dubbing
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ElevenLabs is building a universal AI dubbing machine
With a new "AI dubbing" system from ElevenLabs, on-screen actors can speak any of 20 languages in their own voices.
YouTube's new tool can automatically dub videos in other languages
YouTube has plans to let creators go beyond translated subtitles by allowing creators to dub videos into other spoken languages.
AI localization tool claims to translate your words in your voice
Resemble AI's Localize tool could help YouTubers reach fans in other countries.
Disney Research makes dubbed movies more believeable
"This town's like a great big chicken, just waiting to get plucked." That line is one of the more unintentionally funny results of cleaning up 1983's notoriously blue Scarface for cable, and new insight from Disney Research could make awkward redubs like that a relic of the past. By using an automated system that generates alternative dialog while keeping the spoken words in sync with lip movements, Walt's mad science wing thinks it has they key to believeable audio replacement for movies and video games -- perfect for anime and foreign flicks, we'd imagine. For example, Disney says (PDF) that the phrase "clean swatches" is replaceable with "like swats" or "need no pots," thanks to the lines having similar phonemes (the smallest form of speech that differentiates two words, like "bat" and "bad").
JVC's Mini DV, DVD, and HDD player / recorder
While you might color us impressed if JVC's latest player / dubber handled recordable HD DVDs or Blu-ray discs, the SR-DVM700 really isn't much more than a brushed up version of its DR-DX5S from back in the day. Sure, it can offload content from Mini DV tapes, DVD-R/RWs, DVD-RAM, and basically any other analog device, but you still won't be compiling your data on any of the newest high capacity optical discs. Nevertheless, JVC's latest touts "six-way dubbing", provides on-deck / remote controls, an MPEG2 image processor, and a 250GB internal hard drive. It also provides a foolproof UI to handle your dubbing needs, component outputs, front / rear AV inputs, rack-mountability, simple editing and authoring features, and a simultaneous video recording function to dub to multiple sources at once. Although pricing and availability details haven't been divulged, we suspect this triple-duty device will be hitting Japanese DV stores soon.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Tower of Babel translator "dubs" conversations
Some US researchers at Carnegie Mellon University -- who have clearly missed the basic gist of most traditional tellings of the Tower of Babel story -- are working on a nifty new technology for automatically translating bilingual conversations. Instead of speaking into a device and then waiting for the unit to transform the audio into text, translate that text and then output the translation in audio form (ala IBM's recently rolled-out solution), the "Tower of Babel" translator allows the conversationalists to mouth the words they wish to speak, which it then translates on the fly and creates an audio overdub of the conversation. The upshot of this is that two people can "speak" to each other face to face in their own respective languages, with minimal delay or confusion. Electrodes are hooked up to the neck and face to sense the mouth movements, but unfortunately the system is still in its infancy. Currently it can handle a small vocabulary of 100-200 words at about 80% accuracy, and accuracy drops off significantly beyond that vocab. The system currently works with translating Chinese to English and English to Spanish or German. Obviously there's a long way to go, but we're looking forward to the day when we can all get along and chat it up Tower of Babel style -- heck, we might as well build a spankin' tall building while we're at it, yeah?[Via Slashdot]
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children reports from Hollywood
For the Final Fantasy fans lucky enough to be near Hollywood yesterday night -- and in line for free tickets during the middle of a regular workday -- there was much rejoicing to be had as Advent Children celebrated its U.S. theatrical premiere in style.Siliconera has a write-up on the event with quotes from most of the American voice actors in attendance, who, along with the audience at hand, watched the film in English for the very first time. Lip synching may have been off due to the low-resolution print the actors had to work with, but even Rachel Leigh Cook -- pictured here with her character Tifa Lockheart -- declared herself a new fan of Final Fantasy after the show.Helpful Joystiq Contributor epobirs also had something to report from the screening yesterday, where he gives us an Ain't-It-Cool style rundown of the event. If you want the rest of his reflections on the requirements of the Academy in Oscar nominations, as well as what it takes to "assert your hetero nature ... after watching a movie packed with metrosexual men," simply continue reading below for more. Siliconera's report can be found by clicking on the image of Ms. Cook above or the Read link below. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will be out on DVD/UMD April 25th.[Thanks, epobirs; image of Tifa courtesy of Eyes on Final Fantasy]
