Troubleshoot Missing, Delayed, or Duplicated Captions

Isolate audio, STT, transcript transport, display, and duplicate-producer failures.

Written By 4ALL.LIVE

Last updated 12 days ago

Identify the first layer where caption state stops, slows, repeats, or diverges.

Best for: Caption operators, producers, and support.

Before you start

Requires access to the event setup and affected output; provider configuration may require admin access.

  • Use a non-production reproduction when possible.
  • Record current configuration before changes.
  • Keep an independent confidence monitor and fallback.
  • Record event/language, engine/model, input, live state, output, onset time, and last good sequence.
  • Use local preview plus an independent viewer/receiver.
  • Avoid changing multiple tuning values together.

Troubleshooting steps

  1. Confirm the event is live and the intended transcription manager/source is running exactly once.
  2. Verify audio meter, correct device/channel, and intelligible signal.
  3. Check STT engine/provider status, credentials/entitlement/usage, partials/finals, and recognition latency.
  4. Check Transcript v3 WebSocket connection, increasing sequence numbers, and reconnect status.
  5. Compare operator preview, extended display, shared viewer, XPression/Encoder, and export to find the first divergent consumer.
  6. For delay, separate audio buffering, STT latency, translation, program delay, network, and receiver buffering.
  7. For duplicates, stop unintended second browsers/desktops/inputs and inspect partial/final merge behavior.
  8. Restore last-known-good preset and retest with a short script.

After the fix: The failure is isolated to input, recognition, transcript transport, output rendering, or a duplicate producer.

Confirm the fix

  • Only one intended source is active.
  • Sequence/latency are measurable.
  • First divergent output is identified.
  • Recovery does not erase evidence.

If the problem continues

  • Audio meter dead: solve device/permission first.
  • STT text local but viewer blank: inspect transcript/display socket and share access.
  • Duplicate after reconnect: stop stale session/source.
  • Only one language delayed: inspect translation, not source STT.

Escalation and safety

Important: Do not restart every component reflexively during air. Preserve healthy outputs and change the smallest failing layer.