youtube video alternatives? youtube forces 'crappy' video output on websites, 'good' on youtube only

7 replies
Hi --

Just found out -- not sure how long this has been happening, I think it is recent -- but youtube "forces" your videos to look like crap unless you literally make it fill the entire video page.

So -- if you have any embedded youtube videos -- it will automatically "default" the resolution to 240 pixels, and the "old" way of 'upgrading' it doesn't work. Apparently it now looks at the actual 'player' size to determine what video resolution to "allow" you to embed at, and will not allow you to embed higher quality.

So,

a) 1. Can you recommend 'paid' (inexpensive) alternatives to youtube? I've seens some videos that have 'amazonaws' in them, but don't know where those video services are.
b) Are there other video sites that by default allow HD (or at least better than the crappy) 240 resolution?

Thanks!
#alternatives #crappy #forces #output #video #youtube
  • Profile picture of the author Marty S
    Looks like a lot of Warriors may not realize how bad this is.

    A serious policy change if this was intentional, that's for sure. The real problem I have with this is that it effects ALL previously embedded videos as well, and of course without notice.

    This forces the viewer to do 1 of 4 things -

    1-) watch in poor quality
    2-) navigate the quality menu to improve the playback
    3-) click the video to go to Youtube and watch
    4-) leave blog because they refuse to watch poor quality

    None of these options improve anything for us. I am really hoping this is a temporary glitch.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blimeyoreilly
      Check out Vidler at least also you are not restricted by that 10 minute BS either friend.
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      Be HaPpY, LuCkY & Successful in life!
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  • Profile picture of the author IMSince2003
    Well, I happen to like screencast.com. I create high quality videos that are 1024x576. When I embed them, I change the player settings to 512x288 and they look great. Hope this tip is useful. Oh, I use Camtasia Studio and I use the audio cleanup tools for great sound.
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    • Profile picture of the author alsmith1
      I agree, screencast.com is great along with camtasia makes perfect videos every time. This change in youtube quality seems like they are forcing more people to actually go to youtube to get a decent quality video. This could be a great opportunity for someone to set up a new video sharing site without the same restrictions

      Allen
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Hi

    I haven't seen any problem with the YouTube videos on my sites.

    They play fine in the small window and look great at full-screen. The default is 480 but you can choose HD if you want better quality. All without leaving my site.

    The embedded size I use is 320x240. Looks fine.

    Mahlon
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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      Originally Posted by Blimeyoreilly View Post

      Check out Vidler at least also you are not restricted by that 10 minute BS either friend.
      Uhhh... Most Youtube accounts allow for videos longer than 15 minutes. If that's what you really need.

      Originally Posted by IMSince2003 View Post

      Well, I happen to like screencast.com.
      Still not great for sharing or embedding, and Youtube is free and fast.

      Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

      Hi

      I haven't seen any problem with the YouTube videos on my sites.

      They play fine in the small window and look great at full-screen. The default is 480 but you can choose HD if you want better quality. All without leaving my site.

      The embedded size I use is 320x240. Looks fine.
      You probably need to look closer at embeds. Virtually all I have seen are now in 240 resolution as default, no matter how you embedded them.

      This may require 3rd party software now to override the poor quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author computermesh
    This is such crap. I just looked at a couple of my videos and yeah they don't look as good as on the YT site. I guess it's there way of forcing people to come to the actual site and view more ads. And probably save a ton of money on bandwidth.
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