2009 April | inderSTADT

April, 2009

tEch kNOwMAD — No Comments
19
Apr 09

Tip #2: Direct URL access to HD Video on YouTube

This year, YouTube has added an eXtra Large video player (850×500) for playing videos that are available in HD quality.

Below is example of video embedded on an external website with the current Standard resolution of 425×344:

Standard (425 x344):

Share URL for video in the example above is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VmGvjQMkH4, which will take you to the page shown in the image below that has a Large (640×360) video player but plays the video by default in normal quality (and not HD):

Large (640×360):

If your video is available in HD quality, you will see a HD button in the video player as shown below:

Clicking on the HD button will take you to a video detail page that has the eXtra Large format player (850×500) as shown in the image below:

eXtra Large (850×500):

Now, if you want to share your HD video in L or XL format as a direct URL, simply do one of the following:

Append the “key=value” pair of “fmt=18” to the share URL. So in our example, we get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VmGvjQMkH4&fmt=18 to access the video on YouTube in a 640×360 (Large) player with HD turned on
Append the “key=value” pair of “fmt=22” to the share URL. So in our example, we get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VmGvjQMkH4&fmt=22 to access the video on YouTube in a 850×500 (eXtraLarge) player with HD turned on

Per my understanding, turning HD on as the default play mode is not yet available for external website embeds, as you can evidence in this post.

Jambajaar Talkies — No Comments
16
Apr 09

Bollywood Dances, Duel vs Duet

Every once in a while, Bollywood dishes out enjoyable dance duels (or duets), where celluloid beauties vying for the affections of the reel hero match one another step-for-step and note-for-note. However contrived the scene might be, it results in an immersive treat, especially when the song is good, the women are light footed and their movements graceful enough that they can be shown in a single frame. This is as opposed to movies where (typically) starlets, who cannot dance even if their life depended on it, are shown never in entirety, which when at all it happens is done only as a (nosebleed view) long shot, but only in frames that are composed of face or limbs. Throw in liberally shots that cut up, close and personal to bare midriffs and/or cleavages and you would have progressed to Bollywood circa 2000 or later. Sorry, naked legs are still not as fancied as the other two.

Back to completing my initial thought ..

When these dancing queens are evenly matched and the fare is delectable, you join the villain of the movie in remarking, sabAsh, sariyAna pOtti! (read, bravo! what a contest!).

Below are examples of the duels (or duets) I am talking about. Enjoy!

Padmini vs Vyjayantimala (vanJi kOttai vAlibhan, 1958, Tamil)