Well, a year has passed! A big thank you to everyone who participated in our anniversary activities, came to the party gathering, and voted for the contest submissions! We had a blast celebrating our first anniversary with all of you.
Without further ado, here are the top three "creative subbing" videos!
1.
LingSte - Pinocchio
2.
Cream_pie - Birth of a Beauty
3.
Mariesol_monina - Pinocchio
And here are the top three "writing prompt" entries! (Click to view)
1.
AmyPun - Entry 9
The sweetness comes from making new friends, exchanging discoveries, segmenting and subtitling together, and sharing interests in food, cultures, and activities. Although we are so far away from one another and will likely never meet in real life, we can feel that the interactions are genuine. It’s the feeling of being so close yet so far…
2.
Singndance4life - Entry 2
There is a reason that the ‘crews’ that come to Viki to lay foundations, build and beautify, are called teams. On a team, there is an opportunity and a need for each member to contribute, even if those contributions take different forms.
3.
Dudie - Entry 10
So all in all what contributing on Viki means to me is to have fun with other people, my Viki friends and help friends out when needed. And while doing that bringing joy to others who can watch their favorite Kdrama with subtitles in all the languages Viki offers. Maybe some of you are watching a Kdrama with the entire family with some popcorn and hot chocolate? That would be cool! And since Viki is still growing and growing I’m sure I will meet more awesome people on Viki :)
The two winners of the "janitor segging contest" are:
1:04 AM |
Category: |
Hey Ninjas,
Today we have great news to share with you. Students of Ninja Segging & Subbing Academy will now receive an official Viki badge on their profiles after graduating from the academy program!
Figure 1. Official Viki NSSA Badge
Figure 2. Official Viki NSSA Badge on Ninja Staff and Graduate Profiles
Ninja Staff and graduates, please check out your badge by clicking on either your “FAVORITES” or “VOLUNTEER PROJECTS” tab on your viki profile homepage to see it!
In addition to our unofficial badges, which allow graduates to display the portions of the program they completed, this new NSSA badge will appear in the badges area of the profile!
Thank you to everyone who has been part of the program and helped us come so far. Without all of the students, staff and supporters, we couldn’t have become such a great community. In the future, as we expand and improve the academy, we look forward to meeting new Ninjas and sharing more knowledge!
We would also like to take this time to remind everyone of the student rules. In order for the program to run smoothly and to allow students to be admitted constantly on a rolling basis, we ask that students please abide by these rules. In order to enforce these rules, Ninja Assassins will be around checking progress, so please remember to press on and be timely about deadlines for assignment completion.
Figure 3. Official NSSA Assassin Badge
Current and prospective NSSA students, please be diligent and commit well to the program so our assassin won’t have the opportunity to get you!
Figure 4: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche
In addition to the badge, we are also excited to announce the launch of our website (thanks to heidi_lyon)! Please visit our NSSA Official website at http://www.ninjaseg.com/
10:17 PM |
Category: |
“History is full of blank spaces, but good stories, invariably, are not.” ― Sara Sheridan
For history, it may be okay for there to be gaps due to uncertainties of events that took place. Since many people and issues have existed, it’s impossible for there to be a complete sequence.
However, dramas are usually based on a good story script; thus too many noticeable gaps will reduce the quality of the story. As segmenters, although we can’t prevent any storyline gaps, we can prevent the small gaps between segments which result in a “jerky” effect. When there are small gaps between segments, the subtitles flash in and out rather than smoothly transitioning, and this reduces the enjoyment for our audience.
Our topic of interest today is what gaps are and how we can reduce the flashing of subtitles caused by them. We distinguish between three times of gaps:
Small Gaps - When there is a 0.5 seconds or less distance separating two segments.
Mini-Gaps - When there is a 0.1 second distance separating two segments. These can usually be seen at 100% zoom and are very noticeable when zoomed in over 150%.
Micro-Gaps - When there is less than a 0.1 second distance separating two segments. These are rarely seen at 100% zoom and are usually only visible at a 200% or more zoom.
What the different types of gaps look like:
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Timer at 100% zoom. Small gaps and mini-gaps are noticeable, but micro-gaps cannot be seen. |
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Timer zoomed in to show micro-gaps in addition to the small and mini-gaps. |
First, lets figure out how these gaps are created. Different segmenting methods create different problems, but mini and micro-gaps typically come from either the individual segmentation method (creating one segment at a time) or from the Shift + Spacebar continuous method. The only method that is currently 99% gap proof in most browsers is the XXL method.
So what’s the best way to remove the gaps? Think of the ends of each segments as having sticky tape on the ends. The only way to use the sticky tape is to use the keyboard shortcut keys (CTRL + ↑→↓← ) and move the segment to the right and left, pushing the other segment over. Once this segment has been “pushed”, it will join with your selected segment. Now you can move your segment back into its original position and the gap will be removed.
Please watch the following tutorial for a demonstration:
11:15 PM |
Category:
segmenting
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"The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing." ― Joshua Harris
Every once in a while after reviewing a student’s video, the student will say, “I don’t understand why you told me those segments are late. My volume is all the way up, but when I pause right on the beginning line, I don’t hear anything!” This indicates a difference in segment timing between the two users. It is important to realize this difference in order for the student to effectively learn proper timing.
What causes timing dissimilarities? At NSSA, we searched for a cause by testing between browsers and across computers. It was determined that the browser in use may be a top candidate for the difference. In our research, we only tested segmenting using HTML5, not Flash, because Flash does not perform well for us in the segment timer. We recommend using HTML5 unless you do not have the capability.
Currently, the browsers Viki recommends are Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer 9.0+. If you are using another browser, you may receive this alert:
(Note: One user also had this alert appear while using Internet Explorer 9.0)
Still, the segment timer in each browser does not perform the same. Here is a summary of what our experiences were with each browser. Windows Vista, Windows 7, and two versions of Mac OS X were used:
- Chrome - Smoothest segmenting experience without lagging or stuttering. Occasional freezing. Comparable timing across computers.
- Firefox - Longer load times accompanied by some lagging or stuttering.
- Safari - Audio lag after un-pausing. Timing differed across computers.
- Internet Explorer 9.0 - (Tested in Windows Vista) Performed the worst of the tested browsers with frequent freezing and lagging.
- Opera - Performed somewhere between Chrome and Firefox, with smooth segmenting and less lag compared to Firefox. However, longer load times were experienced. Performance declined after segmenting several parts.
Following is a playlist of videos which demonstrate some of these experiences:
We also checked how well each browser supports HTML5 at html5test.com. This overview shows how well HTML5 is supported on browsers and their current and older versions based on several features. The highest score a browser can receive is 555:
Based on this overview and the experiences we collectively had, we suggest trying Chrome to segment in order to have the best experience and the most similar timing across computers.
Of course, there may be other computer-related reasons two users may see a segment starting at different times, but considering the browser is a good place to start. Anyone having issues segmenting should also look into the best browser for their computer.
Let us know in the comments what your experiences are regarding the segment timer and browsers!
1:57 AM |
Category:
segmenting
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