Examples · General
Subtitles for your video
Upload a video to the Studio and download its subtitles as an .srt file. Then translate them with the chat, and watch both in VLC. No code.
Beginner · 25 min
What you need
Your ITS INCOM AI account and a short video, or an audio file: MP4, MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG and others, up to 25 MB. A video of a minute or two is the right size to start. No code.
1. Upload the video
In the Studio, open the Transcribe tab and fill in three fields:
- An audio or video file: your video.
- Accuracy: More accurate to start with; Faster finishes sooner on long files.
- Language: the language spoken in the video. Detect it automatically works too, but if you know the language, choose it.
Click Transcribe. While it works, the button says Listening…: a short video takes a few seconds, a longer one more.
2. The text and the subtitles
The text appears in a box, with two links under it:
- Download the text saves the text alone,
transcript.txt; - Download the subtitles (.srt) saves the subtitles,
subtitles.srt.
An SRT file is plain text. Each subtitle has a number, the time it appears and disappears, and its words:
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,640
Ciao a tutti! In questo video vi presentiamo il nostro progetto per il corso di Internet of Things.
2
00:00:04,820 --> 00:00:08,200
Abbiamo costruito una stazione meteo con un Raspberry Pi e tre sensori.
3. Watch them in VLC
Give the subtitles the name of the video, project.srt next to project.mp4, and VLC shows them when you open the video. Or drag the .srt file onto the video while it plays. Video editors and YouTube read .srt files too.
4. Translate them with the chat
Open the chat, write this request and, below it, paste the whole content of the .srt file:
Translate these subtitles into English. Keep the numbers and the times exactly as they are, translate only the lines of text, and answer with the subtitles only.
Copy the answer into a new text file and save it as project.en.srt, as plain text: Notepad on Windows is fine; on a Mac, in TextEdit choose Format → Make Plain Text first. In VLC, add it with Subtitle → Add Subtitle File, and switch between the two languages from the Subtitle menu.
Check that the translation has the same number of subtitles, with the same times. When we tried it, every time was kept.
A mistake travels
In our test video the voice said «una pagina web disegna i grafici», a web page draws the charts. The transcription heard «una pagina web di segni e grafici», signs and graphs, and the translation said it in English too: “a web page of signs and graphs”.
Correct the subtitles first, then translate them. Names, technical terms and words that sound alike are where subtitles go wrong.
Good to know
- The first subtitle starts at 0:00, even when the video opens with music or silence: in your video editor, move its start to where the voice begins.
- A subtitle is a phrase as the transcription heard it, and some are long: players show them on two or three lines.
- One language per video, and subtitles do not say who is speaking.
- Long videos: keep to a few minutes per file, and cut a long lesson into parts. If a part comes back with the same subtitle many times in a row, or with a long stretch without subtitles, transcribe that part again with Faster.
- Over 25 MB? The Studio says The file is too big. Send only the sound of the video: in VLC, Media → Convert / Save, with the profile “Audio - MP3”.
- Record and upload people only with their consent.
Exercise
- Record a one-minute presentation of your project with your phone, and make its subtitles.
- Translate them into English, and watch the video in VLC with both tracks.
- Transcribe the same video with Faster and with More accurate: which words change?
- For a video in English, choose English and translate the subtitles into Italian.
- The same in code: Subtitles from a recording, in Python.