YouTube videos go HD with a simple hack
Wired, with the help of users on the VR-Zone forums, has uncovered a simple way to get high-quality uploaded videos to display in 1280x720--also known as 720p.
YouTube has long been expected to roll out high-definition video playback, and this appears to be the first viable way to do it. The hack in question is similar to the one that was first used to toggle on the "high quality" mode. It is done simply by adding "&fmt=22" to the end of the video URL.
I got it to work without any problems on a video I uploaded earlier this morning. What's interesting here is that it was not ready at the same time the Flash version was.
In my case, it took about 15 minutes longer for the HD version to display. YouTube could be doing the second round of processing for these higher-resolution videos at the same time it's doing H.264 conversions for playback on TiVo digital video recorders and iPhones. My original upload was H.264 to begin with, so that could have sped things up.
Getting the higher-resolution video to display properly in embedded code is not so easy--but as you can see below, it works and looks gorgeous. You have to manually go in and change the embedded-link structure--something newbies might want to steer clear of. The YouTube embed technology for HD videos is missing the option to view in full screen, but you can toggle it on from the Google service's hosted video page.
One thing to note is that some folks to whom I sent this had problems getting the clip to display on older hardware. On my Intel Core2Duo machine, my CPU usage shot up from around 10 percent to 40 percent, and it peaked at 70 percent. This also happens on other HD video sites, such as Vimeo and Dailymotion. If you're using a computer equipped with a chip less powerful than an Intel Pentium 4, you might run into problems.
HD Version:
Regular version:
Josh Lowensohn is an associate editor for Webware.com, CNET's blog about cool and otherwise useful Web applications and services. If you've found a site you'd like profiled, shoot him an e-mail. E-mail Josh.
- Topics:
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Audio and video
- Tags:
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YouTube,
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HD,
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video sharing,
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high definition
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When this was announced last week, that was all explained.
&fmt=18 is the one you want.
Actually clicking "higher quality" at youtube or changing the Playback setup in my accound does enhance the quality a little, but it's still nowhere near when i add &fmt=22 to the URL.
When i click the HD embed here its best quality. When i click on it while playing i am referred to the youtube page and get the video in lower quality (also when clicking on High quality). When adding &fmt=22 to the URL i get the HD quiality back again and can also watch it full screen.
I'm using FF3
&fmt=22 is only if it was recorded in HD. That's why most of the videos if you type &fmt=22 it will just take it back down to lower quality.
&fmt=18 is the one that most people should use. This increase bit rate, and increases the quality of the videos. (don' t have to record in HD to use &fmt=18) Try it on any video right now!
"Hmm, doesn't seem to work with any videos I tried. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdPrB_lcpBc&fmt=22. However, the old version of &fmt=18 does work. Comments?"
This is correct. It is <b>&fmt=18</b> (not 22) that forces YouTube videos into HiDef, and it's been that way for a long time, long before this article was published. I've never seen 6 ro 22 work, and unless or until they change it, clearly for all, stick with &fmt=18.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTiL7ZQglF8&fmt=18
--VS--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTiL7ZQglF8&fmt=22
The 22 seems a bit better than the 18 for this video, however, 22 still does not seem to work for most vids, whereas 18 does. It's likely just a matter of time or else it will only be for new special uploads from here on.
There are two different sources for both these video's, that is they are not rendered from the same source:
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mgan4rt7ZHw&ap=%2526fmt%3D22"
and
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mgan4rt7ZHw&hl=en&fs=1"
You can see the difference plainly enough. Don't believe me? Go to your View (firefox) menu and select 'Page Source' on that menu while viewing this article and see for yourself.
I have included a snippet below...
<p>HD Version:</p>
<object width="630" height="380">
<param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zlfKdbWwruY&ap=%2526fmt%3D22" name="movie" /><param value="window" name="wmode" />
<param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><embed width="630" height="380" wmode="window" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mgan4rt7ZHw&ap=%2526fmt%3D22"></embed></object></p>
<br />
<p>Regular version:</p>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mgan4rt7ZHw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mgan4rt7ZHw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
/facepalm
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by Chronis67
November 30, 2008 2:16 PM PST
- I tried watching the HD video and I noticed the frame rate was studdering. So I check my CPU usage and it was in the 80 and 90 percents. I have have a AMD Athlon XP 2800+, so while it does have a few years on it, I would have though it should have been powerful enough to watch an HD video.
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