Downloading Closed Captions / Subtitles from JW.ORG Videos?

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I was watching the Special Memorial Daily Worship this morning, and even though I find it much easier with the closed captions on, I still tend to miss a few points here and there.

 

Now I have to watch it all over again to absorb the points I missed.

 

I was thinking it would be really good if there was a way to download the Closed Captions file so as to have a transcript of the video. Then I could read and review it afterwards and I wouldn't miss anything.

 

Has anyone attempted this or heard of a way to do it?  (It may not be all that difficult to do from a technical standpoint, I might have a dig into it myself if necessary).

 

I'm not sure if the downloaded videos from JW.ORG have the Closed Captions embedded or not, if they did, it might be possible to extract them by some method.

 

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Of course, I mean download them for personal usage only and not to distribute to others.

[Tortuga]

This topic about transcripts may answer your questions.

 

https://jwtalk.net/topic/35593-transcripts/

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OK. I can turn on Closed Captions and then right-click on the video to save it with Subtitles embedded.

 

So far so good. After that, it's surprisingly easy to extract the SRT subtitle file and rename it to .txt (text file).

 

But it would need a fair bit of post-editing. (the "boffins" who make the very helpful transcript files for us probably have this figured out already).

 

I'm thinking a Notepad++ script or some such thing. Anyway, the idea is certainly there. It would be great to work out a way to automate the process. Instant transcripts 🙂

 

1
00:00:01,522 --> 00:00:04,482
This is the most important day
2
00:00:04,483 --> 00:00:07,485
in this year, 2022.
3
00:00:07,486 --> 00:00:11,614
Friday, April 15, is the anniversary
4
00:00:11,615 --> 00:00:14,701
of Jesus’ sacrificial death.

 

NOTE:  Used CCExtractor to make the .SRT file from the downloaded video. I used the portable version.

Edited April 15, 2022 by Suspended in Time

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With a couple of quick search / replace operations in Notepad++ we can get rid of the extraneous lines (can give details if anyone really wants to know).

 

Then we end up with all the raw text (see 1st example), which we could probably paste into Word for easy editing / breaking it up into paragraphs (see 2nd example below).

 

Unfortunately, I don't think that part of it can easily be automated as it requires a bit of human intervention.

 

It's a start though 🙂

 

 

EXAMPLE 1:

 

"This is the most important day in this year, 2022. Friday, April 15, is the anniversary of Jesus’ sacrificial death. I’m happy to be able to address the millions of you on this special day, no matter where you are or what time it is that you can now view this recording. First, we will ask Brother Clive Martin, a helper to the Writing Committee, to read our text for the day. “We will always be with the Lord. —1 Thess. 4:17.” Thank you, Brother Martin. Friends, did you notice that it said “we”? “We will always be with the Lord.” Who does the word “we” refer to? By extension, in a sense, we could say it embraces all faithful servants of Jehovah who are gifted everlasting life in the future."

 

EXAMPLE 2:

 

"This is the most important day in this year, 2022. Friday, April 15, is the anniversary of Jesus’ sacrificial death.

 

I’m happy to be able to address the millions of you on this special day, no matter where you are or what time it is that you can now view this recording. First, we will ask Brother Clive Martin, a helper to the Writing Committee, to read our text for the day.

 

“We will always be with the Lord. —1 Thess. 4:17.”

 

Thank you, Brother Martin. Friends, did you notice that it said “we”? “We will always be with the Lord.” Who does the word “we” refer to? By extension, in a sense, we could say it embraces all faithful servants of Jehovah who are gifted everlasting life in the future."

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Suspended in Time

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The finished file is attached. Probably nothing like the quality of the other transcripts out there, but it's a quick hack 🙂 

 

I should probably stress that this is a quick hack for the "technically inclined."

 

Do you know a better / easier way of accomplishing this?  Please let me know!

 

 

Special 2022 Memorial Morning Worship - Transcript.pdf

Edited April 15, 2022 by Suspended in Time

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Just had a look at some of those Transcript files, and someone has gone to a LOT of trouble!

