Youtube woes: Is the default view 'normal view' for the SD videos better than the HD videos? Absolutely, yes!

ABSOLUTELY, YES!!
Does the YouTube default view 'normal quality' of the HD video looks even worse than the default 'normal quality' of the SD vids? Check out the embedded vids below and decide which of the two LOW res default views is best. Of course forcing the high quality or HD views is the best option:
High Quality: Here is the link to the HIGH QUALITY view on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbG_GC3GgQ&fmt=18
HD 720p: Here is the link to the actual HD view on YouTube and not the low resolution default view of the HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-76ESWqUMvw&fmt=22

So here is the DEFAULT 'normal view' embed code from the YouTube Site: this is SD 640x480 video displayed in the LOW RESOLUTION as seen on YouTube:



Of course, we can get around this by adding the following code to the end of the URL in the param name and the src in the YouTube embed code: &ap=%2526fmt%3D18
YouTube should offer us the default and the high quality code... yes, we like it when it's easy!

Using the DEFAULT 'normal view' embed code from the YouTube site: THIS ONE is the HD720p video

Give me the Embed Code Generator for High Quality YouTube Embeds....

Using Rupert Howe's Embed Code Generator for High Quality YouTube Videos instead of adding the code: &ap=%2526fmt%3D18
http://www.twittervlog.tv/high-quality-youtube-embed-generator.html
See Rupert's site:
http://twittervlog.tv

Of course, I could have just added the code easier than &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 at the end of the URL for the param name and the embed source...




Honestly, this doesn't look like the high quality view... going to check the youtube forums to see if people are having issues with this.

Example: Embedding the code created in the earlier post

Here are the results of the edited youtube embed code:
http://machinimalibrarians.blogspot.com/2008/12/testing.html


View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRoyYJqc_0c&fmt=18
Watch in normal view (slower connections):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRoyYJqc_0c



View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE&fmt=18
Watch in normal view (slower connections):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE

Embedding the Karuna Machinma in high quality by editing the YouTube embed code...

View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRoyYJqc_0c&fmt=18



View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE&fmt=18

Editing the default embed code to force the high quality version:
default URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE
Note the URL in the embed code is different...
http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&hl=en&fs=1
Now, remove the following code from the end of the video: &hl=en&fs=1
You will end up with this: http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE
so...

now add the following code to the URL:&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Embedding high quality version of YouTube videos...

Unfortunately, if you click through to YouTube on either the embedded 'normal quality' or the embedded 'high quality' of the videos, you end up on the default 'normal quality' view. So you'll need to also include the URL alongside the video that will force the 'high quality' view if the viewer wants to view on YouTube rather than embedded in your page. That includes adding the following code to the end of the default URL as shown below: &fmt=6 or &fmt=18 or &fmt=22 for the 720p HD versions.. again, this only works if the video was originally uploaded to YouTube in HD.
Cnet News has a great article on displaying the 720p HD version:

So, looking at some of the hacks around the web, such as Downloadsquad, for embedding YouTube high quality videos into third party sites... here goes...
Some Notes: Not all videos have been uploaded in higher quality, so this only works if there is already a 'high quality' link below the video.

Default normal (means LOW) quality URL on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiXymVmpvK0
High Quality URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiXymVmpvK0&fmt=6 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiXymVmpvK0&fmt=18
Machinima title: Infolit iSchool in Second Life®

Using my example, Downloadsquad's instructions state to add the following code to the end of the URLs: &ap=%2526fmt%3D18

Unfortunately, if you click through to YouTube on any of the videos, you end up on the default 'normal quality' view. So you'll need to include the URL that will force the 'high quality' view. That includes adding the following code to the end of the default URL as shown below:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fiXymVmpvK0&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fiXymVmpvK0&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


Thanks for the reminding me how to display the HTML code, Felgall


View the 'high quality' version on YouTube:
So, Here goes for embedding the 'high quality' video:


And here is the 'normal quality' default version:



Adding the following code to the end of the 'actual' URL... from the YouTube web page... don't include all the other stuff that gets tagged on when you just copy the embed code from YouTube:
&ap=%2526fmt%3D22

Using the source code from Cnet News for displaying the 720p HD version:

<object width="630" height="380">

<param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/optUdhi_Ujg&hl&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D22" name="movie" /><param value="window" name="wmode" />

<param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><embed width="630" height="380" wmode="window" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/optUdhi_Ujg&hl&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D22"></embed></object>

And this is the embed code taken from YouTube with the URLs edited... no more

take the default URL and add the code to it: &ap=%2526fmt%3D22

<object width="630" height="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/optUdhi_Ujg&hl&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D22"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/optUdhi_Ujg&hl&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="630" height="380"></embed></object>