Xtykutl

I sincerely hope that the YouTube API team will address this issue:

YouTube has disabled the ability to request a specific size using the setPlaybackQuality() method.

If i am correct, the YouTube iframe API automatically determines the appropriate resolution / size to serve up (small, medium, large, hd720 etc) depending upon the pixel dimensions of the embedded player.

This is a HUGE problem over cellular networks.

AT&T, Verizon, TMobile and others have all begun to throttle video streams and / or disable playback all together in some cases for streams above 480p.

In our case, we are seeing 1.5 - 2 minutes of buffering before playback in the embedded YouTube player at widths above 360px.

In portrait mode this limit would at least be somewhat acceptable, but in fullscreen landscape on mobile, the preferred method for watching video, YouTube changes the quality automatically and in most cases serves up HD720p which almost immediately becomes stuck in buffering mode over cellular connections.

TO FIX: We DESPERATELY need the ability to request a specific resolution, and/or we need YouTube to serve up video at 480p over cellular connections.

ANY HELP from YouTube on this would be greatly appreciated.

The suggestedQuality parameter of player.setPlaybackQuality(suggestedQuality:String):Void determines appropriate playback quality not only depending upon the pixel dimensions of the embedded player, but actually varies for different users, videos, systems and other playback conditions.

Setting the parameter value to default instructs YouTube to select the most appropriate playback quality.

YouTube selects the appropriate playback quality. This setting effectively reverts the quality level to the default state and nullifies any previous efforts to set playback quality using the cueVideoById, loadVideoById or setPlaybackQuality functions.

I assume this also takes mobile connections into consideration, but if you believe there is an issue on this API feature, you can contact YouTube here.