Mark Kim - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Content Developer at Snowflake Computing
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Facilitates the creation of videos through an automated pipeline, but experienced instances where Synthesia was down, causing temporary disruptions in the video generation process
Pros and Cons
  • "One improvement in our organization was that we could produce videos quickly. It increased our footprint as a small team, making us look like a bigger team because of that automated pipeline."
  • "In the beginning, it was kind of a learning curve trying to get that pipeline set up correctly."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case was we built, like, kind of an automated pipeline that would take Google slides that we created, and it would automatically create videos from those slides with an avatar.

How has it helped my organization?

One improvement in our organization was that we could produce videos quickly. It increased our footprint as a small team, making us look like a bigger team because of that automated pipeline. 

There's a learning curve with Synthesia, but towards the end, it enabled us to produce, generate, and edit videos correctly.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the fact that we're able to automate those videos. That was a big part and developer workflow was pretty nice.

What needs improvement?

I would like to have a little bit more of a place to have testing be able to test more because we're being charged on a utilization level. And sometimes, we have to scrap what we created.

It'd be nice to just use that quota for actual production videos and have something. 

It would be nice to just have an audio track to check the audio because we're in a technical field, and the avatars' voice rendering gets strange on certain words that we use. It gets strange with certain words that we use. 

We use a lot of acronyms and it's just not pure English. So it'd be nice if we didn't lose our credits on testing rather than if we just had an audio tracker to cut a lot of that stuff. So, the development testing workflows could have been improved at that time.

With the voice rendering, if we could have some type of AI that could understand the state, and the company, it could probably make a lot of improvements on the language, for clarity, for spelling, it could check a lot of that stuff for us.

If it had some type of intelligence to it, we'd be able to pronounce certain things and understand the context of certain things. So, just a level of smarts in there would be a huge improvement.

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For how long have I used the solution?

I used it for a year. We were pretty current on the version at the time and did a lot of upgrades. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did have some times when Synthesia was down. That kind of slowed down our process. We had that happen a couple of times. 

So, the service itself was stable for the most part. But we did have a couple of times when it crashed. It wouldn't generate videos or things like that. It's probably some kind of bandwidth issue. 

I saw some improvements with the avatars and how they became a little less and less robotic, and they looked less and less like avatars after a while. So I thought those improvements were nice.

Once we got the templating issues down and figured that out. Then, the overall pipeline became pretty simple and reliable after some time.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We're a very small team, so we didn't have any kind of scalability issues. 

The problem was that we had a small team, and we only had one account. Because of the pricing, we were not able to get multiple accounts. We just had one account. 

So there was no scalability because if somebody was there doing stuff, someone else could also log in. We had scalability issues because we could only have one account for our team.

How are customer service and support?

We talked to the technical team about a couple of things here and there. We had some calls trying to figure things out. Overall, it was okay because once we got those early bugs, we had no issues afterward.

How was the initial setup?

In the beginning, it was kind of a learning curve trying to get that pipeline set up correctly.

But once it was set up, overall, it was okay. 

We have some issues with the templating now. So I would like to see the templating definitely improved with it because some of the templates really screw up our process. 

If it has some kind of intelligence to understand, like, how many slides there had to be, how many things like that if it could kind of be a little bit more dynamic, so you don't have to create all the templates with exactly the correct amount of slides to begin with for it to be able to understand what to do. 

If it could dynamically say, "Okay, I could see that you have 18 slides, obviously. We're gonna need 18 slides for this," and that kind of templating format was kind of tricky at first. But once we got it down, it would make it a lot easier after some time.

What was our ROI?

It helped generate more on-demand. Because we have an on-demand video-based curriculum at our university. So, it helped increase the number of people taking the courses.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We hit our quotas quite quickly. So we are definitely limited to how much testing we can do, which is kind of a problem. 

For what we used it for, we definitely ran into issues with being able to use be it due to the price because we didn't have enough credit.

What other advice do I have?

