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Oregon's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services

Caption Equipment
 
 
Oregon's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (ODHHS)-Technical Assistance Center
ODHHS Information and Technical Assistance Series
 
 
Captioning Equipment
(Source: Gary Robson)
 
Who manufactures caption decoders?
 
The following list shows companies that make caption decoders for consumers. For broadcast-quality applications, see the list of encoder manufacturers
 
NCI (National Captioning Institute)
8224 Old Courthouse Road
Vienna, Virginia 22182, USA
tel: 703/556-6272
tty: 703/556-6289
fax: 703/556-6291
 
Teknova Multilingual Captions Inc.
120 West Castellano
El Paso, Texas 79912, USA
tel: 915/544-6350
fax: 915/543-3213
 
ViewCom Technology International
(was Pacific Lotus Technology)
120 Lakeside Avenue, Suite 330
Seattle, WA 98122, USA
tel:   800/243-2710
fax:   206-325-3943
email: Viewcom@aol.com
 
MYCAP USA
1123 E Dominguez St, Unit E
Carson, CA 90746
tel:   800/692-2788 (general)
tel:   310/763-1967 (technical support)
 
Soft Touch Inc.
400 N. Columbus St #205
Alexandria VA 22314
tell: 703/549-8445
fax: 703/549-8583
 
 
Who manufactures caption encoders?
 
More companies are making encoders every day, and the line between a caption encoder and a subtitler (character generator) grows fuzzier as well. Most captioning systems support devices like the Chyron CODI, which does subtitles but can´t encode captions. Devices like this are not included on this list of encoder manufacturers:
 
EEG
The original manufacturer of caption encoders, EEG makes a wide variety of caption-related hardware for both North American and European formats
 
Evertz
Evertz produces high-end digital encoders
 
Link
Link makes both broadcast-quality encoders and decoders
 
Norpak
Norpak manufactures a variety of encoding equipment, including EIA-608 compliant digital and analog encoders
 
SoftTouch
SoftTouch started out by manufacturing caption encoder plug-in cards for PC´s, and expanded into a full encoder line
 
Ultech
Ultech makes a caption encoder and a subtitling unit, which can generate some very attractive fonts for open-caption applications
 
If I use a remote captioner, what equipment do I need?
 
If you´re using a remote captioner that can pick up your broadcast, then all you will need is a caption encoder, a modem (built in to many encoders), and a dedicated telephone line.
 
If you´re using a remote captioner with an audio-only link, then you will also need a way to make the audio available to the captioner over the phone.