OT: Resolution of YouTube Video downloads

PeterDuke wrote on 2/18/2015, 7:33 AM
John Dennis just posted some videos on Youtube for public comparison, but I can't get to first base because I don't get consistent quality/resolution.

When I first started watching the Handbrake clip, I was expecting it to be good, but it was horrible, then about halfway through it suddenly became good.

I don't watch a lot of Youtube or Vimeo, but when I do it usually stutters, so I end up downloading using Applian Replay Media Catcher and then watching the download. (I should have done that before posting comment on Grazie's thread on timelapse.) :(

However, when I download using Media Catcher, I usually get more than one version, each with a different resolution. For JD's demo, I ended up with two to four versions of each video with resolutions ranging from 854x480 to 256x144.

What gives?

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 2/18/2015, 8:44 AM

I suspect you get four versions of the video because the youtube servers encode four versions for the different pixel dimensions that people request. If you upload a video and begin to watch it before it's completely finished "processing" you will be presented with the lower pixel dimensions first and then the 1080 version as it's finished processing.

"When I first started watching the Handbrake clip, I was expecting it to be good, but it was horrible, then about halfway through it suddenly became good."

youtube starts delivering a lower pixel dimension first and if you request a higher pixel dimension version if takes a while for the servers to start delivering the requested pixel dimensions.

For this test, it's important to set 1080 and loop all the videos in the playlist so you actually get what you asked for on subsequent passes.

PeterDuke wrote on 2/19/2015, 12:33 AM
OK. So how do I specify dimension before play? Can this be done with Media Catcher?
GeeBax wrote on 2/19/2015, 2:01 AM
I just watch Youtube directly, but before I do, I hit the pause button, then click of the cog or gear shaped icon, then select the highest quality version. I then leave it in pause until the progress bar indicates it has loaded more than half the clip, then hit play.

To be honest, I did not see a huge difference between any of them, although the Handbrake version looked cleaner with more detail to me.
PeterDuke wrote on 2/20/2015, 2:12 AM
Thanks Geoff. That did the trick. I selected HD before activating Catcher and I only caught that version.

However, I could not catch one file for some reason. I then noticed a message that an upgrade to Catcher was available, which I did. Would you believe that they changed the interface completely! I fumbled around for a while and managed to catch it, more by good luck than good management.

All's well that ends well.