Transcribe long recordings from a Sony Handycam the speeches, not the applause.
A Sony Handycam records AVCHD (.MTS files) or MP4, and a 3-hour graduation or lecture from it is text in about 6 minutes once the file is uploaded. The ceremony is 180 minutes, so after the first 20 minutes free the $6 pack of 500 minutes covers the rest with 340 left.
From camcorder to transcript
Speeches, readings and lectures captured on a Handycam, ready to quote.
Where AVCHD hides its files
AVCHD recordings are stored deep in the card, under PRIVATE, AVCHD, BDMV and STREAM, as numbered .MTS files. MP4 clips sit in another folder on the same card, and the folder names differ by model. If the upload refuses an .MTS file, convert it to MP3 first.
Why the audio is enough
A camcorder stream at 24 Mbps comes to 10.8 GB an hour (24 divided by 8, times 3,600), so a 2-hour ceremony is far past 5 GB as video. Saved as MP3 at 128 kbps, the same two hours are about 115 MB and carry every word.
A year of assemblies
Twenty-five one-hour assemblies across a school year are 1,500 minutes. The $12 pack of 2,000 minutes takes them all with 500 left. A single graduation needs only the $6 pack.
What the ceremony becomes
A brief of what was said, chapters with timestamps for each speech, key quotes, and the names, awards and dates read out. Music, singing and applause are not transcribed; the speeches and readings are.
Camcorder files elsewhere
AVCHD folders and multi-gigabyte clips stop most uploads before they start.
✗ The usual problems
A clear recording in a format tools refuse.
- MTS files rejected by browser uploads
- The OpenAI Whisper API limited to 25 MB per file
- A ceremony split into short pieces to fit
- Names of graduates typed out by hand
- Free tools that cut off at 30 minutes of audio
- Recordings left on the camcorder for years
✓ Speeches as text
One ceremony, one transcript, one clock.
- MP4, or MP3 converted from MTS
- Six minutes or so for the ceremony
- Ten hours allowed per file
- A chapter for every speech
- No fee for the first 20 minutes
- $12 for a year of assemblies
Sample
A graduation ceremony filmed on a camcorder, as it comes back.
The sample is illustrative; we wrote it for this page, and it is not from a real ceremony. The timestamps follow a 3-hour event.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- All export formats
- Unlimited AI chat per transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Priority queue
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Sony Handycam recordings, the common questions.
How long does a 3-hour Handycam recording take?
About 6 minutes, because each hour of audio takes roughly 2 minutes. The proof page lists 4.94 hours of audio done in 372 seconds.
What does one ceremony cost, and a whole year?
On a first visit the ceremony's first 20 minutes are free. A 3-hour ceremony is 180 minutes on the $6 pack of 500 minutes. Twenty-five hour-long assemblies, 1,500 minutes, fit the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes.
Will an .MTS file upload?
Some browsers will not offer it in the file picker. If the upload refuses the file, convert it to MP3 first; the audio alone gives the same words at a fraction of the size.
A long event is stored as several .MTS segments. How should they be handled?
Convert and join the segments into one MP3 so the transcript runs on a single clock, or upload each segment on its own. One file can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB, and files over 2 GB start once a pack is on the account.
Which languages can the speeches be in?
99 languages, detected from the audio itself. A ceremony that moves between two languages is detected on the main one, and English with Tagalog in one recording is handled.
What formats come back, and who keeps the video?
TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON, with the SRT ready to caption the ceremony video. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training, and a family recording can be deleted with its text at any time.
Related
Related pages for camcorder recordings
Bring the ceremony off the camcorder. The ceremony's first 20 minutes are on us.
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