Video encodings themselves are separate the client always selects the most favorable one from the available set (e. G., vp9 over av1 when hw decode for av1 is not present)
Or why they are hamstrung by Cobalt at all, since it's by definition a TV app that is not expected to implement all the features of a desktop or a mobile app [1]
Instead, you just go for a personal attack.
So, who's insufferable here?
[1] BTW I literally work on one such app, and the number of features we cannot implement on such a constrained platform as a TV is now probably in the hundreds. Doesn't affect the site, or the desktop app, or the mobile apps.
Edit. BTW, if you think that ditching Cobalt (whose features Google literally directly controls) in favor of browsers running on TVs or gaming consoles will somehow give you great modern browsers with standards support, you know even less than nothing (if it's at all possible).
E.g. we still don't use CSS variables because browsers on a significant portion of TVs that are still in use don't support them.
What new features?
The only "new features" Youtube implements is shoving shorts down your throat and taking five seconds to show video times on thumbnails despite the fact that the data is already there.
There's nothing Youtube requires from "new features" that can't be implemented in a browser tech from 15 years ago.
Also, Youtube the site doesn't have to deal with Cobalt-the-TV-app just like it doesn't have to deal with YouTube-the-mobile-app