 

Nice to have a relatively quick way to generate them 'on the fly', but the finished product is MUCH nicer !!! 🤩🤩🤩

Edited April 15, 2022 by Suspended in Time

[Kristian]

Wait... 😅

I didn't know you can download the subtitles from a video.
Can you please do a step-by-step of what should I do? This would be very helpful and useful to me.

[Jonathan Martins]

If you want you can use this web page that was created by a brother that allows you to download them quickly without having to install a program to do this. https://subtitle-c2419.firebaseapp.com/

[Kristian]

That's awesome! Thank you so much brother Jonathan!

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44 minutes ago, Jonathan Martins said:

If you want you can use this web page that was created by a brother that allows you to download them quickly without having to install a program to do this. https://subtitle-c2419.firebaseapp.com/

Hey, that's really neat !!!!   Awesome, thank you 😁

 

EDIT:  To join the lines together just copy the text from that webpage into Notepad++

 

Go to View --> Wordwrap and turn it on if not already.

 

Go to Edit --> Select All

 

Go to Edit --> Line Operations -> Join Lines

 

The results look like a lot of text all jumbled together, but I just paste the lot into Word as it's much easier to work with. 

 

You just quickly go through and break it up into paragraphs and then you have the finished product !

 

At least it will save a fair bit of extra editing to join all the lines together.

 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Suspended in Time

[Jonathan Martins]

Super thank you you can also use this web page which does it very easily. https://toolslick.com/text/line/merge

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Jonathan Martins said:

Super thank you you can also use this web page which does it very easily. https://toolslick.com/text/line/merge

 

Even easier, thanks!  I've added them both to my bookmarks.

[WilliamChew]

The open source program subtitleedit is very good at extracting subtitles.

 

Here are some screenshots on using it.

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On 4/16/2022 at 1:03 AM, WilliamChew said:

The open source program subtitleedit is very good at extracting subtitles.

 

Here are some screenshots on using it.

 

Thank you, very helpful. I've had a look at a few of the transcripts you provided. They really are top notch! It is excellent work.

 

[Mury]

this website helps to get the .VTT transcript of the JW . ORG videos

https://trascrizionejw.blogspot.com/

 

Mury

 

On 4/15/2022 at 3:44 AM, Suspended in Time said:

I was watching the Special Memorial Daily Worship this morning, and even though I find it much easier with the closed captions on, I still tend to miss a few points here and there.

 

Now I have to watch it all over again to absorb the points I missed.

 

I was thinking it would be really good if there was a way to download the Closed Captions file so as to have a transcript of the video. Then I could read and review it afterwards and I wouldn't miss anything.

 

Has anyone attempted this or heard of a way to do it?  (It may not be all that difficult to do from a technical standpoint, I might have a dig into it myself if necessary).

 

I'm not sure if the downloaded videos from JW.ORG have the Closed Captions embedded or not, if they did, it might be possible to extract them by some method.

 

 

[Rich L]

We have a literature booth at the local farmer’s market. It has proved to be very effective part of the ministry. We have a TV there that show the branch videos. However, we have not been able to show the videos with closed captions because I cannot download close captions when I download the videos. With the memorial season starting this week I would like to be able to include closed captions in the videos. is there any help available to do this.

[Michał]

Hi Rich! Nice to have you here, welcome to the forum! 🎉🥳🎉

(I know, it's late, I don't know how we missed your first post)

 

Regarding your question, if you happen to be in a similar situation: some of the methods above enable you to download subtitles in VYY or SRT format. I believe the VLC media player has the ability to combine video material and subtitles.

 

I personally use VidCap to autogenerate subtitles. It has also on option to import external subtitles and hardcode it into a video so you have one file that contains both video material and subtitles.

[jwhess]

My wife and I were sharing the built-in subtitle feature with friends this week.  Not all videos have subtitles.  Open the video (pause it), look in the lower right corner for the settings icon (the gear shape), click on this and a menu will open. the second choice down will be to turn the subtitles on or off.

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by jwhess