Author Topic: How to get HD on Youtube (Read 15605 times)

Masabi · « **on:** March 04, 2008, 05:25:53 PM »

Just add "&fmt=18" to the URL!...

I picked a subbed video because you can tell the difference between the subs being blurry or not.

No format tag (standard):
320x240 @ 29.97 fps
Flash video (Sorenson h.263)
MP3 Audio (22.05KHz, mono)
FLV container
3.28MB

[appleguru.org]

[appleguru.org]
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TqwPNWt9XkM&fmt=18

I suggest you all use FMT 18 because it's the most high quality.

Happosai · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2008, 06:16:40 PM »

I must say that's a nice little trick, but... HD doesn't just mean "better quality"!

chokkan 2 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2008, 06:17:20 PM »

yeah ~ nice

Brat-san · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2008, 06:36:59 PM »

Quote from: Happosai on March 04, 2008, 06:16:40 PM

I must say that's a nice little trick, but... HD doesn't just mean "better quality"!

Agreed, it's a great trick, and when you said HD I was thinking 300MB 4 minute files compressed into youtube. When I saw Dohhh-up I was kind of like "what"?

StreakInTheSky · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2008, 12:13:05 AM »

lol yeah it's not HD, not even SD, just higher res.

Cool trick though, and thanks for the tip, didn't know you can do that.

Anyone mind explaing how this works to me though? >_>
Do they have like different encodes or something or is it like in the original format and it's converted on the fly when you stream it? o_O

eglue · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2008, 04:07:38 AM »

wow..that's pretty sweet. how does it work?

~Dan~ · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2008, 08:24:21 PM »

Wow, that's pretty cool!

I found that when I added &fmt=18 to the url it didn't play in my browser but it downloaded (as "video[1].mp4") and I could get the video from the temp folder (C:\Documents and Settings\username.USERNAME\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\). In that folder is a bunch of folders with random names - to make it easier to find the file, delete all those randomly named folders before you load the youtube page, then when you've started downloading delete as many of the folders as you can and the one that won't delete is the one that has your file in it. Always check the video plays right to the end as sometimes it doesn't all download.

I found that I didn't always get 480x360, I got a bunch of different sizes, I guess it depends on what size the original was - you're not gonna get a bigger screen res that the original. Same with audio as well, that wasn't always the same quality. Occasionally one downloaded that was the same (or worse) then youtube quality - that will have been a .flv that someone downloaded from someone else and re-uploaded.

Has anyone else been trying this out? Sometimes a video starts to download but then stops and I only get about a quarter of the video.

Dammit, there was a load of videos of The Peanuts I wanted to go back and get better versions of but a lot of them have gone.

I wonder how/why it does this? I mean, when someone uploads their video does youtube create an mp4 and a 3gp and that other size flv as well as the normal flv? Could it keep the uploaded video and create the other files on the fly? I doubt it as that's a lot of processing power needed to encode all those files all the time - a lot of people use youtube, it'd be impossible. So the only logical conclusion is it creates the mp4 and the other files when you upload, but if that's true why do they not use them. How did someone find this out? Pretty amazing.

StreakInTheSky · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2008, 03:46:10 AM »

Quote from: ~Dan~ on March 06, 2008, 08:24:21 PM

I wonder how/why it does this? I mean, when someone uploads their video does youtube create an mp4 and a 3gp and that other size flv as well as the normal flv? Could it keep the uploaded video and create the other files on the fly? I doubt it as that's a lot of processing power needed to encode all those files all the time - a lot of people use youtube, it'd be impossible. So the only logical conclusion is it creates the mp4 and the other files when you upload, but if that's true why do they not use them. How did someone find this out? Pretty amazing.

Yeah I was wondering the same exact thing. I guess they want to keep it a uniform source so they make the flv, but why bother making the mp4? for their own personal use?

Maybe they want to preserve the original form for some reason.

It's weird that it doesn't load in your browser though o_O
It loads fine for me, and if I wanted to dl the vid I could just use the usual way(But I never dl yt vids cause I hate the quality).

But yeah sometimes the vid times out, doesn't load it all, and you have to refresh to watch the rest. But that happens occasionally without the &fmt=18 also.

Oh wait I just realized something... It's for ipod video use I think

Guchi_Jnr · « **Reply #8 on:** March 07, 2008, 04:30:41 AM »

Quote from: ~Dan~ on March 06, 2008, 08:24:21 PM

I found that when I added &fmt=18 to the url it didn't play in my browser

I can't get it to load on Firefox, but loads fine on Internet Explorer.. Unsure why

Had a lookie at one of the clips I've posted, and while the quality was an improvement, the aspect ratio was wrong..

No tags (correct ratio)

&fmt=18 (incorrect ratio)

:edit:
Oops, it actually downloads with the correct aspect ratio..

