Command line YouTube in VLC player - quality control?

Question

I'm trying to make a little script which involves playing YouTube videos from the command line using VLC. I'm using Windows 7 with VLC in the search path.

Typing

vlc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0faacLn8K4

plays the video, but always at the highest quality. In the internet browser, appending the term '&fmt=18' forces a low-resolution mode. However, using this in the command line,

vlc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0faacLn8K4&fmt=18

gives an error:

´fmt´ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

I've tried quoting the url with various quotes, to no avail. The entire link gets passed to VLC, including the quotes.

What's the solution to this? Is there a VLC switch for selecting stream quality? The VLC command-line help may have the answer, but understanding the meaning of all the switches is a little beyond me.

Music credit: By Your Side by Breakbot

Answer 1

Go to VLC directory from command prompt and then type

vlc "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0faacLn8K4&fmt=18"

Works for me.