtitles option. The translation services are available for over 30 languages, including common languages like Spanish, Mandarin, and German, and rarer ones like Norwegian as well. Obviously, this type of subtitling takes much longer, but it’s worth the waiting.
Mobile
Most people use their smartphones to record interviews nowadays. Amberscript knows this and that’s why it launched a mobile app where you can record audio directly from the software. This allows you to start working on your transcription right away without the nuisance of uploading the file on the company’s website.
Additionally, all projects added to your account are available at your fingertips. This way, you can check and read them on the go. Unfortunately, the editor itself is not available on mobile and you can’t take notes within the text either, which is far from ideal. We would have preferred to have the option to actually be able to correct any mistakes we found on the go.
Pricing
Amberscript’s plans may seem confusing at first, as they significantly differ from what other companies offer. There are three payment options: pre-paid, subscription, and pay-per-minute. The pre-paid plan costs $10 per hour and is perfect for one-off projects. Meanwhile, getting a subscription is the better solution for those considering using the software regularly, as it comes a monthly allowance of five hours for automatic transcription and subtitling. It’s possible to get a monthly or an annual plan, where the latter costs 20% less each month, translating into $20 per month.
Last but not least, the pay-per-minute plan is for any manual services you may require. While human-made transcription and subtitling cost $1.25 per minute of audio or video upload, subtitle translation costs $7 per minute. But before getting a subscription or pre-paid plan, we recommend trying out the software for yourself by taking advantage of the free trial, which provides the first 10 minutes for free.
Customer Service
It’s not always simple to get in touch with Amberscript representatives. First off, there’s no 24/7 customer support, and direct contact is only possible through email. The company also has a fairly inactive Facebook page. On the other hand, Amberscript boasts an incredibly detailed support page, which covers account-related issues, privacy, security, and all the features offered. There’s also a page dedicated to various industries where Amberscript explains how they can make the best of their Amberscript subscriptions. It’s also worth mentioning that the company’s blog is refreshingly up to date, where Amberscript’s writers discuss topics like how its partners use the company’s services. We also recommend checking out Amberscript academy to learn everything about audio to data and how to bring the software’s editor to its full potential.
Bottom Line
Transcribing and subtitling have never been easier. With an intuitive transcribing AI that supports 39 languages and is almost mistake-free, Amberscript transforms a time-consuming task into a straightforward process that takes mere minutes. Even if errors do slip in, you can quickly correct them yourself through the online editor. It’s also worth mentioning the team of language experts Amberscript offers for manual transcription, subtitling, and translation services. The cost is also noteworthy, as you could mistakenly assume that a company operating with so many big names would be expensive. Although the company would benefit from 24/7 customer service, it makes up for that with its highly informative support page, blog articles, and guides. And to top it all off, the company offers the first 10 minutes entirely for free for you to test everything yourself.
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