StreakInTheSky · « **Reply #9 on:** March 07, 2008, 06:04:23 AM »

was wondering if it works embedded too

without tag
[youtube=425,350]TqwPNWt9XkM[/youtube]

with tag
[youtube=425,350]TqwPNWt9XkM&fmt=18[/youtube]

it doesn't :/

frblckstr1 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 07, 2008, 07:27:12 AM »

^ Just guessing, but with the extra parameter you might be downloading the origional file.

What you see in the player is .flv, because its a 'flash player'
Its about the same as with veoh, where the downloaded file is the origional.
The preview window is streching the contents to 'full window' hence the aspect ratio problem.

Guchi_Jnr · « **Reply #11 on:** March 07, 2008, 12:16:44 PM »

^ The original file I uploaded was .avi and 61meg, the one downloaded with the parameter was .mp4 and 13meg

frblckstr1 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 07, 2008, 12:18:10 PM »

^ then its time to experiment with more parameters to see if the original file is also downloadable?

~Dan~ · « **Reply #13 on:** March 07, 2008, 03:34:42 PM »

Quote from: StreakInTheSky on March 07, 2008, 03:46:10 AM

Oh wait I just realized something... It's for ipod video use I think

I was thinking something similar. I think you can play youtube on some cellphones (or maybe just iphone??), and I think that's what the .3gp version is for. If someone managed to work out what url iphone was accessing they'd have seen the extra bit in the url and experimented with other numbers. I'm just clutching at straws here.

I saved the url's of the files that wouldn't download and I tried them again later (when maybe things were less busy?) and they worked.

I noticed the info in the video...

Audio: AAC 44100Hz stereo 110Kbps [(C) 2007 Google Inc. v06.24.2007.]
Video: MPEG4 Video (AVC) 400x304 [(C) 2007 Google Inc. v06.24.2007.]

Google video. Maybe they first started making mp4's when Google bought youtube. I know that Google Video (Google video now lists youtube stuff, I'm talking about original Google Video) allows you to download in avi or pmp so maybe it's connected with that somehow. I have noticed that some files I tried to download (uploaded in 2006) wouldn't download. Also one uploaded last week won't download. Maybe there's a backlog of encoding to do or
maybe they stopped doing it. I've saved the url and I'l try it again later.

Quote from: frblckstr1 on March 07, 2008, 12:18:10 PM

^ then its time to experiment with more parameters to see if the original file is also downloadable?

I was thinking that too, maybe there's a tag you can add to get the original file, no matter what filetype it is?

One thing I noticed about aspect ratio was that sometimes I download a flv and it's really stretched and tall, but when I downloaded the mp4 of one like this it looks normal. A shame I can't find a rare Ayu video that was stretched, it's probably gone now. Another advantage is I can play mp4 with media player classic and easily change the aspect ratio and audio sync with a few keypresses and play them full screen. With flv I couldn't play them very large, when I play flv in a big window it really thrashes my cpu.

Weird, the embedded one that says "it doesn't" works for me! (EDIT:But it plasy as a 320x240 flv)
EDIT: I tried to embed one that doesn't have an mp4 (repeated attempts and it never plays), and it played but it was igonring the tag for me and just played the normal flv.
EDIT2:I tried one that I knew was there and got the message "We're sorry, this video is no longer available."

~Dan~ · « **Reply #14 on:** March 08, 2008, 02:10:39 AM »

SHIT! 30 minutes ago it stopped giving out mp4 and is giving the normal flv when you add the tag. Can anyone else confirm? Format 6 gives the normal flv too.

Ah, it was nice while it lasted.

eglue · « **Reply #15 on:** March 08, 2008, 03:12:00 AM »

^i'm still getting mp4's.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #16 on:** March 08, 2008, 03:45:40 AM »

Are you sure? Did you check the file on your HD or just let it play? Is it playing in your browser, because that's what happens for me but when I check the file it's flv and not mp4.

Maybe they blocked me - I downloaded 1.61gb of mp4's in 2 days!

eglue · « **Reply #17 on:** March 08, 2008, 04:45:52 AM »

haha dang...thas a lot of vids. yea, i checked the file in my folder and it was an mp4. it played and everything.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #18 on:** March 08, 2008, 04:52:25 AM »

Damn, the bastards must have blocked me then. Grrr! I wonder how long the ban lasts.

I tried a proxy and I'm still only getting flv.

StreakInTheSky · « **Reply #19 on:** March 08, 2008, 05:17:35 AM »

Quote from: ~Dan~ on March 07, 2008, 03:34:42 PM

Weird, the embedded one that says "it doesn't" works for me! (EDIT:But it plasy as a 320x240 flv)

Yeah that's what I meant, if you embed it, it ignores the tag and just plays the normal flv.