YouTube Switches to Widscreen Video Player

[Sonic 295]

YouTube has finally updated the video player on their site to use the widescreen aspect ratio, older 4:3 videos still display, but they have black bars on the left and right sides.

 

Bigger Isn't Always Better... But in This Case, We Believe It Is

 

Over the years we've heard a lot of feedback from you about what you'd like to change about YouTube, and the size of our video player is always top of mind. That's why today we're excited to announce a bigger YouTube player.

 

We're expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don't worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player.

 

As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to share your thoughts with us on this exciting, new change happening for all videos on YouTube.

 

Have fun watching!

The YouTube Team

Reading through some of the 200+ comments posted here http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=0i22UDAOfj8, the change is being greeted with a mixed reception, some like it, others don't. But perhaps an option to change between aspect ratios would be better.

[Duke 0]

I actually noticed this today but then thought maybe it's been like that for a while and I just hadn't noticed :S

[Louis EX 0]

I like it.

[Luk3us 63]

Their video quality still sucks ass though.

[Sonic 295]

Should I update the YouTube BB Code for these forums to use the new video size?

[Saracen 16]

I'd say it'd be wise to. I rest my case on the Frank Klepacki HM3 Live video:

 

 

If you look here, you have that nasty Black letterbox. You could also argue that it looks a little squashed.

 

Now click on the video twice to see it at Youtube.... no letterbox, just full wide-screen goodness without any box! We're all using bigger resolutions these days, so the space has to get bigger to compensate.

[Mighty BOB! 5]

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/11/youtube-tests-o.html

 

YouTube Tests Out High Quality, Stereo Surround Videos

[Inferno 22]

About time.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

We're all using bigger resolutions these days...

No we're not.

[Luk3us 63]

Everyone except DD then, with his 10" screen.

[BlyTwo 0]

I think they should get rid of the full screen mode

You can barely see anything, it is 100x worse than a 35y old TV set...

Edited November 25, 2008 by BlyTwo

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Everyone except DD then, with his 10" screen.

I have a 19" thank you very much.

 

I think they should get rid of the full screen mode

You can barely see anything, it is 100x worse than a 35y old TV set...

I know people with older sets and they're fine...

[Alphabear 11]

I think they should get rid of the full screen mode

You can barely see anything, it is 100x worse than a 35y old TV set...

Considering its optional and quite a few people use it (including myself) i don't see a reason for doing that

[Duke 0]

I think they should get rid of the full screen mode

You can barely see anything, it is 100x worse than a 35y old TV set...

 

Also the fact that on some of the *official* videos that have a higher quality option it DOES make for better viewing.

[Sonic 295]

I've tested a customised version of the YouTube embed code. I have it all set up for the new size video player, the colour of the video player interface and I've managed to make it so it will play the high quality version of the video by default.

 

Keep in mind that when I change the YouTube BBCode on the forum previously posted videos will not be updated, unless you go back and edit the video yourself or I tell the forums to rebuild forum post data, not something I plan on doing.

[TheBlackOut 7]

Coolio.

[Fiesta 0]

If NicoVideo ever came out with an English version of the site and allowed non-registered people to watch videos, YouTube would be completely wiped out. Why? Well...

 

They let you upload ANY length video in h.264 w/AAC audio, they recently upgraded the servers so videos load faster here (in northwestern US) than YouTube, they have scrolling comments and each video page has related products that link to the Japanese Amazon.com branch to any kind of merchandise, including DVDs and figurines, that has to do with what you're watching.

 

The way they do scrolling comments is, you enter your text comment (525 yen [about $5.51] per month paid accounts can enter it in color), and put a timestamp on it that falls in the video's time range, and your comment will scroll from right to left across the video itself on the time you designated. Sometimes if you use NicoScript, you can get your text to be static (not scrolling), scroll at different areas at the same time, or even make shapes. If you're simply viewing the videos, sometimes it'll help to turn the comments off because with things like anime MAD videos (especially Lucky Star ones... o.o), people spam the living hell out of them at certain times so you can't even see the video.

 

Besides the registration thing, the only negative I could see about NicoVideo is that if your registration number is higher than 25000000, then you're restricted so you can only log in between 2AM and 7PM in Tokyo's time zone, which is between Noon and 5AM EST. Actually, that'd be quite alright, if they kept it that way. Anyway, the reason they do that sort of thing is to offset peak time bandwidth congestion. You'd probably think "but YouTube isn't like that, and their user base is much larger and they can watch most videos without an account", which is true, but YouTube isn't based in a country with more 100Mbps+ fiber to the home subscribers than DSL or cable internet subscribers (which is also true, and exactly why NicoVideo broke away from YouTube's Japanese site to become their own). Think about that.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Fiesta

[Sonic 295]

Rather the replace the current BBCode for embedding YouTube videos I've created another one. So now we have...

 

[youtubewide]Video ID Here[/youtubewide]
[youtube]Video ID Here[/youtube]

More info can be found here http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopi...st&p=131886

[TheBlackOut 7]

Widescreen: A warning!

