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Filed under: Audio, Internet, Video, Google, Web

YouTube experimenting with 720p HD video

YouTube HD video
Online video site YouTube has been offering a "watch in higher quality" option since earlier this year. But higher quality doesn't mean high definition. It simply means that the videos are encoded in a higher bit rate and if you have a fast enough internet connection to keep up, the videos look a little better.

But now it looks like YouTube is starting to add some honest to goodness high definition, 720p videos to the site. Members of the Video Help forums have spotted some videos available in HD, including the popular "Where the Hell is Matt" video.

Not all videos are going to be available in HD rigiht away, because most videos uploaded to YouTube aren't high definition in the first place, and because YouTube appears to be quietly testing the feature on a small number of videos. It appears YouTube is also experimenting with stereo sound for its online videos. Up until recently most videos were mono only.

YouTube is hardly the first online video site to dabble in HD. DailyMotion, Vimeo, and several other video portals have been offering HD movies for a while, but YouTube is stll by far the most heavily trafficked web video site.

[via Wired]

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web services

Vimeo launches HD streaming video player

Vimeo HD
Online video site Vimeo has just launched a new "high definition" video player. Essentially, if you upload a video with a 1280x720 (also known as 720p) resolution, Vimeo will transcode that video and play it back at its native resolution.

Now, this doesn't mean you're seeing the same video quality you'd get from an HDTV signal or a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc. Vimeo's still compressing the heck out of your video in order to stream it across the internet. But the end result is a video that plays back at a much higher bitrate than anything you'll find on YouTube.

You can definitely tell the difference between Vimeo's HD videos and their standard definition videos. While you're watching any high definition video, you can click a button to turn HD off and you'll get a lower-resolution version. We'd have included an HD video in this post, but right now there's no way to embed an HD quality video, so you'll just have to check out Vimeo's HD site and browse through the small collection of user-submitted videos.

[via Kottke]

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