Synthalingua Beta v1.2.2 Released! New Video Tools & Stability Fixes

This is a significant feature and stability release for Synthalingua! Version 1.2.2 introduces powerful new video post-processing tools, a visual refresh for the application, and critical bug fixes that improve performance and prevent crashes, especially for users on AMD hardware.

Key Features & Enhancements

Video Subtitle Processing

This version introduces a complete workflow for adding your generated subtitles directly to video files, eliminating the need for third-party software.

• Burn Subtitles: You can now permanently burn subtitles onto your video files using the --subtype burn command. This is ideal for sharing on platforms that do not have their own subtitle support.
• Embed Subtitles: Subtitles can be embedded as a soft, toggleable track with --subtype embed. The output container is automatically converted to MKV to ensure maximum player compatibility.
• Custom Subtitle Styling: When burning subtitles, you can now fully customize their appearance with the --substyle command.
  • Font: Use any custom .ttf or .otf font by placing it in the new fonts/ folder.
  • Size & Color: Control the font size and color.
  • Run python synthalingua.py --substyle help for detailed instructions.

GUI and User Experience

• New Logo Rebrand: Synthalingua has a new logo! This begins a visual update to create an identity that is more in tune with the project's mission.
• New UI Companion: To make the application feel a bit more lively, a new friend now resides in the UI. This is a purely visual element and can be easily toggled on or off in the settings.

Performance & Stability

• Improved UTF-8 Support: Enhanced the handling of file paths and subprocess calls across the application to explicitly use UTF-8 encoding. This significantly improves stability when working with files that have special characters or non-ASCII names.
• Optimizations for Intel Users: Refinements to the OpenVINO model loading and compilation process may result in slightly faster response times for users on Intel hardware.
• Stability Fix for AMD + FasterWhisper: Removed deprecated functions within the transcription pipeline that were identified as a source of random crashes, particularly for users on AMD machines utilizing the fasterwhisper model source. The application is now more stable on this hardware combination.
• Cleaner Logs: Filtered out non-critical pkg_resources deprecation warnings from the console log for a cleaner user experience.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved File Path Freeze: Fixed a very specific and rare bug where the program would hang indefinitely if a video filename contained a mix of Japanese Kanji and Roman letters. This was traced to an encoding issue when passing file paths to external processes and has been resolved.
• Improved FFmpeg Path Handling: The logic for burning subtitles now uses a temporary, sanitized file path to prevent special characters from breaking the FFmpeg filtergraph command.