comparisons

How to Watch and Download HQ videos on Youtube

by Sujoy on April 27, 2008

**UPDATE**

If you are looking for Youtube HD, please look at the following posts

Search for HD videos on YouTube

How to Watch and Download Youtube Videos in HD

YouTube HD for Dummies : Search, Watch, Download

Youtube HQ

We all know that Youtube had introduced the option of uploading High Quality Videos and also given the option of viewing these Videos in the High Quality Version. Now, out of the millions of videos out there,

only a few have the option shown on the video page itself which reads : Watch in High Quality. Now the HQ version definitely take longer time to buffer. But here’s how you can even watch those videos in HQ where the “Watch in High Quality Link” is not available. Here’s the hack: Just add &fmt=18 at the end of the URL of the Video (i.e. The Youtube link in the address bar of your browser), and the video which will be shown will be the HQ version.

Now, some videos do show a significant difference in the Quality of the Sound as well as the Video Quality. But for some, the Video remains as compressed as the Low-Q version. But one thing’s for sure. The audio bitrate of the HQ version is definitely much better. So that’s it: Just by adding &fmt=18 at the end of the Video Link, you can watch the HQ version of the video. (It is advisable to opt for the HQ version only if you have a fast broadband connection, else you might just be spending ages for the video to even start buffering).

e.g. Here’s the original Low-Q version of Paul Pott’s on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and here’s the HQ version. The Video doesn’t show much of a significant increase in quality here, but the audio is definitely much better.

Second example: Here you will watch a smudged, compressed Low-Q version of Paul Potts’ Hello Message. And then, here the sharper,a bit pixelised, but definitely Higher-Q version. Not only did the audio quality increased, but there is an evident increase in the Video Quality as well.

And how to download them. Although there are many Firefox extensions to do the same, here I’ll suggest a one-stop solution. Just visit KeepVid.com. It has a very green address bar. Just paste the URL of your Youtube video you wish to download and hit the Download button on the right. You’ll be given two links. One is of the Low-Q version (which is in FLV), and the other is the High-Q version (which is in MP4 playable on your PMPs,iPods etc.). So there you have it, you have learnt to view your Youtube Videos in High-Q and now how to download them as well. Now thank me. C’mon, be a bit generous to the services

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Orkut walks the Facebook Way. Adds the Opensocial Apps

by Sujoy on April 16, 2008

Okay, I will not wrap this up in any form of introductory bullshit. Lemme get this straight and right to the point. The Apps on Orkut are ALIVE..finally. I was buzzed on my GTalk today by my friend Praxy, who told me that he noticed certain changes in Orkut, right as we were speaking. It was a bit hard to digest coz I had just logged out of my Orkut account a few hours back and I had noticed nothing. So, what was next? I logged in to find the first surprise. My account Homepage showed the following pick.

Orkut Home

Just like the introductory Facebook message which invited us to install more and more apps. Well, for me, it was high time. Remember OpenSocial Alliance had been formed and announced way back in the 1800s, I mean in November last year. And now, it’s more than 3 months over of 2008. Still, I hadn’t seen any signs of anything to do with OpenSocial out here on Orkut. (A brief tutorial for all those who do not know about Orkut. It is one of the most visited Social Networking sites by Google, on which the entire online society of India, Pakistan and Brazil resides. And that means, it has a HUGE user base. It’s true that Facebook has invaded a space which was ruled previously by MySpace, and arguably still is. But then, Orkut is HUGE in this part of the world, much like Bebo is still much larger in the UK than any other social network.) The brief ask the question addition was at best an annoying and minuscule addition which didn’t even qualify as an application. But the wait is now over. The apps are here for you , and this is where they are. The page is called the App Directory, and the list looks like the following:

[Continue Reading]

