This memo has been long in coming. But YouTube has finally got around to officially acknowledging on the company blog it’s delivery of high(er) quality video clips to its archives. That’s right. No more pseudo-hackery with URL extensions with numbers and ampersands and things. Just go into that user profile of yours, navigate the menu to the Video Quality Playback category, and choose the option that best suits your Internet connection.
Don’t expect much of a change, however. Though pixilation and excess blockiness is less an issue than was the case for a number of years, the videos that are encoded at higher bit rates and shown with greater definition aren’t hugely improved from the long-held standard. They’re certainly more viewable, qualitatively speaking, but no paradigm shift to be seen yet. Want stuff that’ll really please the eyes? See what Veoh or Vimeo have in store. Their catalogues make up in visual appeal what they lack in volume.
Below you can watch an example of what you can expect to come of YouTube’s new video player: