v0.18.0 → v0.24.0 (2026-W30)
Production commit: 366da0b
App: https://impress.plebtv.com
Prev: #1528419

TLDR 📹TLDR 📹

• Week 4 is when dubbing got real with working zaps.
  • Spanish proof on a public Flipper Zero video, and Old Welcome video, Russian as another language, and based on feedback from BBC last week we fixed deeplinks for ?lang= that actually share.
• Studio got Hi Fi Scribe captions for Creator Pro using ElevenLabs Scribe v2, a separate worker key from dubbing, and updated the credits to adjust for payment.
• Paid videos now get 30, 60, and 90 second previews that physically cut the MP4 before unlocking into the checkout.
• Also rolled a “time machine” UI theme across core, create, and labs with spectrum energy and electric blue instead of platform orange.
• Plus more watch and PWA scroll hotfixes because the viewport is stubborn sometimes

background track for this week

The Long and Winding OneThe Long and Winding One

After the Week 3 post, I have said this multiple times on SNL but we are moving to, a Blade Runner style world where people can understand media from almost any language. This helps smaller creators compete with large media companies.

Dubbing was on production but we still disabled it till we figured out how this would be handled on the backend. Right now we have it working just on @PlebLab impress videos. Will roll it out to everyone hopefully this upcoming week.

Video has proven to be an unforgiving medium to build for. There are so many moving parts across encoding, playback, browsers, devices, networks, storage, and UX, and every fix seems to uncover another weird edge case. But I am enjoying all the gotchas and learnings along the way, it is extremely hard, which is probably why I am having so much fun with it.

• This week we turned on the real path and then spent the second half of the week fixing everything that broke around language links and watch playback.
  • Think we squashed most of them but finding more everyday.
• Completed a Spanish production proof on the public Flipper Zero video.
  • Went through a couple UX flows but settled on this one for now. Everything is triggered behind the scenes.
  • We wired up Lightning payments for dubbs as well, so if you are a person interested in any video you can now pay for that language that everyone on the platform can now enjoy.
    • As a creator on the platform you can also use your credits that you recieve evvery month.
• The first provider pass hit three boring defects.
  • the main one being the requeue with the same dub but we have it configured with no double charge theater shenanigans.
• We used the same dubb language invoice flow with the same Lightning modal, stale invoice expiry, reservation caps, and pending-invoice recovery.
• We unleashed all 11 languages.
• Language deep links and sharing now work across Explore, watch, share, and embed.
  • ?lang= selects a ready dubbed track on first paint, and copy-link or social sharing keeps the language you are actually hearing.
  • autoplay is still kinda tricky but will get there on that, having the lower video player wrecks havoc but that fix is incoming as well
• Direct MP4 copy gets an in-menu language chooser now too for dubbs.
  • Also need to fix all the PWA bugs around this as well.
• Autoplay and watch-link playback had a regression after language links.
  • Restored that, repaired more watch scroll and focus behavior, and finally removed a skip-link overlay that was still haunting the shell due to an accessibility option i turn on regretably in retrospect.

Hi-Fi Scribe captionsHi-Fi Scribe captions

• Creator Pro Studio captions now have two paths. ✌️
  • Self-hosted Whisper set on medium or an Impress Studio Hi Fi experience using ElevenLabs Scribe v2.
    • This had so many issues getting wired and will likely take another pass on the UX as well.
• Scribe costs more per started minute than a standard transcript, but honestly the captions are primo, especially around music which was surprising.
• Studio stays editable while captions run.
  • The client also waits longer for Scribe instead of hard-failing after three minutes like it used to.
  • Still quite a few other bugs around scribe but yesterday at the lab I was able to research and coordinate on how to fix a lot of this. Will be launching another update to Studio v1.5 → Studio v2 Hi-Fi
    • Have some really great ideas around this belief that Hi-Fi is the next wave of creator video. Studio v2 is where I want to begin exploring this edge.

Paid previews are now addedPaid previews are now added

• Creator Pro owners can opt a video into a 30, 60, or 90 second free preview from Paid Access.
  • This defaults Off so existing paid videos do not suddenly change.
• The preview is a separately transcoded MP4 that physically ends at the cutoff.
  • The browser timer is presentation only not hard coded.
  • End of the preview goes into the existing payment checkout.
• Also streamlined Lightning video checkout.
  • Better QR logo contrast, automatic payment checks, modal above the backdrop, and paid pricing displayed on channel pages.

Time machine UITime machine UI

• Extended the spectrum language across the core shell, Explore, Create, Labs, login, pricing, channel pages, and shared dashboard chrome.
• Near-black glass with electric blue and cyan instead of platform orange on product marks.
  • New channels default to blue while existing creator theme colors stay put.
• Create and Labs got the same spectral rail and system status treatment.
• Remix artwork stayed without the old orange product-order badge.

Watch, PWA, and shell late fixesWatch, PWA, and shell late fixes

• Mobile watch PWA scrolling fix landed mid-week.
• Then another repair pass after language-link sharing and autoplay broke watch links.
• Explore video header is now aligned with the player.
• Still hunting PWA chrome ghosts and bottom video player is not autoplaying on minimize, yes its all so frustrating but will get there.
  • Grateful to God we do not have a million users while we get this all dialed in.

Honest deferred itemsHonest deferred items

Still open, said plainly:

• Didn't get deep into Remix Mark I in Labs again this week either.
  • But we will be bringing in vertical video this week into the home explore page, so will get there in time, at least now those videos will have a place to live.
• Notifications via email and web push at some point.
• Comments at some point, thats a whole thing I am not ready to dive into yet. As I have some outside the box ideas on comments that will require my full brain and attention to think it through.
• End card branding is on the roadmap for the creators, hopefully this week.
  • Will likely be a switch that a creator will turn on just like dubbs.
• The UX for Stripe and Zaprite paid videos plus checkout, still need a better way, will get there.

Outside the PlatformOutside the Platform

• Scribe and dubbing both really made a few people smiling and laughing at BBC this past week.
• Will be sponsoring best design and ux at Hackalajara next month.

See ya next week stackers!