youtube playback choosing stream quality

[geostein8888]

hello,
when i play an youtube url like "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6e_t9fKMrU" it chooses automatically the fmt=44 as stream quality, sometimes i want to have a better or worser quality, then i add by example "&fmt=37" to the url. The problem i have is, that when this "FMT " is not supported form the youtube url its not falling back to the next usable one. Do i need to put more tags into the url to initiate something like a fallback so i get also a video when the FMT i choosed is not supprted, or is there a tag what says take low, medium, high ar 1080p

Georg

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

You can modify this in preferences.

[soupflood]

But How can this be done via settings??

[phaolo]

Hi, I can't watch Youtube videos properly on my old computer after last Flash Player 11.X evil updates.
I'd like to use Vlc instead but:
- where can I set link quality from the settings?
- what YT parameters are available?
- is there a faster option to open links in Vlc from Firefox? (extension, plugin)

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

In advanced preferences, input/codecs

Plugins do exist.

[phaolo]

advanced preferences, input/codecs

And then? I can't find which setting! :'(
Also, I need this only for Youtube "network streams", not for every file!

Plugins do exist.

Ok but..how can I enable\use the Firefox plugin on Youtube?

EDIT: ok, there is a Vlc plugin to import YT playlists:
http://addons.videolan.org/content/show ... ent=149909
(Alas, it doesn't seem to work with "watch later" playlist and maybe it's a bit memory\cpu intensive)
Quite cool, but I was thinking to the browser plugin.

[phaolo]

Youtube quality parameters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... and_codecs
EDIT: not needed anymore, just some info

Open links in programs (Vlc) from Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /open-with
EDIT: I suggest adding the vlc commandline parameter --one-instance

Now, please, can you tell me where exactly I can set the link quality? (options or commandline)
Help!

[JSLover]

Now, please, can you tell me where exactly I can set the link quality? (options or commandline)

...yes, I can...

1. In VLC, click Tools ► Preferences
2. At the bottom left, for Show settings, click All
3. At the top left, for search, paste the string: Preferred video resolution
4. In the box below Search, click the only item left: Input / Codecs
5. On the right-side, in the section Track settings (near the bottom), for Preferred video resolution, click the dropdown & select your preferred resolution
6. Click Save
7. Close VLC to commit the pref change (otherwise, if VLC crashes, this change {or some changes} might not be saved)
8. Run VLC, play a YouTube video & it should default to the chosen quality, or a lower quality, if the chosen quality is not available

[phaolo]

THAT is perfect JSLover, thanks!!
Now I can finally watch again Youtube videos without that crappy Flash player.
Solved!

INFO: about the Vlc plugin to import YT playlists, check DevilinPixy comment to modify the script replacing "list=" to "?list="

[phaolo]

Damn, Youtube must have changed something.
Now I'm not receiving 480p anymore via Vlc, but only 360p

[JSLover]

I didn't wanna not reply to this, but I don't really have a response / don't know how to respond.

The only thing I can say is: some videos really are only in 360p.

You didn't say if it was all videos or some videos & you also didn't provide examples...& I don't know how you are determining they are really 360p (I know how to check, but I don't know how you are checking).

PS: Is now a good time to mention: "Vlc" should be all uppercase: "VLC".

[phaolo]

Well, on Vlc I'm getting 360p instead of the preferred 480p on every video now, even if they have all the resolutions available on browser (from 144p to 1080p, according to the interface).
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM76w5aqZEg

Even the previous 480p parameters don't seem to work anymore: &fmt=35 or &fmt=44

[Lotesdelere]

Well, on Vlc I'm getting 360p instead of the preferred 480p on every video now, even if they have all the resolutions available on browser (from 144p to 1080p, according to the interface).
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM76w5aqZEg
Even the previous 480p parameters don't seem to work anymore: &fmt=35 or &fmt=44

I can get 1080 with this specific video when using Best Available setting as described here:
viewtopic.php?p=385405#p385405

However the &fmt parameters seem to have no effect anymore.

There are other reports, not VLC related, about this issue though but it seems to depend on the software being used:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3594 ... g-480p-flv

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Maybe they are blocking weird User-Agent like us to get higher qualities...

[phaolo]

It's so strange, why blocking only 480p + 1080p and not the 720p..?
Checking the cache, then, I also found that the 480p .flv files from the embedded player don't have audio tracks.
Some .webvm 480p seem still available, but VLC doesn't catch it.
Even DownloadHelper is quite KO.
What a mess, I hope that this won't be permanent.. :'(

[Icke]

Is this still a thing? I am only getting 720p with the "best possible" setting from youtube in VLC.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Yes, because 1080p is a special format on Youtube.

[danielkza]

So is there any plan for VLC to support MSE or whatever it is Youtube uses for 1080p? Youtube-DL seems to support, but unfortunately it tries to merge the separate audio and video streams only after downloading both, instead of streaming them.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Yes, it's DASH extension for VP9. We're working on it.

[Avbrella]

Yes, it's DASH extension for VP9. We're working on it.

I'm interested in seeing the results of that work as they appear. A media center application I use has been tip-toeing around DASH pre-demuxing for a while.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Dash is a mess. But we're working hard on it.