YouTube app not auto-selecting/defaulting to HD quality

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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
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This was never a problem before, but I'm noticing the last couple of weeks, whenever I view a YouTube video on my Z3C, it keeps selecting one of the lower qualities and I have to manually switch to 720p almost half the time. Back then, the highest quality was always chosen by default and my internet connection is fast (enough) so I have no idea why it does this. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I tried downgrading/upgrading the YouTube app and comparing to other phones, but it seems only I'm having this issue. Now it's starting to affect other videos I stream over the internet from different sites/links as well so I'm kind of stumped at the moment.
 
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sillieidiot

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
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not sure about the other streaming videos, but do you have limit mobile data setting checked for youtube?
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
634
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sillieidiot said:
not sure about the other streaming videos, but do you have limit mobile data setting checked for youtube?
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I did check, thanks for the suggestion. I always make sure to take off any limitations as I have unlimited mobile data. And actually, I'm having this problem on Wi-Fi. It's a tiny problem, really, but still annoying nonetheless.
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
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I'm retracting my complaint about other streaming services defaulting to lower quality, turns out it was only happening on one site and that tricked me into thinking it was happening on others as well, but in fact, it was the site's fault, not my phone.

That said, I'm still having the issue with the YouTube app where it automatically selects the lower quality when I play a video, usually auto-selecting 360p or lower, even though 720p is an option and loads fine when I pick it manually. I have another phone I test this on and it plays HD properly every time so something definitely isn't sticking the way it should.
 
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SkyKilla

Member
Mar 25, 2011
25
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I'd like to confirm that the youtube app selects 360p no matter what the option for hd videos is but i saw that when first loading the video in vertical display it remains 360p while if you turn your phone horizontal and going fullscreen it switches to 720p instantly or in a few seconds. Maybe it's a feature to conserve data anyway ?
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
634
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SkyKilla said:
I'd like to confirm that the youtube app selects 360p no matter what the option for hd videos is but i saw that when first loading the video in vertical display it remains 360p while if you turn your phone horizontal and going fullscreen it switches to 720p instantly or in a few seconds. Maybe it's a feature to conserve data anyway ?
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I wouldn't doubt it as we know many have fallen victim to overage fees due to inadvertent and reckless streaming over the years, but if that's the case, this must be a relatively new feature introduced within the last few versions because I never had this issue before. Even before I had unlimited data, I monitored my data usage carefully so I'm not concerned with conserving, and as mentioned, this is happening on Wi-Fi as well. I've changed the settings to always allow HD streaming, but that's not doing anything.

Thanks for confirming though, at least I have a place to start now.
 
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SkyKilla

Member
Mar 25, 2011
25
2
It is indeed happening both on wifi/mobile data with the limit hd videos to wifi option enabled or disabled. I have also tried disabling mobile data while having wifi on and it failed to do HD on start. The difference noted in the post above is that 720p kicks in at about 20secs in the video(check kwabs - walk for testing).

No problem, i just thought of posting to assure you that your device is ok and that it might be a bug/"feature" on google/youtube`s side or some incompatibility with sony(?!). The only thing i can think of is that 720p and higher is pretty pointless in the vertical view with the small video player on top since it's too small to notice which seems pretty logic.

Update: i have deleted cache and data for the app, uninstalled updates, thus reverting to version5.738, restarted the app, signed in and then updated via play store. Now it automatically selects 720p for the video on wifi. It still doesn't matter for mobile data if you disable the limited hd, it shows the 720p but it doesn't autoswitch to it(maybe because i'm on h+ and not on 4g/lte, i can't verify this). Hope it helps ! Cheers !
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
634
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I hadn't tried clearing cache/data yet, will give it a shot (fingers crossed!)
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
634
164
Update: Ah, you were right about viewing videos in portrait being the culprit. I generally don't watch YouTube in any orientation other than landscape so I never noticed. Basically, the solution is to use YouTube in landscape, or at least, launch the video in landscape. Thanks for pointing that out!
 
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SkyKilla

Member
Mar 25, 2011
25
2
boojay said:
Update: Ah, you were right about viewing videos in portrait being the culprit. I generally don't watch YouTube in any orientation other than landscape so I never noticed. Basically, the solution is to use YouTube in landscape, or at least, launch the video in landscape. Thanks for pointing that out!
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You're welcome ! In my case after the data/cache clearing, uninstalling and updating from store afterwards, portrait videos also start in 720p, the only issue that remains would be the videos not defaulting to 720p on mobile data with the hd limit option disabled.
 
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boojay

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2010
634
164
SkyKilla said:
You're welcome ! In my case after the data/cache clearing, uninstalling and updating from store afterwards, portrait videos also start in 720p, the only issue that remains would be the videos not defaulting to 720p on mobile data with the hd limit option disabled.
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Good to know. I'm just making sure my phone is in landscape now before I click on the video, problem solved. Such a weird little quirk, LOL!
 
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    SkyKilla
    I'd like to confirm that the youtube app selects 360p no matter what the option for hd videos is but i saw that when first loading the video in vertical display it remains 360p while if you turn your phone horizontal and going fullscreen it switches to 720p instantly or in a few seconds. Maybe it's a feature to conserve data anyway ?
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    SkyKilla
    It is indeed happening both on wifi/mobile data with the limit hd videos to wifi option enabled or disabled. I have also tried disabling mobile data while having wifi on and it failed to do HD on start. The difference noted in the post above is that 720p kicks in at about 20secs in the video(check kwabs - walk for testing).

    No problem, i just thought of posting to assure you that your device is ok and that it might be a bug/"feature" on google/youtube`s side or some incompatibility with sony(?!). The only thing i can think of is that 720p and higher is pretty pointless in the vertical view with the small video player on top since it's too small to notice which seems pretty logic.

    Update: i have deleted cache and data for the app, uninstalled updates, thus reverting to version5.738, restarted the app, signed in and then updated via play store. Now it automatically selects 720p for the video on wifi. It still doesn't matter for mobile data if you disable the limited hd, it shows the 720p but it doesn't autoswitch to it(maybe because i'm on h+ and not on 4g/lte, i can't verify this). Hope it helps ! Cheers !
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