1. Introduction
This section provides instructions on how to use the video preview feature in Smart Editor.
This feature allows language experts to localise video subtitles in a simple way using the Smart Editor tool for Subtitle Localisation jobs.
Glossary
Relevant terms/acronyms used in this guide and descriptions so instructions can be easily followed.
| Term/Acronym | Description |
| CPS | Characters Per Second |
| WPM | Words Per Minute |
| Playhead | When editing audio or video, the Playhead is a graphic line in the timeline that represents the position, or frame, of the material that is currently being accessed. |
2. Accessing the tool
To access Smart Editor, you must log in to the LanguageWire platform (https://platform.languagewire.com/) first and accept the assigned job.
After accepting the job, click “Online Tool” at the top of the job page to open Smart Editor.
3. Video preview
For Subtitle Localisation jobs, Smart Editor includes a video preview.
The video file preview is displayed in the panel by default.
Important! For a better experience with the video preview feature, we recommend you use the Chrome browser.
Move the vertical bar to the right or to the left to adjust the windows so you can focus on the content you need.
Tip: This is very handy when working on big subtitle localisation jobs!
3.1 Preview options
The preview options are found in the top grey bar of the side panel.
Refresh: To reload the video file in case the video is not triggered correctly or is frozen. You can also use this button to refresh the target subtitles in the preview after modifying the localisation of the subtitle(s).
Popup: Click the popup button to display the video in a separate window.
Three dots menu: Select whether you want the source or target subtitles to be shown in the video preview screen.
Tip: Displaying the target language subtitles right away in the video clips helps you make decisions on localisation as you can easily identify errors, long texts or mismatching sentences.
Video file selector: If your job contains more than one video, you can switch between video files using the file selector located next to the file name in the video preview.
When switching from a video file to another, you will be automatically redirected to the first segment of that video file.
3.2 Video player control
You can manage the video playback using the video player control located at the bottom of the video preview screen.
3.2.1 Video scrub bar
Use the purple video scrub bar to move around the video frames, jumping from one point to another as needed.
Move the playhead or mouse cursor along the bar to see a specific frame of the video.
- The total video length is shown at the end of the scrub bar.
- If you move the cursor along the scrub bar, the time is displayed.
3.2.2 Dynamic video-segments navigation
On the left-hand side of the player control, there are three buttons that allow you to quickly identify and select segments.
“Go to the corresponding segment”
1. Click this button to go to the segment that corresponds to the specific video clip that is being previewed on screen.
Note: this feature is affected by pagination, and the “Go to the corresponding segment” functionality only navigates to a segment on the current page.
2. Smart Editor highlights the segment in green.
Tip: Use this button when the video is playing and you would like to quickly open the segment that corresponds to the video clip you are viewing.
“Play only selected segment”
Use this button to restrict the playing time to the selected segment only.
- Select the segment you are working on.
- Then click the “Play only selected segment” button in the video player to restrict the playing time to the selected segment only. After playing the selected segment once, the video will stop.
- Keep the button activated to see different segments and their corresponding video clip only.
- You can move through the segments and the video preview will play the associated video clip.
Tip: You can also use this button to get Smart Editor to play exactly the segment you are working on, so you do not get distracted by other segments.
Note: The “Play only selected segment” button is selected by default when you open a job, so that segments are synchronised with the video. When you open a job, no segment is selected, therefore you can visualise the entire video. When opening segments, the “Play only selected segment” button will be activated automatically. If you do not wish to work with synchronisation, you can click on the button to deactivate it.
“Play in a loop”
Use the “Play in a loop” button to repeatedly see either the full video or a selected clip.
- Click the “Play in a loop” button to view the full video repeatedly.
- To view a specific clip in loop:
- Select the segment you are working on.
- Then click the “Play only selected segment” button first to restrict the playing time to the selected segment only.
- Click on “Play in a loop” so the selected clip is played repeatedly.
Tip: You can also use the “Go to the corresponding segment”, “Play only selected segment” and “Play in a loop” buttons in popup mode for smooth navigation between the video preview and the segments, even when the video preview is on a different screen.
3.2.2 Playback options
You can start/stop the video playback using the options provided in the centre of the video player control.
Play/Stop
There are several options to start/stop your video.
