Subtitles generated from audio and video are translated into the target language by a translation channel, and then dubbed. Obviously, the translation result directly affects the dubbing effect.

Translation channels can be divided into traditional translation and AI translation:

• Traditional translation: Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, DeepL, Baidu Translate, Tencent Translate
• AI translation: ChatGPT, Gemini, AzureGPT, 302.ai, various domestic AIs, local large models

By Charging Method

• Free and unlimited: Google, Microsoft
• Free quota: Baidu Translate, Tencent Translate, various domestic AIs, Gemini
• Paid: DeepL, ChatGPT, AzureGPT, Gemini

By Whether a Proxy is Required

Proxy required: Google, ChatGPT, Gemini No proxy required: domestic translation, DeepL

The software supports two translation methods

• 1. Only submit the pure text in the subtitles to the translation channel, and replace the original text in the subtitles with the translation result.

All traditional translation channels (except Google) use this method.

• Advantages: Ensure that the translation result is a valid SRT subtitle format; save the number of translation characters.
• Disadvantages: When the number of lines in the translation result does not match the original text, it will force the translation one line at a time, resulting in loss of context and poor results.

Under this translation method, there may be too many blank lines, and because there is no line number, it is impossible to determine which line the blank line belongs to. It can only be placed at the end, which may cause subtitle confusion. Therefore, when a blank line appears, it will be forced to re-translate line by line, losing context relevance.

• 2. Submit the complete SRT subtitle format to the translation channel, including line numbers, timestamps, and other content that does not need to be translated.

• Advantages: Better context association, avoiding too many blank lines.
• Disadvantages: Waste of tokens; insufficiently intelligent AI may return incorrect SRT formats, such as merging the original single-line number into the next line, and converting the English symbols in the timestamp into Chinese, resulting in the return result no longer being a valid SRT and parsing errors.

This method may still return blank lines, but it does not affect the effect, because the blank lines have a legal number line and timestamp, and the translation result of the line is only merged into the previous line for semantic association, especially when the line is an isolated one or two words.

By default, AI translation and Google channels use this translation method. Open Menu-Tools/Options-Advanced Options-Subtitle Translation-Send Complete Subtitle Content when AI Translating, uncheck it, and the first translation method will be used.

Number of translations at a time

Menu-Tools/Options-Advanced Options-Subtitle Translation-Number of Subtitles to Translate Simultaneously, you can set how many subtitles to translate in batches at a time. The larger the number, the faster the translation and the better the context association, but too large a number may exceed the character limit of the corresponding channel and increase the number of blank lines.

Summary: Translation Channel Selection

• If you want to use it completely for free without restrictions, the first choice is Google (proxy required), followed by Microsoft Translator.

• If you accept frequency quota restrictions for completely free use, the first choice is various domestic AI providers, such as deepseek.com, kimi.moonshot.cn, 302.ai, etc., followed by Tencent Translate, Baidu Translate, and Gemini (proxy required).

• When there is no proxy, the first choice is domestic AI providers, followed by Microsoft Translator, Tencent Translate, Baidu Translate, etc.

• If you want the best results, the first choice is OpenAI ChatGPT. If you don't have a paid account, you can choose a third-party transfer API, such as 302.ai; followed by Gemini (proxy required), and then domestic AI providers.

• Not recommended: DeepLx, which is essentially an illegal use of free DeepL traffic. Due to the large number of subtitle lines and multiple requests in a short period of time, local deployment will soon be blocked by DeepL's IP and cannot be used.

• Not recommended: Local large model translation. Limited by computer resources, the local deployment model is generally small in scale and not intelligent enough, which may cause the translation result format to be chaotic. If you insist on using it, please Menu-Tools/Options-Advanced Options-Subtitle Translation-Send Complete Subtitle when AI Translating, uncheck it, and set Number of Subtitles to Translate Simultaneously to 5 or smaller.

• In extreme cases, if you want to translate only one line at a time to ensure that the format is 100% correct and there are no blank lines, set Menu-Tools/Options-Advanced Options-Subtitle Translation-Number of Subtitles to Translate Simultaneously to 1. Trade quality for perfect format.

How to use various domestic AI providers in the software

Make sure that the API provided by the provider is compatible with OpenAI, copy the provider's API address and SK and model name, and open the software Translation Settings-OpenAI ChatGPT and Compatible API

Fill in the API address specified by the provider in the API URL, fill in the provided key in the SK, fill in the model name in the large text box, and then select it in the "Select Model" drop-down box, save it after testing without problems.