YouTube appears to be experimenting with a new video download facility, for the first time letting viewers download and take a piece of YouTube with them.  This new capability is their latest move in the highly competitive world of online video.

It’s a limited release at this stage, with the first YouTube channel to receive this attention being the official channel of president-elect Barack Obama.

YouTube Download Facility

Video downloads are available in MPEG4 video format, allowing for some interesting options for transferring video to portable devices such as iPods, iPhones, and other video capable units.

YouTube announced on Thursday that it has developed a new landing page for all high definition videos that have been uploaded to the site.

Also, when a high definition version of a video is available, a “Watch in HD” option replaces the typical “watch in higher quality” option which would typically adorn videos. Upon selecting this option a large HP player opens that occupies the majority of a web browsers window.

YouTube have also updated their FAQ on uploading video content to reflect the sites high definition capability. YouTube recommends HD videos be uploaded at at a resolution of 1290 x 720, while standard defintion content should be submitted at 640 x 480. The FAQ goes in to great depth on the subject of avoiding vertical and horizontal bars being added to you content after processing.

As YouTube have increased the width of their player to a 16×9 aspect ratio, uploading 4:3 content with result in vertical bars either side of your video.

Unfortunately, the ability to upload videos in high definition is currently restricted to users in the United States, however YouTube will expand this in the future.

RELATED LINKS

YouTube – Optimizing your video uploads

Source: Cnet, and YouTube

Google has added a new video layer to Google Maps allowing visitors to view public YouTube videos that have been geo-tagged on the worlds largest video-sharing site.

Users enabling this video layer will find thumbnail images of YouTube videos overlayed on their chosen map. Zooming closer in on the map allows viewing multiple videos which may have been geo-tagged in the same location.

This video facility adds to the associated photos (from Panoramio) and Wikipedia entries which are also available.

You can enable or disable this facility from the “More…” menu and selecting or unselecting the ‘videos’ option. The video windows has been trimmed down to use available space more efficiently, but information about the video such as view count is still available.

Last year YouTube added the capability to turn a YouTube video in to a hosted electronic greeting card. The feature was temporary just for the Xmas holiday season and was removed in January. For the second year in a row it is now back and available at http://www.youtube.com/greetings

In addition to a selection of about 40 videos to choose from, you can also create your own video via webcam and use this with you greeting card instead. Using one of the provided video clips is easy. Simply select a video, pick a theme (7 currently available), enter you message and the email addresses of up to 25 recipients.

Google said on its blog that last year over a million YouTube Greeting Cards were sent.

Last year we introduced our “holiday video card,” and over a million of you sent fun and festive video cards to your friends and loved ones. This year we’re bringing it back with even more themes and featured videos for you to choose from