Dialogue Cut

Dialogue Cut creates reviewable dialogue-only cuts from local video files. It can use embedded subtitles when they are useful, or generate German timestamps with MLX Whisper, then render a QuickTime-safe H.264/AAC MP4.

It also includes a video-processing tab for slowing audio and video together, which is useful when preparing footage for dubbing practice.

The desktop app also has a material-grabber tab that wraps yt-dlp for this workflow: paste one URL, click Start, then choose video quality and exact subtitle tracks before the same button changes to Download.

Use it only with media you have the right to process.

Desktop App

cd ui
npm install
npm run tauri dev

CLI

python3 dialogue-only.py /path/to/movie.mkv

Force a fresh German Whisper transcript:

python3 dialogue-only.py /path/to/movie.mkv --force-transcribe

Tune the cut feel:

python3 dialogue-only.py /path/to/movie.mkv --pre-pad 0.3 --post-pad 0.5 --merge-gap 1.0

Slow-Down Transcode

In the desktop app, open Video processing, choose a video, set the playback speed, and start the transcode. A 0.50x output is twice as long as the input. Audio is slowed with ffmpeg atempo, so pitch is preserved.

The output is written beside the source video:

movie.slow-0.50x.mp4

Material Grabber

In the desktop app, open Material grabber, paste a URL, and click Start. The app asks yt-dlp for metadata first, then shows available video heights and exact subtitle language tracks. The output folder defaults to ~/Downloads/Dialogue Cut Material; change it only when you want a different destination. The same button changes to Download after metadata is loaded. The app uses a fixed yt-dlp preset:

• one URL at a time, no playlist expansion
• selected quality cap, or best available
• MP4 remux when possible
• optional selected manual or generated subtitles converted to SRT
• exact subtitle language keys from metadata, not wildcard language matching

Distribution

Build an Apple Silicon macOS app and DMG:

cd ui
npm run bundle:mac

The packaged app installs a checksum-verified private Python runtime, static ffmpeg/ffprobe, MLX Whisper dependencies, and yt-dlp when needed. Whisper model files download automatically on first transcription and stay cached in the app's Application Support directory.

Current packaged target: Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 13.5 or newer.

Solo

The repo includes a Solo command:

Dialogue Cut UI

It runs npm run tauri dev from ui.

Details

See DIALOGUE_ONLY.md for the full workflow, project JSON format, and manual adjustment notes.