TL;DR from this thread: the consensus so far is that free tools are kinda hit or miss. Like the first guy said, most free ones literally cap ur video length which is a total pain for those 2-hour podcasts. So basically, you gotta find the right balance between cost and actually getting a decent summary without the formatting being a total mess.

In my experience, I've tried many and found that Eightify YouTube Summary is usually the most reliable for those super long webinars, though it costs a bit for the pro version. If ur on a budget, I'd honestly stick with Glarity-Summary for Google/YouTube like the second reply mentioned because it's more flexible with the prompts.

My pro tip? If the transcript is auto-generated and messy, try copying it into ChatGPT Plus directly. It handles the 60+ minute context windows way better than most basic extensions anyway lol. Good luck with the backlog!!

Curious about one thing: are you mostly watching videos with high-quality captions, or are these like auto-generated transcripts?? Honestly, it makes a huge difference for long stuff. I'm kinda new to this but I've been comparing Eightify YouTube Summary vs Glarity-Summary for Google/YouTube lately. Glarity is nice cuz it's free and uses ChatGPT, but Eightify feels a bit more polished for those 2-hour podcasts. So yeah, let me know about the transcript quality!

Honestly, I've tried basically every tool out there for this because I'm always swamped with 2-hour webinars. Just a heads-up though: watch out for the 'free' ones that cap you at 10-minute videos—they're literally useless for long podcasts and just waste your time.

In my experience, YouTube Summary with ChatGPT & Claude by Glasp is the most reliable go-to. It's super easy to use and puts the transcript right on the side of the page. Plus, it handles long 60+ minute stuff way better than others i've used.

Another solid choice is Harpa AI. It's a bit more advanced, but seriously, the way it lets you ask follow-up questions about specific timestamps is a game changer. It's totally worth the slight learning curve if you need high-quality summaries and actually wanna 'chat' with the video content. Both save me so much time lol. gl!

Big if true

Helpful thread 👍

Just catching up on this thread and I totally agree with Darrell about the manual route being the most reliable for avoiding those annoying length limits, but honestly, it gets old fast if you're doing it every day. I'm always a bit cautious about which extensions I let sit in my browser though, especially with privacy and how often they can break after a Chrome update. If you're looking for something that feels more like a professional tool than a flimsy script, check out Harpa AI Chrome Automation Agent. It's pretty solid because it can use your own ChatGPT session or API, which feels a bit safer to me. It handles long transcripts by breaking them down into manageable pieces so it doesn't just choke on a 2-hour podcast. Another one I've found that stays updated is NoteGPT YouTube Summary with ChatGPT. It has a nice sidebar and seems to handle the formatting way better than the generic ones. Just a heads up, always check the last updated date in the web store before installing... YouTube changes things so often that if an extension hasn't been touched in a month, it's probably gonna glitch on you.

Yeah, puvqgtnwxi is spot on about those privacy concerns and how fast these extensions can break. i used to do the manual copy-paste thing Darrell mentioned too, but it killed my workflow when i was trying to get through a 4-hour dev course last month. honestly, i got so tired of the formatting getting messy when i pasted it into the chat window. i ended up finding a few alternatives that actually handle those massive transcripts without choking on the token limits:

• Harpa AI Chrome Extension is my current go-to. It lets you run custom automation recipes, so you can ask for specific timestamped takeaways instead of just a generic summary.
• Monica AI Assistant works well if you need that side-panel experience for asking follow-up questions while the video is still playing.
• NoteGPT YouTube Summary is a decent lightweight option that seems to handle longer videos better than some of the big-name ones i have tried. Harpa is probably the most flexible because it uses your own ChatGPT session or API, so you dont get hit with those annoying daily credit limits as often. it took me a minute to learn the interface but for 2-hour podcasts, it has been way more reliable than the basic tools.

tbh I’ve been doing some market research on these lately cuz I'm trying to find the best value for money. Most of the 'big' brands are getting super expensive with monthly subs. I’m still a beginner at understanding how context windows and token limits work, but I think for 60+ min videos, you really gotta look at the technical specs of how they process those massive transcripts without crashing. Here are some budget-friendly ones I found that seem to offer more for less: * NoteGPT - YouTube Summary with ChatGPT & Claude - This one has a really solid free tier and handles the long 2-hour stuff pretty well from what I've seen.
* Sider - ChatGPT Sidebar with Claude 3.5 & GPT-4o - I like this one cuz it’s a general-purpose sidebar, so you get more bang for your buck since it works on any site, not just YouTube.
* Monica - Your AI Assistant with GPT-4 & Claude 3 - They have a decent daily free credit system which is great if you only have a few long videos a week. Is it better to just use an extension that lets you plug in your own API key? I’ve heard that’s the cheapest way to handle long videos since you just pay for the data you use, but idk if it’s too hard to set up. It seems like the market is flooded with these right now, so it's kinda hard to keep track, but those three seem the most reliable for the price!

I’m pretty new to this whole thing, but I actually gave up on the dedicated extensions after getting hit with way too many "limit reached" messages on my longer vids. My current setup is basically just doing it myself manually and honestly, it’s not that bad?? * I just open the "Show Transcript" button right on YouTube.
* Copy the whole block of text (which only takes like three seconds).
* Paste it right into the main chat window with a simple prompt asking for a summary. It’s been wayyy more reliable for those two-hour podcasts because I don't have to worry about an extension crashing or asking for $20 a month. I’m still figuring out how to get the formatting perfect, but it feels way more practical if you’re on a budget like me. Does anyone else find the manual way better or am I just overcomplicating it? I'm not 100% sure if I'm missing out on better features by not paying for a sub though.

Solid advice 👍

+1