Both Vimeo and YouTube now offer HD embeds. YouTube's HD embeds are free and Vimeo's cost $60 a year, via their Vimeo PLUS service (Vimeo is otherwise free and has HD delivery on their Website for non-PLUS members). Now I love Vimeo and prefer it to YouTube for many, many reasons, primarily because it is not overrun by foul-mouthed teenage boys and because it's a lot easier to find quality, original content. YouTube is almost completely swamped by people reposting music videos and other unoriginal, copyrighted crap they recorded from television and - quite frankly - if I wanted to watch more television, well, then I would go turn on the TV. So I love the Vimeo community and I love the fact that I can see amazing original content from talented creative people just like you. YouTube's upload time was faster, but the encode times were about the same. I like that I can pick any thumbnail on Vimeo (or upload my own, which I have done here) and I like Vimeo's customizable player better (and the lack of a YouTube overlay bug). Vimeo also has better privacy options and control. Plus, I feel really good about supporting Vimeo with my $60 and while I sure do hope YouTube figures out how to make money some day (because if they can't figure it out, we are all lost), I have no affection for YouTube. But let's get to the real issue:

Which is better: (1) Vimeo or (2) YouTube? (make sure you click the HD option on the YouTube clip)

(Both of the following videos are encoded from the same source file.)