Video Synch Files

Synch files allow the synchronization of video/audio playback to coincide with the text transcript of the audio. Synch files are small databases of information where each row of the database connects the text of the transcript to the appropriate video playback time. Typically each row in the synch file contains a minimum of the following information:

• Row Index: Unique Identifier for each row
• TimeCode: Beginning play time of deposition line in seconds
• TimeStamp: Beginning play time of deposition line in hh:mm:ss format
• PageNum: Corresponding page that the row comes from
• LineNum: Corresponding line of the deposition
• Text: The text associated with the page/line of the row

Because videographers can synchronize deposition video line-by-line with the final transcript, the synch files they create can then be  loaded into trial presentation software such as OnCue or Trial Director. These are called synchronized video depositions and should be the standard copy order at a deposition.  Typically the court reporting company or the videographer will provide the law firm a DVD disk which should contain transcripts, Mpeg-1 video files, a variety of synch files and the deposition exhibits.

Following are the file types that should be included on the synchronized deposition disk:

• Transcripts: Mini and Full page versions of the transcript provided in PDF, TXT  and PTX versions of the files
• Video: Mpeg-1 video files
• Deposition exhibits: Color PDFs of each exhibit
• Synch files: MDB and CMS at a minimum