[superdave1984]

Found this on Yahoo Tech. Haven't tried it myself.
Watch higher-resolution YouTube videos with this hack : Gina Hughes : Yahoo! Tech

Any YouTube fans out there tired of its low-resolution videos? Personally, I'm still waiting for that high-resolution player the company promised some time ago. Many YouTube competitors, such as Blip.tv, have been offering high-definition content for some time so I'm puzzled by YouTube's late entrance into the HD arena, since the company is already talking about streaming live video.

Back in November Steven Chen said the company was testing a player that detects a viewer's connection in order to serve up high-quality videos, but if you can't wait until that's launched, there are a few things you can do.

Apparently YouTube stores videos in their native resolution, so by appending a few extra characters to the end of the URL, you can access high-quality videos instantly. I tested it, and it worked, so here it goes:

By adding &fmt=6 to the end of the URL, you'll get a video at a 448 x 336 resolution, and audio at a 44100 Hz sample rate. The video still loaded fast for me, and I was able to see a better video immediately.
If you want even better quality change the 6 to 18 and append &fmt=18 to the end of the URL. This changes the resolution to 480x360.
Example:

Regular video (320x240): url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=nzxa0SLWMnc]YouTube - Walk in the Park

High-quality video (448x336): url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=nzxa0SLWMnc&fmt=6]YouTube - Walk in the Park

Higher-quality video (480x360): url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=nzxa0SLWMnc&fmt=18]YouTube - Walk in the Park

I'm not sure if this will work for all the videos on YouTube, but it works fine with newer videos. If you don't think you can remember those characters, you can download a Firefox script https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6460 that automatically does this for you.

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

I really don't see a difference in quality. even with those examples given.

[SYL\X/3K]

Originally Posted by Merkwürdigliebe

I really don't see a difference in quality. even with those examples given.

x2...

[Disillusion]

How can you not tell a difference?

Low Res



High Res

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

yo that is so not the results I'm getting... I would've definitely noticed that! Let me try again


ok, this only seems to work in IE7 for me, Firefox isn't giving me the time of day for some reason...

More so than the video quality, the sound quality becomes MUCH better


you don't need to modify the link, at the bottom of the video there's an option that says 'Watch this video in higher quality.' and you can switch between high and low

this option, interestingly enough, isn't available in FireFox... hmmmm


and not all videos have the option

[Peter.Cort]

when you put a vid on youtube, do you load it up at whatever res you have it at and youtube resizes the vid? or do you have to upload it at the set res. cause if you did then videos who were uploaded in better quality would have the option to have better quality.

[Disillusion]

Originally Posted by Merkwürdigliebe

yo that is so not the results I'm getting... I would've definitely noticed that! Let me try again


ok, this only seems to work in IE7 for me, Firefox isn't giving me the time of day for some reason...

More so than the video quality, the sound quality becomes MUCH better


you don't need to modify the link, at the bottom of the video there's an option that says 'Watch this video in higher quality.' and you can switch between high and low

this option, interestingly enough, isn't available in FireFox... hmmmm


and not all videos have the option

The modified link works for me in Firefox 3 Beta 4. Basically you just gotta add "&fmt=18" at the end of the URL for high quality. But, for some reason I don't get the link to click on unless I go to the high res URL.

[Biker-Boy-Nay]

I Cant see a complete difference between Standard and The best Quality.. but i can see a tiny bit..

If you look at the Tree on Higher Quality, it doesnt seem so much Blurry as Standard quality, The Wood Looks a Tiny more Vibrant in Higher Quality. Look at the Person in White You can see him a tiny bit more clearer

LEFT: (HIGHER QUALITY)

RIGHT: (STANDARD QUALITY)

[atomic tofu]

nvidiadude...with your little bluray sig I'm surprised you can't, lol...kids

I can see it from the screens....it's modest but there...look at the clarity in the wood posts...

looks to be a willow tree...you can see the defined edges of the foliage

look at the people, you can see the facial features as opposed to blotches

look at the upper right square....more detail

Now I wonder if veedub is correct to say he can't see any REAL appreciable difference from standard dvd and hidef dvds. (I do agree with him on the basics of it and I like hi-def content, lol)

EDIT: but I also think the difference comes into the actual motion clarity...a screen capture is not as detailed as the moving image, or the percieved clarity is greater with a moving image


hehe

[Biker-Boy-Nay]

Originally Posted by atomic tofu

nvidiadude...with your little bluray sig I'm surprised you can't

Whats that mean...

i did mention the wood posts being more Vibrant...