Play High Resolution YouTube Videos

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Play High Resolution YouTube Videos

(6 posts)

Started 4 months ago by mack
Latest reply from ScottW
Topic Viewed 284 times

mack

Member

Posts: 20

Play High Resolution YouTube Videos

Popular video sharing site YouTube is testing a new service which allows to view high resolution videos using high speed internet. This feature is currently in testing mode. All you have to do is add a a parameter onto the end of a video’s URL (add the &fmt=6 onto the end each url) and you’re able to watch it in a higher quality.

For example, The Sights & The Sounds url is
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c_8mOcZ-qlI

Now add the &fmt=6 onto the end each url to watch high quality video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c_8mOcZ-qlI&fmt=6

Not all videos have been converted at this point.

Posted 4 months ago #

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ScottW

Member

Posts: 2480

I went to YouTube to check this out. What I'm seeing is videos at the same resolution, but with better quality. Is that it? I would hardly call this high resolution -- maybe higher bitrate.

I also signed up for an account since they made it easy by linking to my Google mail account. Now, I'm seeing ads like a promo for a new movie. When did YouTube start having ads playing at the bottom, partly obscuring the video I'm watching? Is it because of the high res, or because I have an account now, or for everybody?

Posted 4 months ago #

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The Geek

Professional Geek

Posts: 1588

You can add a the better youtube extension to firefox that will automatically use the higher res version whenever:

http://lifehacker.com/364408/b.....res-option

The original reporting on this hack:
http://lifehacker.com/362922/g.....a-url-hack

Posted 4 months ago #

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coates719

Member

Posts: 101

If you have a youtube account you can change your account settings to always play the higher res versions:

http://cybernetnews.com/2008/0.....y-default/

Posted 4 months ago #

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jd2066

Member

Posts: 3198

I looked on and found some articles like http://searchengineland.com/070821-203841.php which seem to show YouTube having video overlay ads since around Augest 21st 2007.
I don't think I've seen any before though.

Posted 4 months ago #

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ScottW

Member

Posts: 2480

I've set my account to default to high res video. Thanks, coates719!

As for the overlay ads, I had never seen them before. It says they are being used on "selected" videos, so I guess I just happened on one of them.

Posted 4 months ago #

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