 

 

If NicoVideo ever came out with an English version of the site and allowed non-registered people to watch videos, YouTube would be completely wiped out.

Doubt it. It would be called compete, which Google has shown is very able to do. Besides, does NicoVideo have the following YouTube does? Does NicoVideo have a "NicoVideoLive" like YouTube had "YouTube Live"?

 

Rather the replace the current BBCode for embedding YouTube videos I've created another one. So now we have...

 

[youtubewide]Video ID Here[/youtubewide]
[youtube]Video ID Here[/youtube]

More info can be found here http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopi...st&p=131886

Cool, thanks!

[Nmenth 291]

Widescreen: A warning!

You entered the code wrong, it should just be 'oALIJQnaDDA', not the URL.

 

Edit: your problem is fixed, so I removed the repetitive video.

Edited November 28, 2008 by Nmenth

[Mina Synd 0]

sounds promising. what does it do to older videos? (i know i know, i've already watched videos on here. but i never noticed any update much. i saw some on here and youtube were suddenly widescreen but i never paid much attention xD)

 

also; nicovideo? i'm guessing that's an asian thing seeing as you were talking yen and such. yaaaah... couple of things there. apart from the fact that 90% of westerners probably haven't heard of it there is also these little issues... £2.75 a month just to type in colour? are you serious? just out of curiousity, do they charge you that much for each colour you use or just the whole palette range? XD and limits on your viewing?! i'm guessing it must be very popular over in the east if it has that many members, but what the heck. i've never heard of a time limiting on a video clip site of all things...

 

the comments thing sounds a little retarded. what possible reason could you have for posting comments ONTOP of the video feed? that is just asking for trouble...

also methinks you're exaggerating a teensy bit about the average internet speed... the highest (average) city in japan has about 34MBps download (which horribly massacres my 8mb...) but still a fair way from 100mbps... i guess the occassional user might have something like that, but i was checking the speedtest.net's global scores... centred on japan and looked at their top cities and ISP's o.o either way i can't wait until the uk gets speed like that ^-^ you can bet i'll be one of the first to upgrade to it xD

[Fiesta 0]

Doubt it. It would be called compete, which Google has shown is very able to do. Besides, does NicoVideo have the following YouTube does? Does NicoVideo have a "NicoVideoLive" like YouTube had "YouTube Live"?

 

Yes to the first one (well, the Japanese following forced them away from YouTube due to the bandwidth load), and no to the second, as far as I can tell.

 

also; nicovideo? i'm guessing that's an asian thing seeing as you were talking yen and such. yaaaah... couple of things there. apart from the fact that 90% of westerners probably haven't heard of it there is also these little issues... £2.75 a month just to type in colour? are you serious? just out of curiousity, do they charge you that much for each colour you use or just the whole palette range? XD and limits on your viewing?! i'm guessing it must be very popular over in the east if it has that many members, but what the heck. i've never heard of a time limiting on a video clip site of all things...

 

Nah, you also get access to a better flash player, and there's no log in restriction no matter what your registration number is. I'm sure there's more but I can't read it.

 

the comments thing sounds a little retarded. what possible reason could you have for posting comments ONTOP of the video feed? that is just asking for trouble...

also methinks you're exaggerating a teensy bit about the average internet speed... the highest (average) city in japan has about 34MBps download (which horribly massacres my 8mb...) but still a fair way from 100mbps... i guess the occassional user might have something like that, but i was checking the speedtest.net's global scores... centred on japan and looked at their top cities and ISP's o.o either way i can't wait until the uk gets speed like that ^-^ you can bet i'll be one of the first to upgrade to it xD

 

Actually it's quite useful if you want to overlay song lyrics or something. As for internet speeds, keep in mind when you get into the realm of 50+Mbps, you start getting limited more by the servers you download from than the ISP. So that would skew the results.

[Louis EX 0]

I don't want to see **** in NicoVideo posted by random people messing up the creativity. We don't need YouTubePoop in Nico Nico Douga, keep that **** out. Keep it japanese and registration required for the best. Alot of vids end up copied from Nico Nico Douga and uploaded into youtube cause they're good.

 

If someone would just give me 50 bucks, I can list 1000-5000 videos (or even much more if someone helped me) copied from Nico to YouTube.

Edited November 29, 2008 by Louis EX

[Fiesta 0]

Alot of vids end up copied from Nico Nico Douga and uploaded into youtube cause they're good.

 

If someone would just give me 50 bucks, I can list 1000-5000 videos (or even much more if someone helped me) copied from Nico to YouTube.

 

Ahh, but YouTube's video quality, even after you toggle high quality in applicable videos, is FAR outclassed by NicoVideo's. That's why if I get a YouTube link to, say, a Touhou Project video, if there's a NicoVideo link in the "more info" area, then I use that instead.

Edited November 29, 2008 by Fiesta

[Louis EX 0]

I think you misunderstood me there, I said the videos are good, not YouTube.

 

Besides its pointless to say which site has higher quality because everybody would still use YouTube anyway.