Any App to dynamically create subtitles in real time

Hi folks
I recently got a Manhattan "Freely" puck box which is brilliant -- and what seems great is that some subtitles are generated in real time while you are watching if you want subtitles. For example there's a channel called Talking Pictures TV which has really old classic TV and movies from the earlier days of TV and cinema long before things like subtitles were even heard of - and it's a tiny very niche channel so wouldn't have the staff or resources to create / licence etc subtitle creation so there must be some sort of A.I in the Manhattan Freely box generating these. To turn off simply press the subtitle button on the handset.

To anybody buying these though -- one slight flaw -- there's no SKY NEWS app on this -- not sure why or maybe an update is coming but the puck is brilliant if you want to watch all local UK available terrestial channels for ZILCH ( inc the huge archive on BBC iPlayer) -- although how that doesn't get in problems with UK TV licensing authority -- no idea -- "don't ask don't tell;" !!!wherever you are on the planet without a need either for using a VPN.

I'll be testing this in China (Shanghai) in a couple of weeks as I'm visiting for a while -- it works in the USA as I've already tried it there in Santa Monica CA.

Cheers
jimbo

I use Video to SRT which converts video and audio files into subtitles and readable transcripts using on-device AI. Everything runs locally on your PC for privacy: no cloud uploads, no accounts, no subscriptions.

jimbo45 said:

Hi folks
I recently got a Manhattan "Freely" puck box which is brilliant -- and what seems great is that some subtitles are generated in real time while you are watching if you want subtitles. For example there's a channel called Talking Pictures TV which has really old classic TV and movies from the earlier days of TV and cinema long before things like subtitles were even heard of - and it's a tiny very niche channel so wouldn't have the staff or resources to create / licence etc subtitle creation so there must be some sort of A.I in the Manhattan Freely box generating these. To turn off simply press the subtitle button on the handset.

To anybody buying these though -- one slight flaw -- there's no SKY NEWS app on this -- not sure why or maybe an update is coming but the puck is brilliant if you want to watch all local UK available terrestial channels for ZILCH ( inc the huge archive on BBC iPlayer) -- although how that doesn't get in problems with UK TV licensing authority -- no idea -- "don't ask don't tell;" !!!wherever you are on the planet without a need either for using a VPN.

I'll be testing this in China (Shanghai) in a couple of weeks as I'm visiting for a while -- it works in the USA as I've already tried it there in Santa Monica CA.

Cheers
jimbo

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The BBC licence is essentially an honesty system and most Brits do not abuse it.

FreeBooter said:

I use Video to SRT which converts video and audio files into subtitles and readable transcripts using on-device AI. Everything runs locally on your PC for privacy: no cloud uploads, no accounts, no subscriptions.

Video to SRT - Download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store

Video to SRT converts video and audio files into subtitles and readable transcripts using on-device AI. Everything runs locally on your PC for privacy: no cloud uploads, no accounts, no subscriptions. Export formats: - SRT (Subtitles) - VTT (Web captions) - TXT (Clean transcript) Caption...

apps.microsoft.com

Click to expand...

Subtitle Edit is a superior solution for generating subtitles from audio, and it's free.

Hairy Scot said:

Subtitle Edit is a superior solution for generating subtitles from audio, and it's free.

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Nice one -- but it's still an "After the fact" so you need to have downloaded the video first to export the subtitles.
Cheers
jimbo.

Pretty sure you are wrong about freely boxes auto producing subtitles.

I have a manhattan box and it has many shows that do not have subtitles. Of this I am very aware aa subtitles are important to me.

Just become so old movie channels have subtitles it just means subtitles have been added retroactively. Such channels know their main audience is older persons and so to get some traction, adding subtitles makes sense.

It is no big deal for them to digitise old moves and create subtitles. Hell anybody could do that with a pc for many years.

Ironically autogeneration of subtitles is probably easier on old movies as they usually do not suffer from the Hollywood Director orgasmic fetish of ridiculously loud background music.

cereberus said:

Pretty sure you are wrong about freely boxes auto producing subtitles.

I have a manhattan box and it has many shows that do not have subtitles. Of this I am very aware aa subtitles are important to me.

Just become so old movie channels have subtitles it just means subtitles have been added retroactively. Such channels know their main audience is older persons and so to get some traction, adding subtitles makes sense.

It is no big deal for them to digitise old moves and create subtitles. Hell anybody could do that with a pc for many years.

Ironically autogeneration of subtitles is probably easier on old movies as they usually do not suffer from the Hollywood Director orgasmic fetish of ridiculously loud background music.

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That's probably what they do - as plenty can create subtitles from the video first so they could generate the subtitles before releasing the movies / shows.

However with decent hardware and proper A.I it in theory should be possible to download the video first and then create very quickly the relevant subtitles so the user could simply download the stuff, and then in a few minutes generate subtitles without having to view the thing in real time to do this.

Modern films are much trickier though since the dialog is usually of quite poor quality and low level but sound effects etc are hideously loud -- and as for commercial breaks the volume always seems to rise exponentially unless your TV has one of those "equalize volume" features on it's hardware.

BTW as for BBC licence fee with iPlayer on freely box used outside the UK -- I did actually buy a BBC TV licence when I was working in the UK last time (expires end of Mar 2027) so I do actually have one !!!!!!. But BBC could generate huge amounts of money if it found ways to licence iPlayer to users outside the UK - they must have enough decent lawyers if they can take on a certain POTUS. !!! That way also they could fund some decent programs instead of a load of the normal terrestial tuff they dish out - and especially those hideous endless Rap / Indie / other "Music ???) channels which any commercial broadcaster can and does do far better. The iPlayer has some really good stuff on it and would net the BBC a HUGE amount of money.

As for sports etc - why bother with Formula 1 -- Snooker is very popular but it's left to Channel 5 to cover the British Open championship now taking place in Cheltenham -- in fact Channel 5 streaming services have some brilliant series on it plus if you like that sort of thing the whole set of the X-Files (decently subtitled) and loads more you wouldn't have associated with Ch 5 !!!! and all legally FREE !!!.

@cereberus

does your box get SKY NEWS as I think some type of soft/firm ware upgrade might need to be done. A few have mentioned this. The whole point of using these boxes is to get away from using areials or satellite dishes - especially where Internet services are first class. I don't miss it but for some it's a niggle.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Nice one -- but it's still an "After the fact" so you need to have downloaded the video first to export the subtitles.
Cheers
jimbo.

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True, but most of my downloads have embedded subtitles, or I can find subtitles from a number of sources.
On those occasions when neither is available I have found Subtitle Edit invaluable, albeit with the occasional amusing gaffes.

Hairy Scot said:

I have found Subtitle Edit invaluable

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I took a look at Subtitle Edit.
I'll be trying it soon on some sample videos so thanks for suggesting it.
Download link for latest public version
SubtitleEdit-Windows-x64.zip


Denis