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writes:I've previously written about making basic captions for videos, and making music track videos. I'm just passing along what I've learned so far, with no claim to being an expert.
This time, I want to talk about making multiple captions files for the same video.
The AI tool I've been using to create captions is called Transcri. I've previously explained how to use it to create a subrip-format caption file.
However, Transcri can output files in a variety of formats:
But what about the case where you have a video in one language, but you want captions for several languages?
One way to handle this is to take your original-language subrip file, and ask AI to translate it into the language you want. This should theoretically work, because translation won't affect any of the technical parts of the file (the numbers, essentially).
Unfortunately, the problem I found was that the translated file wouldn't work, and I don't know why. Facebook would simply reject it. There was no visible problem that I could see.
What I discovered is that Transci offered a solution. I use the service often enough that it was worth upgrading to a Pro membership, which allows me to have five active projects at a time.
What happens is that after you've uploaded your audio file and processed it, at the point where previously I was just downloading my subrip file, I can now upgrade the work to project status.
The project page allows the user to edit the subrip file online, rather than having to edit the file on your local system, and it handles any control characters.
At the top left, the current language is displayed. Clicking the down arrow, and clicking the plus sign, allows you to add a new language – and Transcri can translate for many different languages.
So, for example, if I have an English-language captions file, I can add 'Spanish' and the AI will generate a Spanish-language captions file.
One quirk of the system is that if you have a multi-line caption for a particular timestamp, the translation puts everything on a single line. This means that I then edit the captions file online, adding line breaks as needed. This is not difficult, but it seems there is probably a better way and I am just missing it.
You can also play the audio file from the projects page, and see if the captions are correct. However, it does not 'play' the captions as the audio is performed.
When you are satisfied with the translated captions, you can then download the captions file, and test it on your local system synced with the audio or video.
I am using this method to now generate captions in English, French, German, Spanish and Tagalog for our TMP videos.
If you have suggestions, please leave a comment on this article, so we can all learn together.