I get yt-dlp installed on the VJ's computer, and run it on the playlist. we get the first video, then get stuck downloading a 4k video. the internet in the venue is shit. she has to switch user accounts and start the show, so we abort the download and she starts with the first clip.

I start thinking "how can we salvage this" and remember I have termux on my phone. I should be able to install yt-dlp, and then use a cable to copy the files over. okay. workable.

I pip install yt-dlp, and open the README. to set the scene, there's extremely loud music going, it's dark, there's flashing lights, someone is getting a tattoo a bit behind me. I'm on mobile data and it's not great. I feel under a lot of pressure to get these clips downloaded fast! I need to set the resolution to 720p. that's it. this should be simple.

Here's what I see:

after a minute or two of scrolling past 30 badges, a giant table of install options, how to compile the project from source, how to fork the project, I say "fuck this" and go start downloading the third video in the playlist.

so now I'm tabbing between termux to manage the individual downloads (instead of the full playlist), a tab where I have the playlist open, and the README. my attention is SO split.

should I have done a find-in-page sooner? yes. was I thinking clearly? no.

eventually I find "--format" which tells me to go to """see "FORMAT SELECTION" for more details""". alright, I can do that.

the entire first screen of text is useless. immediately after this first screen is a link saying "tl;dr navigate me to examples." very helpful. let's look at these examples.

again, the ENTIRE FIRST SCREEN is useless. and I have to keep scrolling back and forth on my little phone screen with the flashing lights and loud music and also tabbing back and forth to manage the ongoing downloads.

these options, I will save you the reading, are all about different ways to download the best video. one for the worst video but I don't want that either!

the next screen has such oddities as this:
`$ yt-dlp -f "bv*[height<=480]+ba/b[height<=480] / wv*+ba/w"`

after attempting and failing to parse this DSL I read on a bit further:

# Download the best video available with the largest height but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
$ yt-dlp -S "height:480"

# Download the best video available with the largest resolution but no better than 480p,
# or the best video with the smallest resolution if there is no video under 480p
# Resolution is determined by using the smallest dimension.
# So this works correctly for vertical videos as well
$ yt-dlp -S "res:480"