YouTube Captions Underwhelms

August 28, 2008

In one of its most underwhelming functionality changes in the past decade, YouTube now offers captions.

Qui donne une merde?

You’ll need to look for it by clicking the arrow button and selecting “captions” but it probably won’t exist in your language. That’s because the creator has to use special software and can only translate one language per video. I suppose a summer intern had a little too much free time.

Let’s vote on some additional unecessary YouTube functionality improvements that can join this and the “thumb-up-a-comment” tool:

  1. B&W converter: The ability to turn a video black and white by altering the URL slightly.
  2. Auto inverse technology: flip your video horizontally and make KevJumba say Abmujvek.
  3. Fred shuttle: make your video play 25% faster so everyone sounds like Fred.
  4. Jiggle the JPEG: for those partner banners that don’t rotate as an annoying GIF file, this tool can take an ordinary flat banner and make it wiggle.
  5. Auto off: The video will automatically stop playing when it reaches the creator’s average viewed duration point. All MrSafety videos will stop after 11 seconds.
  6. Unrelated videos: selects videos that are not related to the one you’re viewing.
  7. What’s your vote?

 

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December 15, 2009 at 7:49 am

{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }

1 somecallmejim August 28, 2008 at 11:35 am

I’d like to do a write-in vote: video braille – When a visually impared person wants to watch a video, the software will print out an explaination of what’s happening on screen in braille through their printer, which they can use to follow along with the audio and get the whole story.

Otherwise, 5 gets my vote.

A couple weeks ago I was going to create a video about a blind movie critic reviewing YouTube content. I shelved it because I thought it was a hair more politically incorrect than my usual. This makes me want to rethink that.

2 Reubnick August 28, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Captions now? What’s next? An elephant playing a banjo option?

3 Nalts August 28, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Do the “blind movie critic” one!

4 jischinger August 28, 2008 at 1:06 pm

“blind movie critic”

Are you crazy? That’s pure gold! Add a side kick who wears sun glasses and moves like Stevie Wonder and for each review all he says is, “I didn’t see that one.”

5 somecallmejim August 28, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Now I might produce the video, if nothing else than to see the post titled “When a great video concept fails miserably” appear at willvideoforfood.com

6 MovieguyTed August 28, 2008 at 2:04 pm

How about an option to compress the sound beyond all reason so that it’s loud enough to startle the viewer but so distorted that nobody can understand what’s being said

Otherwise I’d vote for #2 but with an additional option to rotate the picture 45 degrees.

7 sukatra August 28, 2008 at 3:29 pm

I don’t like to think. It gives me hives. Oops, there’s one now. And another one. Another one. Another three.

I would write DAMN YOU KEVIN NALTS but I’m too busy scratching to type. Another one. Another one there. There’s six all at once! I had no idea I could fit six hives on that thing! Another one. amptjer pme/ amptjr pme/look what you’ve done to my fingers. i’m typing this with my tongue. ahlalalahhhhhhalllll. thhbbbb.

8 jischinger August 28, 2008 at 3:39 pm

I’ll add a few additional features.

1. The ability to put on or take hair off any subjects in a video ©

2. A video vocabulary dictionary using popular youtube or webleberties. You piece the words together and send them as a video greeting or response to a video ©

Imagine how popular the guys who get to say the word “you” and the word “sucks” will be…

just more showering of the gold.

9 Marilyn August 28, 2008 at 3:40 pm

I like #5. I rarely make it past the 11 second mark on Mr. Safety’s videos anyway. And he doesn’t like it when I comment because I am usually rude. Didn’t know that about me did you?

When I get home from vacation I’m going to upload my vacation videos. Prepare to be bored!!

10 damon August 28, 2008 at 3:47 pm

#6 isn’t already on YouTube? Then what are those videos on the right side of the screen? I can’t tell how they pick those.

11 marquisdejolie August 28, 2008 at 4:19 pm

^ Hahaha! Me, neither, damon.

12 JimmerSD August 28, 2008 at 4:21 pm

I vote for “Add a Nalts Center Frame” guaranteed to add 25% to all you views.

13 marquisdejolie August 28, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Personally, I’d like a feature that automatically takes the viewer to my PayPal donations page (click) as soon as the video ends.

14 marquis August 28, 2008 at 5:27 pm
15 NutCheese August 28, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Sukatra smells like poo

16 DahliaK August 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm

speaking of poo, is it une merde? I would have thought merde was masculine. un merde. Am I wrong?

17 sukatra August 28, 2008 at 11:31 pm

@ nutcheese

at least i don’t smell like vagina. oh wait, i must smell like vagina. that’s why you’re always hitting on me. Stalker!

18 somecallmejim August 29, 2008 at 12:33 am

@14 – I’m pretty sure that you’ve got a video that covers just about every topic out there. From now on I’m not going to wikipedia, I’m just surfing your videos until I find what I need!

