New York — High definition video from the king of blurry pixels! Yes, it is true, but so far there is no official announcement from the popular video sharing as yet, though late last week YouTube quietly added the option to watch videos in high definition (HD) without the need for any URL hacks.
YouTube has switched to widescreen format with the “watch in normal quality” option still available for those on slower networks or lower download limits, but now there is no more guess work — on any uploaded videos that are wider than 720 pixels, users will see a new option to “Watch in HD” where the “watch in high quality” option usually appears.
That makes all the hacks and disappointment out of tirelessly attempting to find HD videos — if it is available, you will see the link. If there is no HD link then you are out of luck for that video.
In addition to the quality change in the player, YouTube has updated the embed options to let users chose one of four different sizes — all the way up to 640×505 pixels. Previously you could access the same HD version with the little hack we told you about — adding “&fmt=22” to a YouTube URL — but now there is no need for that. On the other hand, as far as we can tell, the embed code remains the same, so to embed the HD version of a video on your own site, you will need to use the hack.
Also worth noting is that there is not yet an option to automatically have the HD version play, something which you could tweak in your account settings with the introduction of higher quality clips.
This news comes courtesy of TechCrunch with plenty of people on Twitter also reporting the find.
An article over at CNET has a link to this video in “normal quality” of a Portland cityscape, but if you click on “Watch in HD” or just click on this link you can clearly see the much higher detail that the “HD” mode delivers.
The site has offered a watch in high quality option for a while now, but the new HD option looks like they are serious about moving into high definition for their streaming video.
Here is a before and after version look like:
Non-HD Version
HD Version
So much smoother, clearer, and so much more detail!
Wish to try more options? Try a quick search for HD on YouTube will net a lot of HD-quality uploads.
Certainly an “official” YouTube notification should come soon, but in the meantime, if you have got fast broadband, and you love YouTube, then go online now and check it out for yourself.