Definitely see if you can get some test development credit to do that if Synthesia has any improvements along that side. That would be helpful.  

When we were trying the product early on,  Synthesia didn't have as much templating, but maybe they've got some of this worked out by now. I haven't used it extensively in the last probably six months, so I can't say anything new that they've done, but I would definitely ask about templating and test development credit.

Just make sure you know how to use templating, how to use the test resources, and how to use the automated pipeline with Google Slides. Those are the three big things.

Overall, I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Paul Akinleye - PeerSpot reviewer
Thinkium Ambassador at Thinkium Foundation
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
The solution has good usability, and videos created through it have HD quality
Pros and Cons
  • "Synthesia videos have HD quality, and the text and animations are better than other platforms."
  • "The process of creating Synthesia enterprise accounts should be made more straightforward."

What is our primary use case?

I used Synthesia to create a pitch deck for my client, who needed to pitch an idea as an advertisement to his team. The solution is used to create advertisements, presentations, and videos.

What is most valuable?

Synthesia videos have HD quality, and the text and animations are better than other platforms.

What needs improvement?

The process of creating Synthesia enterprise accounts should be made more straightforward.

I lost two clients because I was trying to book an enterprise account for my client's project and could not do it. I reached out to Synthesia about booking a demo for the accounts but did not get any response. Then, they told me that to book a Synthesia enterprise account, I would have to pay an annual subscription.

The only issue I face with Synthesia is that there is a time limit to the amount of video I can create at a stretch. I cannot create a ten-minute video at a stretch. Instead, I will have to create shorter videos of three or two minutes to make the video ten minutes long.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Synthesia for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Synthesia a seven out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Synthesia a seven out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Synthesia's customer support team didn't address my issue related to creating an enterprise account.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Synthesia's pricing for the basic accounts is okay, but it would be better if it could be reduced. There is no fixed price for the Synthesia enterprise account, and I really want to know how its pricing works.

What other advice do I have?

Synthesia is deployed on-cloud in our organization.

Synthesia has better usability, and its UI allows me to explore many things. I would recommend Synthesia to other users.

Overall, I rate Synthesia an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Julian Jernigan - PeerSpot reviewer
Instructional Design Consultant at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts
Consultant
Helps to save time and has 24/7 automated bots for customer service
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution helps us save time."
  • "I have encountered glitches while working with Synthesia for an extended period. I would also like to see multiple avatars on the same screen for non-singular representation."

What is our primary use case?

I used the product to do the French pronunciations for complicated culinary techniques.

How has it helped my organization?

I use Synthesia to do voice-over. My voice has a southern accent. You need a neutral accent to spread the count nationwide and beyond. 

What is most valuable?

The solution helps us save time. 

What needs improvement?

I have encountered glitches while working with Synthesia for an extended period. I would also like to see multiple avatars on the same screen for non-singular representation. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the solution for a couple of months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Synthesia's scalability a seven out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

The tool has automated customer service bots that are available 24/7. It has a lot of materials as well. 

How was the initial setup?

Synthesia's deployment was straightforward. I use it along with other third-party apps. 

What other advice do I have?

Take a free trial or one month paid trial to use it for your specific use case. I rate the product a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
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Daniel Baker - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Evangelism at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
The product is cheap, it saves time, and it is very good for internal training purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is very good for internal training and internal messaging."
  • "The digital avatars must be refined."

What is our primary use case?

I evaluated the tool for internal training projects.

What is most valuable?

Synthesia is very good for internal training and messaging as it saves time. Previously, for me to create an asset, I needed to use several resources, including actors, studios, and lighting, all of which took considerable planning.

With Synthesia, it is easier. It has a wide range of digital actors, integrates with generative AI solutions such as ChatGPT, and continues to evolve with new features such as its new translation tool.
This makes distribution to diverse audiences much simpler.

What needs improvement?

I would be reluctant to use the solution for customer-facing products. The digital actors’ lips are typically out of sync, and their mannerisms can sometimes feel off. This can potentially create a disconnect with the audience. It is for that reason; real actors would be preferred for customer-facing assets. They have a greater capacity to show empathy, excitement, and passion in their delivery.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fine. It’s a fantastic product and perfect for certain use cases. My only reservation would be for customer-facing productions. The lip synchronization can sometimes look like a badly dubbed film and if the avatar looks off camera, then psychologically it looks as if they are lying

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I am the only one using the product in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted the technical support team. It is a very easy product.

How was the initial setup?

There is no installation required. It's a web-based, SaaS product. We just log on to the portal. It is also super easy to use. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution is cost-effective and relatively cheap. I also believe the product is coming out with new personal and enterprise packages.

I've only used it to evaluate. If I were to recommend it to someone, I don't think that the cost of the product would be a detractor.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is cost-effective and relatively cheap. I believe the product is coming out with personal and enterprise packages. It is value for money. I've only used it to evaluate. If I were to recommend it to someone, I don't think that the cost of the product would be a detractor.

What other advice do I have?

I have used the solution for a couple of projects. It's a product that I actively follow. It has some really strong points, but it has some slight issues as well.

Everything that Synthesia is doing can be done with other tools, but the beauty of this product is that it is all collated into a nice, easy to use package.
The product impressed me because it wasn't a huge learning curve. Simply type the script, choose your avatar and the tool generates the content.

This is invaluable for smaller organizations that do not have the budget, time, or resources to bring in real-life actors and means that changes can be made on the fly and not require costly reproduction.

I would recommend this product for evaluation; it is not ready for every project but would be my go-to solution in cases where digital actors (and their associated quirks) were deemed acceptable.

Remember, digital actors require lots of back-end processing, yes the models could be refined, but this would require more resources and ultimately reflect in elevated subscription pricing.

The software is a game changer and deserves all of the hype and praise it gets on social media. The tool is invaluable for companies that can't afford a studio or perhaps need to change content on the fly, especially in learning and development.

The digital actors are not quite on par with human actors, which we would expect.

Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Instructional Designer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20Leaderboard
Easy to learn, user-friendly and adaptable to different content
Pros and Cons
  • "It's amazing. Instead of taking a video camera and making videos from scratch, we can create them in Synthesia. We pick the right avatar that matches the style we want. It's easy to learn, even for new employees. It's very user-friendly and adaptable to different content."
  • "Synthesia's compatibility with different learning patterns could be improved. I use it with Squarespace, and it's easy, but it could be better with other elements."

What is our primary use case?

I create educational videos, talking about various topics, such as courses about writing or courses about design. 

I use Synthesia to create videos explaining the topics.

How has it helped my organization?

It's amazing. Instead of taking a video camera and making videos from scratch, we can create them in Synthesia. We pick the right avatar that matches the style we want. 

It's easy to learn, even for new employees. It's very user-friendly and adaptable to different content.

What is most valuable?

How easy it is to go back and edit your work. The edit feature is super useful when you want to add or remove something from a video.

What needs improvement?

Some of the AI models can be improved, but not all of them. Some look less human-like, especially the older models. The newer models are great.

Synthesia's compatibility with different learning patterns could be improved. I use it with Squarespace, and it's easy, but it could be better with other elements.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for around a year to create AI videos for my e-learning pages.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable. I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. When more than one person on my team is using our Synthesia account, it becomes quite slow.

How was the initial setup?

I use it in my web browser. So, the setup is pretty easy. Very straightforward.

What was our ROI?

I have seen a return on investment. The quality of the videos produced is better than if I had to create and edit them myself. It's much easier using Synthesia.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price reflects well on the ability of the software. It matches exactly what it offers.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise other users to play around with it for a while. It might seem basic, but you can create high-quality content with it. Keep using it for different types of activities or learning opportunities.

