First 10 seconds of your Youtube HD seem not as sharp as it should be? Heres why!

[OldNoob]

Some may have noticed this others may have not.
Have you ever uploaded a video to youtube only to pull your hair out trying to figure out why the first few seconds of the Youtube video appears not sharp in comparison to the video on your PC, even though you've set the playback resolution to 1080p?
The answer is in the Youtube settings and a bit of misdirection on youtubes part.
In "Settings" under "Playback options" you will see a screen somewhat like this.

By default ,mostly, the option "Always choose the best quality for my connection and player size" is selected.
This causes videos you play to start playing in HD.. HOWEVER
When this option is selected the first few seconds on the video actually play in 480p EVEN THOUGH you see the little red HD symbol and 1080p selected.
Refreshing the page or restarting the video or EVEN sliding the tab back to the start will not fix this. It will however correct itself after about 10 seconds.

There is a way around this for you the viewer.
By selecting the second option " I have a slow connection. Never play higher-quality video".
When using the second option videos with start to play most likely in 360p or lower.
But, you can pause the video and select 1080p and/or slide the progress tab all the way to the beginning and start viewing the video in full HD right from the start.

For most, this situation is not a big problem.
But for persons trying to showcase the quality of their lens or camera it can be a source of frustration knowing that the quality of their video is being impacted this way, even if it's for a few short seconds.

[Jay]

Very interesting information and I did not know this, so I really appreciate you sharing it So much to learn and so little time....

Thanks again,

Jay