19 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 1:02 am

@18
Hahaha! If you don’t find it on my Youtube channel, jim, check my aoluncut channel. I keep my old stuff there.
:)

20 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 1:22 am

^ Or Internet Archive. Thousands of my vids there.

21 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 3:03 am
22 Matt (aka talk74) August 29, 2008 at 5:08 am

so is there something wrong with me if i immediately read the horizontally flipped kevjumba as ‘a-bum-cheek’?!

23 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 6:02 am

I was cleaning out my harddrive tonight and ran across copies of a bunch of emails I sent out to friends while I was living on the streets of Los Angeles. Kinda fun stuff. Here’s one:

Looking For A Grass Skirt

Sorry about all these emails at once, but it’s not that often I can
hijack a phone connection for my powerbook.
So the unemployed actor with the Marilyn Monroe/Messianic complex involving large scissors got to grumbling too much about my body odors and I told him to fuck off and moved back into my car. Then I moseyed on over to the VA Brentwood pychiatric clinic and peed in my pants at the intake station but the clerks just yawned and asked if I had an appointment.
Apparently, the only way into that air conditioned facility is to
don a Mabutu grass skirt and walk in the door with a freshly severed
head, preferably of someone with recognition value….like a TV
personality or VA union steward. I thought about dropping my pants and taking a dump on the freshly waxed floor, but I hadn’t eaten in a few days and just didn’t have the ammo. I’m sorry if this is a little vulgar, Laura.
My Army disability check was finally located and sent to my mailbox ‘residence’. Some anal retentive postal clerk was sitting on it because it didn’t have those last 4 zip code digits (-8833) after the first five (90009).
Is it the Paxil or is the government really out to screw me?

24 MM August 29, 2008 at 7:57 am

That’s good stuff, Marquis.

25 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 10:57 am

^ Someone get me a book deal before I post them as a video series of street journals for free.

26 Matt August 29, 2008 at 11:34 am

Everyone in Maryland is so rude

27 Marilyn August 29, 2008 at 1:38 pm

@26: You mean the state, or are you jumping on the bandwagon of spelling my name wrong?

28 fu August 29, 2008 at 1:39 pm

You know what pisses me off about you, Nalts? OK, you got someone like Marquis, who really has had it rough, and then you’re always whining about how you can’t sleep, and you’re depressed, blah, blah, blah. What the fuck do you have to be depressed about? You have a good job that apparently leaves you with loads of time to pursue other interests. You’re always showing us your beautiful kids, wife, house, life, white mini-van, etc., etc. But now your poor back hurts… Yeah, I mean that does suck, but it’s not like you were beaten, or got hit by a car and have no health insurance.

One often gets the sense that you are dissatisfied somehow. With what? What the hell is your problem anyway? A few haters? Golly, life’s rough.

29 jischinger August 29, 2008 at 2:27 pm

well, gee wiz, golly, even white male oligarchs have feelings too

I bet you have all the answers, don’t cha? What do you think he should do? Tell us all and if you really believe in what you are saying stand up and stop hiding behind the f u

30 fu August 29, 2008 at 3:06 pm

I don’t have any answers, just opinions.

31 marquis August 29, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Rosebud

32 JimmerSD August 29, 2008 at 3:51 pm

Looks like snow…

33 Michelle *Potter* August 29, 2008 at 5:26 pm

w00t for jiggle the Jpeg,
aaaaaaahhhh nooooooo for any-Fred

34 Marilyn August 29, 2008 at 7:32 pm

@28: Lay off Nalts. Everyone’s entitled to kvetch once in a while. And get a real name.

35 marquisdejolie August 29, 2008 at 8:39 pm

@34
My forensic semantics tells me that fu’s real name is Kevin. I could be wrong. I’m just a simple country boy.

36 sukatra August 29, 2008 at 10:13 pm

@28

If that was you kevin under a pseudonym, you really let me down. Not nearly as funny as it could have been.

Otherwise, fu, you seem angry about something. Sounds like it’s time for some therapy and meds for you! Tool.

37 marquisdejolie August 30, 2008 at 6:25 am
38 Reubnick August 30, 2008 at 5:15 pm

Hahahaha at #28. I find it ironic that you are complaining about the fact that Nalts complains sometimes.

39 somecallmejim August 30, 2008 at 6:58 pm

I think someone needs a hug.

Speaking of that, where’s nutcheese?

40 Matt August 30, 2008 at 8:53 pm

I like how we’ve trained Marilyn to automatically assume certain words are references to her just misspelled.

41 marquis August 30, 2008 at 9:35 pm

What? My Pablo Picasso link was cut out of comments? Too political?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKVCov-XFXw

42 marquisdejolie August 31, 2008 at 12:05 am

@38
Why, jim? Jonesing for some junior high-level one-liner poddy humor?
:)

43 marquisdejolie August 31, 2008 at 12:22 am

^ Correction
Pre-teen arrested development asocial potty humor.

44 Marilyn August 31, 2008 at 9:48 pm

^ That was one of my favorite TV shows! But it got canceled. Just like everything I love.

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