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Dell Vostro 1500 User Review

by Sujoy on April 10, 2008

Dell Vostro 1500

You must have noticed that my last post was on the 1st of April. And it has been 9 days since. Where was I? Was I locked in Sona? Was I stranded on an uninhabited island ala LOST? Naah! My previous laptop was a work laptop which had to go. And I was waiting for my Dell Vostro 1500 to arrive. I ordered it through a friend in the US and the configuration specs of my Black Mean Machine is as follows.* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
* Genuine Windows® XP Home
* 15.4 in Wide Screen XGA+LCD (1280×800) Display w/TrueLife™
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
* Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
* 250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
* 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
* High Definition Audio 2.0
* Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
* 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
* Dell Wireless 355 BlueTooth Module, (2.0+EDR), for WindowsXP
* 2.0 Megapixel Integrated Webcam

So here’s the deal. I added an extra 60$ for upgrading from the default processor of 1.4 GHz. Added the Bluetooth hardware for another 20$, and the Webcam for 30$. It costed me a total of 725$ inclusive of all taxes and free shipping to NY in the next 3-5 days. And now that I have my machine for quite a few days, here’s my review of my New Dell Vostro 1500.

First Impression-BUILD AND DESIGN:-

It is colored in IBM Black and that is a welcome change from the dirty grey Dell Inspiron . The build is sleek, smooth and rugged. It looks quite big compared to my previous Thinkpad T42, primarily because the screen size here is 15.4″ compared to the previous 14″. This weighs somewhat similar to the R-series of Thinkpad series . Enough with the first look, let’s open the lid.

Complaint 1: The Lid doesn’t close tight enough to make the Laptop feel like one piece. The monitor still has some space to move (however very small) even after the lid is closed. But leaving that aside, just another glance at the build, this one’s really a Black Beast. I can’t stop commenting on the color which makes it look as sleek as a Business end-user laptop and not as flashy as the VAIO shiny ornaments. The black matt surface on the back of the screen and the shiny silver buttons aren’t flashy at all, and add to the overall style statement. However the lower half of the laptop is the one which feels thick, and you know where the weight is coming from. [Continue Reading]

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CAT 2009: The game goes online

by Sujoy on April 1, 2008

CAT 2009 online

An early morning dose of 440 volts ran down my spine when I dragged my drowsy eyes on the front page of TimeofIndia. The headline read-CAT to be held online from November 2009: IIM. And I said to myself -nothing. So finally it has happened. At par with the other global examinations for graduates applying for B-Schools, in India CAT is synonymous to GMAT multiplied a million times in terms of difficulty, prestige and desire. I know it because I have appeared for it twice, both attempts failed miserably. However, this year the exam goes ahead to adapt the online format being followed by other well known tests like GRE, GMAT , IELTS and TOEFL.The problem however is the format that is being speculated. Unlike GMAT or GRE, CAT used to be a one day in a year affair (more like a annual festival for veterans like me). But with the current scenario, it will be impossible for CAT to be held on a single date. Primarily because every year hundreds of thousands aspirants appear for it. The numbers speak for themselves. 2007-2.3 lakh (230k)appeared and this year the estimated figure will be almost 3 lakhs (300k).

With that many students hopeful to appear online simultaneously, the immediate pressure is on the infrastructure required to conduct an online test of that proportion. Not only providing enough machines for the examinees spread across different centres in the country, but also the subsequent evaluation process. In case the test has to be made available on the same day, at the same time, the servers have to be robust enough to support the procedure(given the fame that IIM servers hold during the results announcement time that sounds a huge task to do). And as predicted, this procedure is going to be outsourced to a third party vendor, however IIM will have the supreme authority.

Consequently CAT will no longer be a one-day affair and shall now span across a set of dates in a month or months. Yet another addition to the format is the single paper format is now being modified into different papers similar to GMAT( which actually boils down to the same stuff coz there were different sections previously, now it’s papers.) But unlike GMAT, the results here will not be announced instantly. So there’s still the scenario of the almost two months of dreaded wait.

Other issues facing the exam’s new format might be Security. The stringent security policy which has been synonymous with CAT for so long, might face a big question mark now that the test arrangements are being done by a third party vendor. Not only tha, how secure would be the online security is another question. Seems like all coaching classes are soon gonna install computers and start simulating online mock CATs and come November, we might actually get to see the very first online CAT. Meowww!!

Image Source:inthebag.golf

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