Google is working on an exciting new feature for YouTube: videos you can’t watch! Blame your shitty computer and internet connection.
YouTube has been slowly preparing for the pixel-filled video streaming future. In August last year, the mobile app began supporting Quad HD content and YouTube got a buttery 60 frames-per-second upgrade a few months later. Next stop, 4K.
This playlist shows off Google’s tinkering with high resolution streaming audio [Warning: There’s some K-pop], and sure, it definitely looks great, but good luck actually watching it in all its glory. Flipping on the 2160p60 (though some, like the picture above, come in 50FPS) option feels like magically transporting to early 90s, 56k-modem internet because your video will. absolutely. crawl.
So unless you have some crazy 4K laptop or a nifty 4K monitor, and maybe some Google Fiber to let you stream this stuff at a reasonable rate (you lucky bastard), this is pretty cool in theory.
Eventually, streaming 4k content at 60fps will be an everyday affair, but by then we’ll probably be salivating for 8K and beyond.
[YouTube via TechCrunch]
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