Start-Stop™ PowerPlay for Windows Media was developed by HTH Engineering, Inc. in 2004 in response to Florida Law Enforcement’s growing need to transcribe interviews captured on inexpensive DVD recorders. We’ve taken user inputs from our customers, including law enforcement, government users, and the movie and television industry since then, with continuing improvement in features and performance! 

Today, Start Stop PowerPlay (in its fifth year with New Version 4.0 just released) remains the premier solution and world’s best DVD and Multiformat Video, Streaming, Web and Media transcriber for PCs. 

Nothing comes close (see comparison to "all in one" imitator product), with Start Stop Power Play’s unique features:

• Transcribe DVDs and CDs and much more (virtually any industry media format, web, video or audio on your PC)! Commercial Hollywood DVDs, Home and Organization-Burned DVDs, Audio Compact Discs, Windows Media, Real Video™ and Real Audio™, Apple Quicktime™, AVI, Shockwave Flash™, .ASF, .WMV, WAV, MP3, MPEG and many more formats, in any form (from DVDs, or on flash drives, or hard drive, or via the internet.)
• Adjustable Size Video Window sits “always on top” if you like, in the corner of your word processor. You see the video and your word processor at the same time, so your eyes stay focused on the media while you are typing on the screen.
• Bookmark ( or index) up to 16 spots within a media clip and instantly return back to them for playback/exhibition by merely double-clicking. This is especially important when showing video in a courtroom or to a group of law enforcement officers, or for a Hollywood script.
• Instant “Go-To” positioning allows you to instantly reach any point in the video to the nearest second. Merely enter the Hour, minute, and second you want to “zoom” to.
• Time Stamps and Video Thumbnails can be inserted right into your Microsoft Word™processor, providing a visual record of what the video looked like at that point, what time it was said (real time or elapsed time).
• Free Lifetime Software Upgrades insures your product will never go out of date, and will remain a useful tool as long as you own it. Windows Vista™, XP™, 2000™, Windows 98SE™
• The Ultimate in Reliability - No Moving Parts other than the foot pedal itself, which utilizes 20 million-cyle rated OMRON™ switch assemblies. 1 Year warranty on foot pedals (replacement pedals are only $75 if you ever need one) but 99% of our 200K plus users’s pedals have lasted for many years with heavy daily use.
• No Security Residue left on your PC from playing media - Start Stop PowerPlay does not create “temporary” files on a PC hard drive that can be later “hacked”. Start Stop PowerPlay only plays the media “in-situ” from its source (hard drive, removable drive, physical DVD or CD, Network Drive letter, USB Thumbdrive, Web Streaming clip) in its native form.
• Ability to play and store individual VOBs (Video Objects) from the DVD! A DVD’s video content consists of a series of VOB files, easily viewable from your PC. Start Stop PowerPlay allows you to treat DVDs video just like any other video or audio PC-based file. Not only can you insert and transcribe the entire DVD as you would normally, but you also have the option to copy/store/email one or more of the DVD’s individual VOB files onto any media for playback later. 
  
  Examples:
  -Easily back up individual sections of the DVD interview to your hard drive or thumbdrive for transcription later, and keep the original DVD intact.
  -A pool of transcriptionists can work-share and transcribe videos that are stored on a common server drive.
  -Email, web-store, or share VOBs like any other media, rather than having to duplicate or ship the entire original DVD to the transcriptionist.
• New! Continuous Video Thumbnailing + Timestamp feature allows you to automatically catalog an entire DVD or video clip. Set the adjustable time interval to 5 seconds for example, and Start Stop PowerPlay will automatically create a document that contains video snapshots and timestamping (e.g. HH:MM:SS in terms of elapsed or real time) showing the action every 5 seconds. Since feature is “keyed” based on elapsed time, a transcriptionist can also type along while listening and viewing the video, and Start Stop Power Play will periodically and automatically insert the thumbnails and/or timestamp into the document as they type.
• Price includes friendly, expert technical support from our engineering and technical staff for the life of the product. HTH Engineering, Inc. is your source for excellent engineered products since 1997, an industry leader with degreed engineers on staff.
• In use since 2004 by Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement, RCMP Canada, Hollywood transcription studios, International Criminal Court, and free-lance transcriptionists around the world, involved in a marketing, board room meetings, interview translation, web video transcription and more!
• We accept P.O.s and are certified with the US Government Central Contractor Registration, Better Business Bureau, and Dunn & Bradstreet FAX your PO to (810) 821-6940. Pricing and Quantity Discounts for Government Users.

Considering an electromechanical DVD player?

• Electromechanical devices wear out, have moving parts, and the laser reader will weaken and eventually fail. That’s why these products are generally non-returnable and carry a very limited warranty (e.g. 90 days), and costs 3 times as much.
• “One Note Pony” design only plays DVDs and CDs. Limited usefulness.
• It would be good idea to be concerned about damaging the original DVD if it’s stuck inside an electromechanical player for transcribing. To back it up, you’ve got to duplicate the entire DVD, a time-consuming process.
• “Clamoring” for an ergonomic solution? Don’t look at a stand alone unit to do that! Imagine trying to constantly view a small 5 inch screen while typing into your PC’s word processor on another screen. This could be a pain in the neck, in more ways than one!
• Need to timestamp or have visual video thumbnails printed out right in the typewritten transcript? Not possible with a mechanical player.
• Need to transcribe an interview that’s been downloaded from web, emailed, on a removable media, or something in a format that’s PC or MAC based? Not possible with a mechanical player.
• Concerned about sensitive interviews and internet security? Unless you’re typing into an old-fashioned Underwood Typewriter (“click click click”) it’s highly likely that you’re using a computer anyway for the word processing. Word Processing files from the created transcript are much easier to “grab” if your computer is connected to the internet than are large media files such as exist on a DVD. In any scenario, for sensitive work or otherwise, it’s always highly recommended that a computer should be on its own private network and/or firewalled.