Search deposition recordings privately, on your own machine

What makes legal recordings different

A deposition video can run all day. A production can include hundreds of recorded calls. When you are preparing a cross or a motion, you need every place a witness discussed a topic, and you need it with a time reference you can cite back to the recording.

The material is also privileged, confidential or under a protective order. Where it gets processed is a real question, not a preference.

Video adds a layer text can't: tone, pauses and what was on screen when a witness answered. Being able to jump from a search result straight to that moment in the video is what makes review faster.

How teams handle it today

• Certified transcripts from the court reporter. The record of reference. They are text only, and they don't cover produced recordings, client calls or exhibits on video.
• Paralegal review with timestamp logs. Careful and defensible, and expensive in hours.
• Cloud review platforms and transcription vendors. Powerful, and each one is another vendor to assess, another agreement, and another copy of the evidence on someone else's servers.

A private review workflow

Ask, the on-device assistant, can answer “where did the witness talk about the March meeting?” and lists the files and timestamps it used, so every answer points back to the recording itself.

1. Put the recordings for a matter in their own folder and add it to MediaFind. It indexes MP4, MOV and other common video, plus MP3, M4A, WAV and other audio.
2. Add witness names, party names and case terms to the names and terms list so transcripts spell them correctly.
3. Search by topic, such as “discussions of the shipping delay,” or by a name, and narrow to one speaker once voices are labeled.
4. Play each result from its timestamp to hear the testimony in context.
5. Export a transcript as Word or PDF for your working file.

Exhibits and images

Photos and frames are searchable by the text in them. Photographed documents, screenshots and exhibits shown on screen during a video deposition can be found by the words they contain, alongside the testimony about them.

Organizing by matter

Keep each matter in its own folder so searches stay scoped and nothing from one case surfaces in another. Free tags and categories can mark recordings by witness, date of production or review status, and saved searches keep the recurring questions of a case, like a disputed meeting or a product name, ready to rerun when new recordings are produced. With Pro, collections group files into nested folders of your own without touching the originals.

Per-file summaries and chapters give a quick map of a long deposition before you start searching it. They are machine-generated overviews, useful for orientation, and every point should be checked against the testimony itself.

Where the material goes

Nothing. Transcription, indexing, search and Ask run on the computer where the files are, with no account and no API key. After a one-time model download it works fully offline, and a built-in privacy check confirms the core path opens zero external connections. The optional pieces that do touch the network, such as connecting a cloud AI assistant over MCP, are off unless you turn them on, and are best left off for client matters.

Machine transcripts are working documents, not certified transcripts. Use them to find testimony quickly, then rely on the official record and the recording itself. Confirm that local processing meets your firm's policies and any court orders before use.

Frequently asked questions

Can I search deposition videos without uploading them?

Yes. MediaFind transcribes and indexes on your own computer. No account is needed and no media leaves the machine.

Can I find everything one witness said about a topic?

Yes. Speaker labels separate voices, and you can name the witness, then search by topic and narrow results to that speaker.

Is the transcript a substitute for the court reporter's transcript?

No. It is a machine transcript meant for finding and reviewing testimony. Cite the official transcript and the recording.

Does it work on an offline or air-gapped machine?

After the models download once, the core features run with no network connection.