Overall, I would rate the solution nine out of ten. It is really great product for it has to offer. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Fraser Gordon - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Content Developer at Kinaxis
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Helps to generate audio and video using AI avatars
Pros and Cons
  • "Before Synthesia, recording a 20-minute script could take about one to two days. I had to review the recording to find background noise and edit it. If any change was identified, I had to redo the project. However, with Synthesia, I can have a recording within 20 minutes. It would only need minor tweaks. You could tell the difference between AI recording and human recording, but it improved the course of time in which we made the recording. Our Japanese customers didn't believe that it was AI voice. The tool's most valuable feature is quickly converting text into a usable audio format. It converts quality text to audio with an accent appropriate for regional dialects."
  • "The AI avatars are good, but sometimes they have unnatural movements. The lip-syncing needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We used Synthesia for AI speech and videos. We have done audio support for written text in multimodal learning. It helped us generate audio for different languages and create promotional materials for courses and certifications. 

What is most valuable?

Before Synthesia, recording a 20-minute script could take about one to two days. I had to review the recording to find background noise and edit it. If any change was identified, I had to redo the project. However, with Synthesia, I can have a recording within 20 minutes. It would only need minor tweaks. You could tell the difference between AI recording and human recording, but it improved the course of time in which we made the recording. Our Japanese customers didn't believe that it was AI voice. 

The tool's most valuable feature is quickly converting text into a usable audio format. It converts quality text to audio with an accent appropriate for regional dialects. 

What needs improvement?

The AI avatars are good, but sometimes they have unnatural movements. The lip-syncing needs to be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Synthesia's stability an eight out of ten. There were occasional delays and downtime, which were not significant. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the tool's scalability a nine out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

Synthesia is very good with the support. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We selected Synthesia because it had a good ramp-up and multi-user support. They have realistic sound compared to other tools. 

How was the initial setup?

The tool's initial deployment is trivial. You need to sign up on the platform. 

What was our ROI?

You can get the recordings done in minimum time and access international markets. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the product a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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AI Video Creator at a consultancy with self employed
Real User
User-friendly tool with good stability and unique capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup process is interesting and user-friendly."
  • "There could be an option to create custom Avatars. Additionally, the product’s technical support team’s response time needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use Synthesia to present research across the database for our clients. It helps us create video ads, ad screening, marketing content, etc.

What is most valuable?

The software has a lot of unique capabilities.

What needs improvement?

There could be an option to create custom Avatars. Additionally, the product’s technical support team’s response time needs improvement.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the platform’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Synthesia’s scalability a ten out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process is interesting and user-friendly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The platform provides different licensing plans. We have subscribed to their basic plans. They also offer an enterprise plan with unlimited access to all the features. We want an enterprise plan but haven’t received any response from the support team regarding the demo.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Synthesia a ten out of ten. It is a user-friendly tool for producing effective videos.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
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Anonymous at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Real User
A stable solution that can be used to create high-quality learning content videos with different languages and accents
Pros and Cons
  • "Synthesia gave us the ability to create high-quality learning content quickly."
  • "Synthesia is an expensive, high-end product, and its pricing could be a bit cheaper."

What is our primary use case?

We used Synthesia to create videos with different languages and accents.

What is most valuable?

Synthesia gave us the ability to create high-quality learning content quickly.

What needs improvement?

Synthesia is an expensive, high-end product, and its pricing could be a bit cheaper.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Synthesia is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Synthesia is a scalable solution. Three learning designers were using Synthesia in our organization. The three people who used Synthesia to build content were on my team. The solution was deployed to 4,000 employees globally.

How are customer service and support?

When we first got Synthesia, we asked the technical support team questions about its functionality, and they were very helpful.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What was our ROI?

We have seen a return on investment with Synthesia. The solution gave us the ability to create content, which, if done externally, would have cost us four times as much.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing Synthesia, we evaluated other options. We chose Synthesia because its cost, functionality, and service were better.

What other advice do I have?

Synthesia was deployed on-cloud in our organization.

I would recommend Synthesia to other users. Since it's an expensive product, users should consider the cost before choosing Synthesia.

Overall, I rate Synthesia ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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