Fails to deliver.
I actually wrote a review already but somehow it got cut off. So let's try again, in a shorter version:
I own a small video agency, where I put out video content for the agency and for clients as well. We use to add captions / subtitles alot, so I gladly hopped on this deal in the prior sales round (it's not the first time they're in Appsumo).
Back then, when I raised some questions regarding the subtitles formatting and editing which was totally lacking, they promised that they are just now hiring a guy especially to deal with these issues, and he will take care of that for the rest of the summer (just search my name in the questions to see my correspondence with the team).
Well, Guess what? to my best understanding, the summer is over, and needless to say that nothing has been taking care of on this issue.
Bad move to promise and but not to deliver. Better off not promising in the first place.
I am giving this 2 tacos and not 1 because Happyscribe actually picks up the speech pretty good so the transcribing part is ok.
But If you're like me, and you care about the small details, appearance, the branding and the workflow when you make videos for the web - don't buy this. Here's why:
1. No custom fonts.
They promised they will add this feature. They didn't. If you have a brand font, forget about using it here. You can only pick from 10 other font options they have built-in.
2. The background options for the subtitles are too basic.
Here, you could pick from 4 basic options: no background, outline (stroke), wrap, and box. That's it. These might be good for cinema, but not for videos in digital platforms - they just look too cheap and clunky. Options like drop shadow, full width box or adding a radius for the box - totally stand out in their absence.
3. No subtitles animations.
You won't be able to find here options like Karaoke, showing one word at a time or other subtitle in/out animations that are totally a must these days if you want to grab the viewer's attention and hook him in. Happyscribe subtitles are basic and still.
4. Subtitles editor is a nightmare if you're aiming for precision.
HappyScribe offers a subtitles editor where you can take a box consists some subtitles, and drag it left or right to adjust it's timing - but you can't do it frame by frame. You have to either take a wild guess or listening to the audio 70 times again and again to make it somehow right.
That's the worst part. I find myself hopping back to my video editor for creating subtitles there, because trying to really nail the timing in happyscribe is a total nightmare.
Conclusion: not only that this tool doesn't save time, it adds time to the workflow and degrades the appearance of the output. If you just want to put out content with subtitles fast - go for it.
But you're a pro that cares about the small details - I'd stick to a regular video editor or look for another tool, because this one just fails to deliver.