How to watch movies in original if English is weak? Solution!

I want to tell you about your small project for learners of English.

As you know, to study and not to forget the language they need to use it. And one of the ways to practice a language is to start watching films in the original.br> But how can you begin to watch movies and get fun if every dialogue of the actors meet unknown words?

The Internet is full of methods where I advise you to watch 3 times or prepared for viewing, writing and learning in advance the words from the subtitles. Yeah, maybe it's effective, and somebody might like such ways, but it's so boring... I wouldn't be able to watch 3 consecutive times the same movie. I want to get the fun of watching add and training and to understand.



And once I saw the idea of translation subtitles on the fly: encountered an unfamiliar word — push the button — get the translation! And not be distracted from viewing and search something in the dictionary — is, I didn't think of it... And this idea I liked so much that I wanted to make your player through which you could open any video on the Internet, load subtitles and watch using the built-in interpreter.

Overall — I did it, but there are nuances.
And before sharing the link to the project, I want to talk about the problems encountered in the development, which has led to the fact that the player has features.

Just in case, to clarify, I made the player for viewing online video (through it you can access videos from youtube, Vkontakte, etc., but you cannot access video from the computer).

Why online video?

Probably because I had little that I download from torrents and I found everything online. And because I understand how it can be implemented in web technology.
And, judging by the trends in the West, the future for online video.

it Looks like this:

You find in the Internet the film — removed link to view — open it through my player — find and download subtitles... Profit!



The harsh reality is that finding the desired movie online are much more complicated than download it from torrents. And to facilitate you search, I did a custom video directory where visitors can add new URLs to the movies.
For the video from the catalog don't even have to look for subtitles, everything is ready to view.

Demonstration of

Here are some examples of how this looks in practice:

The translation is performed by clicking the mouse on the word:


Available several dictionaries even has UrbanDictionary:


You can translate the phrase, if you click the right mouse button:


You can translate the word fragments or sentences. This is done by selection:

Problems and features

The development consisted of a series of UPS and downs.
And the first bummer was this —

you can't just open a video from someone else's site through your player

Which actually is quite logical, otherwise it would have long, each student had their own YouTube.

Every major hosting generates a unique temporary link to the video for each individual visitor (e.g., IP-based advanced). My server can know what link will be available live for you, he needs to report it to the client.
Here comes the first feature — browser extension, which will deal with removing references to the video file.
To use the service, you will be asked to install the extension (for example Chrome):

Why extension requires such rights

the Extension has the following rights:
the

Access all sites
The extension tries to find the video at all visited sites. Video streaming sites appear and disappear, move from one domain to another, etc. too many to mention, therefore, allowed access to all sites.


Access tabs and browsing activity
API extensions for Chrome is divided into multiple modules. To use a desired function, it is necessary to add permissions for the whole module. For example, to find the address in the tab where you found the video useful feature of the module tabs module to work with tabs and browsing history.

The extension is for all browsers based on Chromium and Firefox.
Install the extension — it's an unfortunate necessity. It would be interesting to know the percentage refused the use of the service for this reason.
For those who still doesn't trust the extension, there is a simple tip: if you have the main chrome browser — put the extension in firefox, and Vice versa.

the Following headache — video formats

The player has to work with all possible video formats which are used on the Internet. But not everything went smoothly in the browsers that support most of these formats each have their own characteristics.
If you try to find a movie, then most likely it will be in the format mp4 or flv. And with that, and the other format may have problems. I copied here the memo on the specifics of browsers:

Features support video in different browsers

Google Chrome
the

the
• Video format flv (flash video) when switching to fullscreen mode and back first (unlike Firefox!). Rewind works only in the area that is already loaded.
the
• for certain users when viewing a recurring error "Network Error". The causes are unknown.
the
• Under certain combinations of browser and Chrome hardware error "Video not properly encoded" or there is only sound and subtitles, but video is black screen. The solution to this problem is described in the section: Known problems and solutions

Firefox
the

the
• If the user monitor goes blank (according to energy saver setting in system)
<, li>special feature: flash video when switching to fullscreen mode and back does not restart

Chromium
the

the
• Browser-based Chromium have the same characteristics as the Google Chrome
the
• in addition, since Chromium is a free web browser, support audio and video formats is limited only by free formats the Ogv, Ogg and WebM. For the user this means that the video is in mp4 format and will open using the flash player with its features (rewind only works in the loaded region, fullscreen, and back restarts the video increases CPU load)

In a nutshell, you need to use Chrome or Firefox and avoid flash video.

bonus

Because the extension fetches the direct links to the videos, that means videos can not only see, but also download. Turned out to be a nice bonus — can you download videos from most streaming video on the Internet (YouTube, Vkontakte, Mail.ru, Vimeo, Ivi and many other services).

Drum roll

Now that I've warned you about these nuances, you can give a link to the project — http://hamatata.com

Results

Very often I have seen such advice — first you need to make a prototype and test whether it is necessary to someone. I decided to follow that advice and did not build grandiose plans, but did a simple service without registration, no personal accounts, cards and other things. But, unfortunately, stuck on the promotion of this prototype to the masses.
Time flies, and it so happened that this site soon will be year. It works with devoted users periodically receive nice reviews and find mention of it from strangers. But I still refer to it as a prototype and hope someday to release version 2.0, which will take into account all the wishes.
I will be glad to hear any suggestions for improvements, but cannot promise when they will be considered :)

Monetization

That said in the previous paragraph, I didn't think about monetization, it's just a prototype.
Of course, in the beginning of the development was thought to make a profit, but when faced with all the nuances and problems, rejected the idea of taking money for such a service. So the service is free and without restrictions.

Opinion

In conclusion, I want to get back to where I started — does my service in the English language? Absolutely, I can say that it will not harm.
This method has 2 huge advantages:
First, he never get tired. A year and a half I watch movies and series only in the original and not going back. And as you know, regular employment is one of the most important things in any business, not only in learning the language.
And the second advantage — new words are remembered in context, not zadubrivtsi. What is also very important.

In General, for those:
— who always wanted to watch movies in the original, but is not fluent in English
— this is boring to learn English, but I want from time to time to practice, combining the pleasant with the useful.
for you http://hamatata.com!

Article based on information from habrahabr.ru