VidzBigger for Windows

VidzBigger is a free Google Chrome extension that automatically opens YouTube videos in the largest frame without loss of quality. Scrolling automatically resizes the video window. With it, you can read comments or suggestions while still watching the video.

We installed the program and opened Chrome's extensions page but found no options for VidzBigger. We then clicked the VidzB toolbar icon, which opened a small dialog with single button labeled Video Preferences and a checkbox to opt into Video View Sharing. We skipped the checkbox and opened the preferences, which told us we had to be on a video page to actually see them. We browsed to a YouTube page, started a video, and were finally able to open the program's preferences, which proved to be worth the effort; there were nine expandable tabs, each with many options: Instant Layout, with 15 basic settings; Display, with more than 20 settings; Qualities, with five auto-enable format choices; and tabs for looping, advertising settings, privacy, support, Top Vidz ratings, and a YouTube JSAPI (Java Speech API) that, like much of VidzB, is still evolving and remains "experimental." All these controls let us configure everything from black bars to HQ/HD accounts to ad blocking.

How did VidzBigger work? Pretty well, actually. We clicked on a video, which opened with the video window maximized in the available browser space and the suggestions column to the side. Scrolling the entire window resized the video display but kept it in view. When we scrolled the suggestions column, the video maintained its size, though it jumped a little as we reached the end of the column; the motion got easier with practice. The video quality was excellent throughout the size range, compared directly to the same video playing in a different browser. We clicked Comment Column First in VidzB's Instant Layout section. This placed the comments above the suggestions on the side panel, instead of below it, a handy option for those who like to read comments. VidzBigger is a work in progress, but it does something cool that a lot of folks can use every day.