YouTube has finally switched on its high definition option, with the old higher quality being replaced by true HD at last. This opens the door for true professional content to make its stand on the Google-owned video sharing site.
Widescreen And HD?
Two weeks ago, YouTube switched its default screen settings to widescreen with the 16:9 aspect ratio replacing the 4:3 ratio that had been the norm since the site launched. And now the reason for that move may have become more clear.
YouTube has been trying to move away from being full of user-generated content in order to tempt more professional broadcasters to allow their content to be aired on the site. Now, those broadcasters have the option of broadcasting in HD.
Higher Quality To High Definition
For a while now, YouTube has offered a ‘Higher Quality’ option under most videos, which once clicked, loads the video in a higher quality format with slower streaming an obvious result.
Now, that option has been replaced with a ‘Watch in HD’ option. The improvement over normal quality is very noticeable, as can be seen by the two screenshots below from the new Ghostbusters trailer.
Ghostbusters Screenshot Comparison
Costs Or Profit
Initially, this move will actually cost YouTube more, due to the higher bandwidth costs associated with the switch to HD. And high definition on its own doesn’t add any new profit opportunities.
But, HD is likely to make YouTube a much more attractive place for professional content creators to broadcast their videos on, and professional content is what Google wants to see more of on YouTube in the future.
Future-Proofed
Switching to the HD version of a video does cause some problems however – streaming is slower, and the video jumps on all but the highest speed Broadband connections. So, good for the future, but a little taxing on most people’s current connection speeds.
YouTube has had a reputation for offering sub-standard SD video up to this point, with short grainy clips of people’s animals doing funny things the normal content. But with HD video clips now playing natively at 720p, that reputation could be about to change.
Conclusions
Other video sharing sites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion have offered HD for a while, but they haven’t got quite the levels of traffic YouTube has. Which makes YouTube’s switch to high definition very important.
This is just the latest move in Google’s effort to make YouTube a place for professional content such as full length movies and television episodes which can be advertised heavily on. And at least this one stops the eye strain.
