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YouTube HDR content is finally available!
You will find a playlist here. However, these clips will be played as SDR on Sonys for now.
With youtube-dl you can find vp9.2 encodings for those clips:
330 webm 256x144 144p60 156k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 2.38MiB 331 webm 426x240 240p60 256k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 3.87MiB 332 webm 640x360 360p60 485k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 7.35MiB 333 webm 854x480 480p60 909k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 13.83MiB 334 webm 1280x720 720p60 1991k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 28.18MiB 335 webm 1920x1080 1080p60 3201k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 49.70MiB 336 webm 2560x1440 1440p60 11166k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 170.23MiB 337 webm 3840x2160 2160p60 20122k , vp9.2, 60fps, video only, 335.45MiB
Those are webm however which the native Video app won't play.
We will see whether we will get support for it soon, even for the early 2016 models with the old MediaTek SoC from last year. At least Sony promised that back at CES:
I could get used to the new interface I guess, although I don't like how we can't pick the resolution anymore and I've lost the ability to switch between my 2 YouTube accounts on the same email, unless anyone knows how to do that now?
It used to just let me pick which account I wanted when I sign in but now won't give me a choice and only signs into one of them.
yautjawarrior wrote:I could get used to the new interface I guess, although I don't like how we can't pick the resolution anymore and I've lost the ability to switch between my 2 YouTube accounts on the same email
Those issues are not strictly related to the interface, though. Also because if you sign in youtube.com/tv, which has the same identical interface, there is the option to choose channel. The one about the resolution instead is an old YouTube issue. In the previous version we could choose the resolution, but in some videos it was 1080p60 max. Now the same videos (always) play at 1440p60. We tested it already in some previous posts in this thread.
The problem is that most of the video that were playing at 2160p now reach 1440p only. The ones playing at 2160p now are just a bunch.
In any case personally I do prefer waaaay more the new interface. I couldn't stand that stupid red block when going into the video options. And IMO this new interface is also much faster. Netflix fast to be clear. I wish Amazon Video could browse the movies like that, instead of buffering at each section.
I keep reading that it is a shortcut. Shortcut to what? To the YouTube TV web page using Opera? Which doesn't work fine either (I mean, it's worse than the app. I tested it, 1080p max. But it allows to choose the channels)? Some people (I believe with the Nvidia Shield) talk about "Cobalt" instead, which honestly I never heard before.
I mean, it might be. But when I check the CPU usage I get this:
Mem: 1489540K used, 124172K free, 81164K shrd, 21972K buff, 261668K cached CPU: 40.6% usr 27.9% sys 2.6% nic 27.9% idle 0.6% io 0.0% irq 0.1% sirq Load average: 44.38 41.10 38.13 10/2662 10701 PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND 8510 1271 u0_a140 S 1329m 84.1 0 39.8 {roid.youtube.tv} com.google.android.youtube.tv 20648 1 media S 163m 10.3 1 4.9 /system/bin/mediaserver 1262 1 system R < 149m 9.4 0 3.6 /system/bin/surfaceflinger
Which means the CPU is used to run the code in the YouTube apk. Then if that app is a web view, it's ok. But a web view isn't exactly the same of a web link.
Unsure if this is designed this way, but...
When playing a YouTube video, press the [HOME] button on the remote control. The YouTube video is playing in the background with the homescreen menu overlay on the top
I am not sure on what you mean by 'Oh my god' and you have mentioned this phrase before. But please note, it can be interpreted as 'condescending' ??
I thought you meant holding the Home button, to go into the app history. So I tested it. And it plays the video even there!
I don't believe that a "link" (whatever they mean with it) has the ability to do that...
Anyhow, I have read some people saying to use this app instead: Smart YouTube TV. So I tested it. Same identical interface (the one from the web), but with the ability to choose the channel (like in the web). Too bad that it plays at 1080p top, and going into settings the images move, as if it's bigger than the screen (like if there are scrollbars). Obviously no HDR either.