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Show HN: VidDistill – Automated YouTube Video Summarization Using Captions

69 points by rkindi 9y ago

rkindi 9y ago
Hi everyone! I just wanted to leave a comment saying that if you're curious about how the service works, I've included an about page: https://vid-distill.herokuapp.com/about.html https://vid-distill.herokuapp.com/about.html Furthermore, you can check out the code on my GitHub: https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill Unfortunately, this is the first time I've ever tried to deploy something to Heroku, so I must admit, the quality of my code could be better. I appreciate any feedback I can get!
- alerter 9y ago
  This is very interesting and, as someone currently working in political reporting/summarising, also terrifying! Good thing I can code.
HCharles 9y ago
Hey - I tried it with this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVQf2ucKhs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVQf2ucKhs) at the default percentage and it just seems to pull, what appear to be, a few words from the video. What should the expectations be? Overall it's a great idea if it can generate a useful/consumable summary.
- rkindi 9y ago
  Hey, thanks for trying the app out! The reason the link you provided isn't working is because there aren't English automated or manual captions for the video. https://imgur.com/a/aNNvS https://imgur.com/a/aNNvS I'll try and clarify this in the about section as soon as I can. I recommend trying it out with some of your favorite TED talks that have manual or automated captions in English. With some of the ones I've tried, with the default length reduction setting, I usually get a <= 5-minute output from a ~ 20-minute video.
- rkindi 9y ago
  Update: I've added the clarification about the English automatic or manual captions on the main page of the app. In addition, I added a button that loads in a random URL (from a small set of TED talks) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.
Gys 9y ago
You could add some sample output for some sample video, to give an idea what to expect. Now I have to think and find some video link myself, only for testing. Which I am too lazy for, so I just skip that and might then forget about your great idea ;-)
- rkindi 9y ago
  That's a really good point. I'll update the site to have a default video in the text field so that you can have a quick and easy way to test the site without thinking about a video you want to try. In the meantime, I've compiled some URLs that you can paste into the text field! Where's Google going next? | Larry Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArrNRWQEso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArrNRWQEso The surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U The Art of Letting Go | The Minimalists | TEDxFargo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rewjFNiys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rewjFNiys Thanks for the feedback!
- rkindi 9y ago
  Update (copied from elsewhere on this comment thread): I've added a button that loads in a random URL (from a small set of TED talks) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.
nwsm 9y ago
So basically it's just smmry.com but feeds it from youtube captions
- tomyws 9y ago
  In the demo you can playback the video segments as a playlist. It worked well with some of the TED talks I tried.
mapster 9y ago
nice work! fyi I made a YT video summary to PDF tool years ago. I made it to create print outs of 'how to' and exercise videos that have many steps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7JCg5fGho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7JCg5fGho
stephensonsco 9y ago
Coolest A/V project I've seen in a while! You can bump up the playback speed in the youtube player to compress temporally even more. Definitely put in a "Click Here to Try A Sample Video" as others suggested.
- rkindi 9y ago
  Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. Another big thing I've put on my todo list (in addition to a "Click Here to Try A Sample Video" button) is a section where you can rate the quality of the summarization out of 5 stars. That way I can go back and identify the videos that don't work well with the service and see what I can do to improve the quality of those summarizations. Update: Done (with one item on that todo list)! I've added a 'Random' button that loads in a random URL (from the small set of 3 TED talks I posted elsewhere in this thread) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.
mikewhy 9y ago
I feel like I'm missing something. I can't figure out what the use of something like this is: https://i.imgur.com/7kJCn8u.png https://i.imgur.com/7kJCn8u.png
jvictor118 9y ago
Nailed it, at least for the video I watched. Rahimi's NIPS Test of Time Award was swiftly condensed into a few minutes of magic, with all the other side-commentary swept away. Amazing work! Any details on how you did it?
- manojlds 9y ago
  Code is here - https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill

69 points by rkindi 9y ago

Hi everyone! I just wanted to leave a comment saying that if you're curious about how the service works, I've included an about page: https://vid-distill.herokuapp.com/about.html https://vid-distill.herokuapp.com/about.html Furthermore, you can check out the code on my GitHub: https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill Unfortunately, this is the first time I've ever tried to deploy something to Heroku, so I must admit, the quality of my code could be better. I appreciate any feedback I can get!

alerter 9y ago
This is very interesting and, as someone currently working in political reporting/summarising, also terrifying! Good thing I can code.

HCharles 9y ago

Hey - I tried it with this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVQf2ucKhs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVQf2ucKhs) at the default percentage and it just seems to pull, what appear to be, a few words from the video. What should the expectations be? Overall it's a great idea if it can generate a useful/consumable summary.

rkindi 9y ago
Hey, thanks for trying the app out! The reason the link you provided isn't working is because there aren't English automated or manual captions for the video. https://imgur.com/a/aNNvS https://imgur.com/a/aNNvS I'll try and clarify this in the about section as soon as I can. I recommend trying it out with some of your favorite TED talks that have manual or automated captions in English. With some of the ones I've tried, with the default length reduction setting, I usually get a <= 5-minute output from a ~ 20-minute video.
rkindi 9y ago
Update: I've added the clarification about the English automatic or manual captions on the main page of the app. In addition, I added a button that loads in a random URL (from a small set of TED talks) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.

Gys 9y ago

You could add some sample output for some sample video, to give an idea what to expect. Now I have to think and find some video link myself, only for testing. Which I am too lazy for, so I just skip that and might then forget about your great idea ;-)

rkindi 9y ago
That's a really good point. I'll update the site to have a default video in the text field so that you can have a quick and easy way to test the site without thinking about a video you want to try. In the meantime, I've compiled some URLs that you can paste into the text field! Where's Google going next? | Larry Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArrNRWQEso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArrNRWQEso The surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U The Art of Letting Go | The Minimalists | TEDxFargo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rewjFNiys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rewjFNiys Thanks for the feedback!
rkindi 9y ago
Update (copied from elsewhere on this comment thread): I've added a button that loads in a random URL (from a small set of TED talks) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.

nwsm 9y ago

So basically it's just smmry.com but feeds it from youtube captions

tomyws 9y ago
In the demo you can playback the video segments as a playlist. It worked well with some of the TED talks I tried.

mapster 9y ago

nice work! fyi I made a YT video summary to PDF tool years ago. I made it to create print outs of 'how to' and exercise videos that have many steps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7JCg5fGho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7JCg5fGho

stephensonsco 9y ago

Coolest A/V project I've seen in a while! You can bump up the playback speed in the youtube player to compress temporally even more. Definitely put in a "Click Here to Try A Sample Video" as others suggested.

rkindi 9y ago
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. Another big thing I've put on my todo list (in addition to a "Click Here to Try A Sample Video" button) is a section where you can rate the quality of the summarization out of 5 stars. That way I can go back and identify the videos that don't work well with the service and see what I can do to improve the quality of those summarizations. Update: Done (with one item on that todo list)! I've added a 'Random' button that loads in a random URL (from the small set of 3 TED talks I posted elsewhere in this thread) so that it's easier to test the app out quickly.

mikewhy 9y ago

I feel like I'm missing something. I can't figure out what the use of something like this is: https://i.imgur.com/7kJCn8u.png https://i.imgur.com/7kJCn8u.png

jvictor118 9y ago

Nailed it, at least for the video I watched. Rahimi's NIPS Test of Time Award was swiftly condensed into a few minutes of magic, with all the other side-commentary swept away. Amazing work! Any details on how you did it?

manojlds 9y ago
Code is here - https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill https://github.com/rkindi/vidDistill