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VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

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Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#141

Post by soco »

lxgr wrote: post #134
eviks wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I'm, the other option is the "hearing impaired" variant, let that one have all the extra info

I've first hand encountered several situations with subtitles where it would have been ambiguous who was speaking without speaker annotations, despite the voices being distinctive, me being able to hear them clearly etc. Just think of a rapid exchange with neither speaker on-screen for more than two or three sentences and replies. You can probably get 99% there without that for a lot of content, but I'd challenge the…

I guess you can have that in a real life situation as well, where you don't have subtitles at all (hello AR) and still can handle. Do you want your subtitles full of metadata the whole movie for every movie and every day, for those several situations when the image director made a mess? You can always play that confusing scene again.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#142

Post by soco »

torben-friis wrote: post #19

I recently used some subtitles that I later found out had been AI generated. The experience wasn't really good to be honest - the text was technically correct but the way multiline phrases were split made them somehow extremely hard to parse. The only reason I learned AI was involved is that it was bad enough for me to stop viewing and check what was wrong. Hopefully it's an implementation detail and we'll see better…

This reminds me of Prime Video subtitles. Anything not Hollywood blockbuster will only have one language (from what it looks like, randomly chosen) of garbage quality (not sure whether AI generated though). But there's worse anyway - some Asian titles ONLY available in badly dubbed versions - again in some random language (hello Casshern in... German???). So I see this VLC initiative as an improvement from this very very low bar.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#143

Post by c16 »

_flux wrote: post #63
c16 wrote: post #47

Very excited for this, but a waste of energy if everyone is needing to process their video in real time.

What is the alternative? The results could be cached, but it's probably unlikely that they would need to be used again later, as I imagine most videos are watched only once. Another option would be to upload the generated subtitles to some service or p2p, but I believe that would also problem (e.g. privacy, who runs the service, firewalls for p2p, etc).

This is exactly the answer imo. We have subtitle files, which is in effect a cache. Process once, read many times.

So while I'm excited this feature is now available, having high quality subtitles cached in one place and generated by AI is the answer imo.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#144

Post by close04 »

diggan wrote: post #140
close04 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I've encountered cases like this watching Netflix movies originally in my native language but subtitled in English. But in every case I can remember the substitution made perfect sense. Without adapting the translation the natives will immediately understand the reference while you, the non-native with no sense of who they're talking about are left wondering what's the real message. Calling someone a "Mother…

> Without adapting the translation the natives will immediately understand the reference while you, the non-native with no sense of who they're talking about are left wondering what's the real message. Calling someone a "Mother Teresa" might miss the mark somewhere in China. Same if an Italian movie made references to food like Casu Marzo and the average American would probably miss a lot of the context. Right, but i…

> isn't that why the American is watching this Italian movie anyways

I don't know. I always though people would prefer to hear the original voice of the actor, since speech is a big part of the acting. But movies are dubbed in a lot of countries. And most people from those countries I spoke to said that they find the idea of subtitles very odd because it's distracting them from the movie.

I am sure many if not most people simply want to understand what's the message behind the conversation on the screen first and foremost. Learning something new only works if while you try to keep up with the dialogue, you also keep track of all the expressions you heard for the first time, to look them up later.

This is why I think it's the translator's job to balance translation and adaptation. Directly translate the original where context helps you understand the meaning so you get the "original" experience, and adapt where leaving just the 1:1 translation will make you lose the thread or miss some details.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#145

Post by n144q »

thiht wrote: post #133
n144q wrote: post #30

me: waiting years for VLC to fix basic usability issues and reconcile UI across different platforms VLC: we're gonna work on AI

The blanket criticism of AI is ridiculous. AI generated subtitles solves real issues for users.

How is criticism of VLC project management a criticism of AI?

Dude you need to level up your reasoning skills.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#146

Post by [deleted] »

magic_smoke_ee wrote: post #125
jodrellblank wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's what a software engineer would say who views resources as unlimited and free. from the same guidelines: don't be snarky; don't post thoughtless insubstantive comments; reply to the argument instead of calling names; don't sneer; respond to the strongest interpretation - assume good faith; eschew flamebait; don't trample curiosity.

> from the same guidelines: don't be snarky; don't post thoughtless insubstantive comments; reply to the argument instead of calling names; don't sneer; respond to the strongest interpretation - assume good faith; eschew flamebait; don't trample curiosity. You're making a litany of unsolicited accusations while subtracting value in a conversation you're not a part of. Please stop with the self-appointed fixation on m…

[deleted]

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#147

Post by jodrellblank »

magic_smoke_ee wrote: post #125
jodrellblank wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's what a software engineer would say who views resources as unlimited and free. from the same guidelines: don't be snarky; don't post thoughtless insubstantive comments; reply to the argument instead of calling names; don't sneer; respond to the strongest interpretation - assume good faith; eschew flamebait; don't trample curiosity.

> from the same guidelines: don't be snarky; don't post thoughtless insubstantive comments; reply to the argument instead of calling names; don't sneer; respond to the strongest interpretation - assume good faith; eschew flamebait; don't trample curiosity. You're making a litany of unsolicited accusations while subtracting value in a conversation you're not a part of. Please stop with the self-appointed fixation on m…

... who would "solicit accusations"? How am I "not a part of" it? How can I stop self-appointing what I comment about? Why are you knowingly posting microaggressions at all? Why do you think it creates drama, and why do you think said drama is pointless? And why aren't you responding to the strongest good-faith interpretation of my comment?

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#149

Post by NicuCalcea »

imiric wrote: post #118
jillesvangurp wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This boils down to software development not being free. In VLC's case, the development is funded by several for profit companies (like videolabs) that make their money from stuff they do with VLC (consulting, commercial services, etc.). VLC is a good example of an OSS project that is pretty well run with decades of history that has a healthy ecosystem of people and companies earning their living supporting all that a…

> Like many OSS products, it looks and feels like product made by techies for techies. That's not the problem. mpv is another media player that is arguably even more "made by techies for techies", yet it doesn't have the usability issues of VLC, and is a much more robust piece of software. VLC is just poorly designed from the ground up, and the project's priorities are all over the place, as this AI initiative demons…

Those are just your priorities. I don't have any usability issues with VLC, but would use the AI subtitles.

Re: VLC tops 6B downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

#150

Post by thiht »

n144q wrote: post #145
thiht wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blanket criticism of AI is ridiculous. AI generated subtitles solves real issues for users.

How is criticism of VLC project management a criticism of AI? Dude you need to level up your reasoning skills.

When you write "VLC: we're gonna work on AI" you’re clearly implying AI is worthless.
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