'Standard Quality' vs 'High Quality' On YouTube

This post is off-topic, but it has to do with our videos.

As some of you may aware of, we have a modest Take Zer0 channel on YouTube. Now, YouTube itself has always been what I like to call a leech. It’s a billboard for the internet age, an advertising machine and a popularity meter that turns its users into competitors or partners (the YouTube Partners program is gradually pushing sponsored videos to the forefront, leaving personal content in the dust. Alas, Take Zer0 recently joined the Partners Program).

Sean and I have always felt some angst over it, which is why we use our own web player in this blog (rather than an embedded YouTube player). I’m not trying to put down YouTube, as it is useful, but it’s a far cry from meeting all our needs. So I was skeptical when they recently added the ‘High Quality’ option to their videos.

Out of the blue I decided to test it out. Below are screen captures from YouTube, both Standard and High Quality, respectively. The video is from our Hellboy 2 review.

Here, the results are surprising. There really is a difference:

Look at the tree in the background:

It’s harder to tell the difference here, but look at the radio on the dash:

Needless to say, there really is a difference; though the quality is still sub par when compared to other hosting sites. Nevertheless, expect higher resolution videos when 2.0 rolls in. And for those who aren’t aware, we rendered our movie review at 640×480 for iTunes users. We’ll be using that resolution from now on. Just click on the ‘Download the Video!’ option below the episode.