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Free YTCP (YouTube Control Panel) 2020-09-22

YTCP (YouTube Control Panel) allows you to load YouTube in one browser window (the Player) but control its playback/video/etc from a second browser window (the Controller). By doing this, the Player window can be displayed/screen captured more cleanly without mouse clicks and YouTube controls being shown, even when playing/changing different YouTube videos. In addition, the Player will play the video in full screen mode automatically, and not in a small window. Here are two simple use cases:
  • Dual-screen: Open the Player in one browser window on Screen 1, facing the audience, and then open the Controller on Screen 2 where the video can be easily controlled by the operator. This is also true for dual screens when you connect from a laptop to a projector. This is kind of like asking PowerPoint to show/control the slideshow on another monitor, but you know, with YouTube.
  • Embedded players: Some systems such as OBS have built-in browsers to display web pages. However it is usually distracting and difficult to control (especially video playback) in the browser being recorded/streamed. By having a dedicated control panel, we do not need to touch the output browser during the recording/streaming session.
Step 1: Open the Player in a new Streaming Source
  1. Create a New Source » Browser
  2. Call it YTCP Player (or whatever you like)
  3. In the properties:
Step 2: Choose Player options
  1. Right click on the source you just created and select Interact.
  2. Choose Player options:
  • Captions: Choose None for no captions, or one of the languages. If no such language/caption exists for that video, no captions will be shown.
  • Annotations: Check if Annotations should be displayed or not.
  1. Click Load Player. The Player should load and switch to full screen. Leave it alone and close the OBS Interact window.
Step 3: Open the Controller in a new Window/Tab/Dock Panel
  1. Go to View » Docks » Custom Browser Docks
  2. In the list:
  1. Click Close. A new OBS Panel will appear and you can dock it somewhere if you like.
Step 4: Key in one or more YouTube Video ID(s) in the Controller
Enter a single YouTube Video ID, or multiple IDs separated by commas. Here are some examples:
  • dQw4w9WgXcQ
  • 3IEp9Gj86Tc
  • 0tCsJ-SgIEE, 3IEp9Gj86Tc
Step 5: Press Play in Controller

Step 6: Monitor and Control playback in Controller

  • Restart current Video from the begining
  • Previous Video (Only works if more than one Video ID was specified)
  • Go back 10 seconds
  • Play / Pause
  • Go forward 10 seconds
  • Next Video (Only works if more than one Video ID was specified)
  • Mute / Unmute Video
  • Loop / Unloop Video when it ends
  • Jump to a specific point in the Video by keying in the time in minutes and seconds and pressing ENTER. For example, you can type 5:10 or 3.45 or 30 for 5 minutes 10 seconds, 3 minutes 45 seconds and 30 seconds respectively.
  • Size refers to playback quality size as reported by YouTube. Examples include 1080 or 720.
  • Display timer shows elapsed time followed by total video length. If this is a live stream, then video length refers to the duration since the live stream started.
  • Progress bars display the current position of the video playback in orange, and the buffered position in light orange. When the video has played past key points (25%, 50%, 75%, etc), the percentage will be displayed inside the progress bar.
Please see https://github.com/starfishpatkhoo/ytcp for more information and answers to frequently asked questions.

Please file bug reports at https://github.com/starfishpatkhoo/ytcp/issues

* OBS now has custom browser for Mac/Linux but I have not tested on those platforms. Any feedback on them is much appreciated.

Version 1.1: Updated with improved attempts to force YouTube to playback video at 1080 as much as possible.
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patkhoo
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