I have long essay about multimedia tools I can’t yet finish, in the meanwhile something useful.
YouTube is currently ‘broadcasting’ in two systems – the FLV you have grown to hate and MP4. The MP4 files are better quality and will probably be rolled out in the next few months. Meanwhile you can hack your way from 405 to 625 lines. Numerous variations on the hack exist – this is the best so far.
http://www.joeyhagedorn.com/2008/04/16/youtube-in-mp4-via-quicktime-plugin
You need to have real QuickTime installed, not seeming to work with QuickTime Alternative. Tested on a PC running Firefox.
It’s not entirely explained on that site how to use it – I can help. Go to the YouTube page of the clip you want to see. Then launch the bookmarklet. It refreshes the page with a QuickTime player instead of the Flash player. If there’s no high resolution version, you get a question mark.