1. You can use the “Play” button to start video playback.
2. Click “Pause” to stop the video.
3. You can also click anywhere on the video preview screen to play/pause the video.
Tip: Another option is using the shortcut [Alt + Ctrl + Down] for a quick play and pause of the video while you are working on the subtitles.
Rewind/Forward
Click the “Rewind 10s” option to jump 10 seconds backwards in your video preview.
Click the “Forward 10s” option to jump 10 seconds forward in your video preview.
Tip: You can also use the shortcuts [Alt + Ctrl + Left] to rewind 10s and [Alt + Ctrl + Right] to jump 10s forward in the video while you are localising the subtitles, so you don’t need to use the video player control each time.
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3.2.4 Playback speed/volume options
You can manage volume, speed and full screen visualisation using the buttons on the right-hand side.
Volume
1. Click the volume button.
2. Click and drag the mouse cursor along the vertical bar to adjust the volume for the video.
Playback speed
1. Click the playback speed button, e.g. “1x”.
2. Select the speed you require for the video preview.
Note: Any rate above 1x increases the speed of the video preview while any rate below 1x slows it down.
Full screen
Click the full screen button on the right if you wish to see the video in a separate bigger window.
Tip: We encourage you to use this option once you have finished checking all the subtitles. This way, you can check your work in a bigger window and easily spot any errors.
4. Working with segments
The text to be localised is, as usual, divided into segments and you can navigate through the segments to work on each section of content as needed.
The segment you are currently working on appears in white – as per Smart Editor standards – and the segments above and below are greyed out.
4.1 Video playback for segments
When playing a video, the segments are progressively highlighted in green in sync with the video clip playback in the preview. This way, you can easily spot the relevant segment associated with a specific video frame.
In the example below, the video is playing the clip that corresponds to segment 2.
4.2 Video playback for segments and current segment
It is possible to work on a different segment while the video playback is progressing, and the corresponding segments are highlighted in green.
In the example below, the video is playing the clip that corresponds to segment 2 and segment 5 is being edited.
4.3 Editing the segment displayed in video playback
If you are working on the same segment as the one currently being played in the video, the system highlights it differently: the segment is white and highlighted in green.
In the example below, segment 2 is being edited and also corresponds to the video clip being played in the video preview.
4.4 Timing and readability
Above each segment you can see the time codes together with readability parameters.
- Start time: the video timeline point when this subtitle starts.
- Duration: total time for which the subtitle will be displayed on screen.
- End: the video timeline point when the subtitle ends.
- CPS: characters per second.
- WPM: words per minute.
Tip: We recommend paying attention to the colour indicators for CPS and WPM, so you do not exceed the length recommendations. Refer to the Appendix (5) for more details.
The readability parameters set the limits of the segment content length. Using different colours and messages, Smart Editor indicates whether the parameter is within the suggested limit, whether the suggested limit has almost been exceeded, or whether it has actually been exceeded:
Black: within the suggested limit.
Orange: close to the suggested limit.
Red: suggested limit exceeded.
However, in cases where it is not possible for a segment to comply with the suggested length limit, it is still possible to save the segment with a longer text.
4.5 Line breaks
Line breaks are only available in Smart Editor if the source segment contains line breaks.
Line breaks are represented as tags and behave as such. These line break tags are applied in the video preview, so you can see the lines directly in the preview, as shown in the screenshot below.
You can use the tag handling functionalities to insert line breaks as necessary (see example below).
Please observe the following:
- You cannot insert a line break in a target segment when there is none in the source.
- You cannot insert more line breaks in a target segment than there are in the source.
- You cannot save a segment if a line break tag is missing in the target (as this will trigger the “missing line breaks” error).
If a source segment contains a line break, but there is no need for a line break in the target segment, the line break tag can be inserted at the very end of the target segment (as shown in the screenshot below), and the subtitle will therefore comprise only one line.
When placing a line break tag at the end of a segment, you must ensure that there are no spaces after the tag, as this will change the position of the subtitle in the video.
If a line break tag is the very last item in the segment, the subtitle is displayed at the bottom of the video (see the example on the left below). However, if there is a space after the line break tag, the top line of the subtitle is displayed further up because there is a second line below it that contains only the space (see the example on the right below).
You should never insert a line break tag at the beginning of a segment, as this will prevent the subtitle from being displayed in the video, as shown in the example below.