Most nanny filters turn out lame — blocking things like the name “Dick.” (Yep, saw that one ****’d elsewhere today.) YouTube passed the Dick test, so perhaps this censor system has some common sense.

“While no filter is 100% perfect, Safety Mode is another step in our ongoing desire to give you greater control over the content you see on the site,” the YouTube blog explained.

Let’s give it a test:

As the demo shows, using “naked” as a search term returns nothing but a red text notice (top right) that says results were deleted because of the protective feature. Searching for “violence” returns a filtered result, but presumably catching the rough stuff.

Our own Safety Mode-enabled search for “pussy” returned no results, but there were plenty of PG-13 Pussycat Dolls videos. “Asshole” produced an empty page. Going for the less obvious, “Felch” delivered the nasty without resistance. The video “Thanksgiving Felch” was an R-rated hoot; another video began with an adults-only warning. Better hope the kids keep to the classic four-letter words.

The Safety Mode opt-in is located bottom left of any YouTube page. To get the protection, just hit the link and then select a radio button. OK to go back in forth in a session.

If you’d like to leave Safety Mode on for future users with impressionable minds, log out and it can’t be changed on the browser until you log back in.

Comments with nasty language will have the specific words blocked out. Hopefully not Dick.

The re-do includes a dump of the useless 5-star rating system. Instead, it’s thumbs-up, thumbs-down.

Not many people like redesigns at first, but this one should be a crowd pleaser from day 1. The overall look and feel are cleaner, clutter cut as more information is collapsed, including the embed and URL strings for cut and paste.

Check out the YouTube resign — you can revert to the old-school version at the top of any page. Unfortunately, users can’t toggle back and forth yet, or set preferences.

The YouTube blog has this to say about the redesign:

“YouTube is about creating and watching the world’s biggest video collection; therefore, the design should make the video the star. To that end, the new look is more subdued, stripped down and simple than before. … We thought a lot about practicality here, choosing to expose only the most commonly used actions and language for you.”

The top right of the page is key here. It has less going on, with the ugly gray screen banished. There are fewer images in the space, meaning it doesn’t distract from the video, which is now unquestionably the dominant element on the page. (Sometimes it was hard to tell with so much crap on the right.)

The old top-right box is replaced by a collapsible search-results feature, more focused than the traditional Related Videos section, which remains lower right, but now unlabeled. There may or may not be an ad below between the two. Also, the Related Videos’ 1990s-style scroll is gone.

Response videos take a step back, going to a less prominent vertical format with smaller images — again, less distraction.

Facebook and Twitter get space below the video window, in the button bar that includes sharing, rating, saving and flagging options.

Searching while watching a video triggers another improvement. Instead of simply cutting off your current video, a smaller version of the window appears on the resulting page, slid to the far left. The search results are on the right — and you can return to the original watch page by a simple link.

Meanwhile, YouTube has come out with an experimental version of an HTML5-supported player and a Pandora-like music feature called Disco.

The amateur video giant has been supporting 720p “high def” for a while now, and while uploaders could get a 1080p video onto the servers, display rubbed up against that maximum output. No more, apparently.

YouTube’s HD mode will now offer 720p and 1080p, depending on the resolution of the source video file. (1080p is what you get from a Blu-ray.)

YouTube is even going back to re-encode 1080p files already uploaded to get them into proper resolution.

“For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience,” a YouTube engineer suggested on the official YouTube blog. OK here, we go. (Don’t waste your time trying this on your iPod, which doesn’t do 720.)

A sample video of Pennie the Dog’s nose is offered as a 1080p preview. Kind of underwhelming, but get a load of this 1080p high definition test of some square in Maine put up by a consumer. Big and beautiful. To get the full 1080p (apparently), add this to the end of the URL string: &fmt=37

Terrific, but … here are the potential downsides: Eternal upload times (even at the 11-minute limit), constant buffering during viewing due to server slowness, and audio playback that’s the pits compared to the video. Everyone banging on the YouTube servers could share in the HD strain.

“How about making it so that videos load fast enough on NORMAL QUALITY first?” one crank commented on YouTube’s blog posting announcing the news.

YouTube is making the inevitable move to full 1080p support now, probably figuring enough people have full-HD home video cameras to justify the expense and hassle. The whole area of online video is one big Beta anyway — let’s enjoy the bumpy ride.

Now about that crappy audio …

Hoffner is off to Barry Diller’s new multimedia production unit at IAC, joining Ben Silverman. Chris Maxcy, who handled music partnerships, steps up to take Hoffner’s place.

Hoffner starts off with some serious traction: YouTube’s live (and archived) global webcast of U2’s Rose Bowl gig has sent out more than 10 million streams since Oct. 25. It’s a beautifully done concert presentation with solid sound and imaginative visuals. YouTube also just wooed back Warner Music artists .

The DIY video giant also has been in content talks with majors Warner Bros. and Sony, as well as MGM and Lionsgate. YouTube recently created a “Shows” section for professional video. YouTube also made baby-step deals for short-form content and trailers from DIsney/ABC and Time Warner.

Executives at the third-biggest music company said they would receive “a vast majority” of any ad revenues generated by videos from Warner artists. That includes Coldplay, Madonna, Green Day and a zillion catalog artists such as the Monkees, Joni Mitchell and the B-52s.

The Warner-Google money dispute over YouTube led to a rude and sudden cutoff of Warner videos last December. (Google owns YouTube.) The online video giant now has all the music majors in line — Warner, Sony, Universal and EMI. Warner pulled its troops out of LastFM as well, back in June. That annoying dispute continues.

WMG chieftain Edgar Bronfman Jr. has criticized online entertainment providers for being “slow to create monetization tools.”

Of the new deal with Warner, Chris Maxcy, head of Music partnerships at YouTube, told analysts and reporters: “It sets us up for a sustainable partnership going forward by sharing revenues, where the vast majority of the revenues will be going to Warner Music associated with advertising when consumers watch or listen to the content on YouTube.”

Translation: Much was surrendered but much was gained.

The Wall Street Journal web site broke the news that Google’s amateur video giant has been in talks with Sony, Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate for full-length Hollywood fare.

At least some of the video rentals would be day and date with DVDs and Blu-rays’ arrival at Blockbuster and other traditional outlets, several sources said.

YouTube has been pushing the studios for a free, ad-driven model, but Hollywood seeks rental fees such as those on Amazon’s Video On Demand service and the iTunes Store. The studios apparently remain resistant to closing the online release window to match DVD availability.

YouTube recently created a “Shows” section for professional video, embraced widescreen ratios and is offering what passes for HD on the Internet. The Google property also made first-step deals for clips and trailers from DIsney/ABC and Time Warner.

YouTube said in a statement: “While we don’t comment on rumor and speculation, we hope to expand both on our great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community.”

Google’s video sites (YouTube, basically) streamed 8.9 million files in July, accounting for 42 percent of all videos viewed online, according to comScore.

Best to catch this “stunning visual portrayal of Earth” on the biggest screen you can find, but there’s a quick, easy and free way to see the film as June 5 dawns.

YouTube is set for a one-day-only streaming of “Home,” which was directed by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (Update: The movie started streaming on schedule. YouTube’s presentation is in widescreen with the viewer option for what it calls HD.)

The production claims the title of first simultaneous online and offline premiere for a major film. The 90-minute feature is narrated by Glenn Close.

The ambitious and well-executed YouTube channel for “Home” includes the making-of extras we’ll probably see on the Blu-ray and DVD, as well as short videos about shooting locations. There’s also a stash of press conference videos. Google France worked with the producers to create five map “layers” with interactive and dynamic content.

The film is available in English, French, German and Spanish. Some international viewers are reporting messages that the stream is not available in their countries.

Director Arthus-Bertrand’s eco-friendly canned quote says, “The message in this film is incredibly important since it underscores the question of survival. It needs powerful and accessible platforms like YouTube and Google Maps to reach the largest audience.” Besson, of course, is known for visually driven movies such as “The Big Blue” and “The Fifth Element.”

“Home” also will screen in outdoor settings around the planet, such as Central Park, and on some TV networks.

Previous filmmakers debuting their works online include Michael Moore (”Sicko” on BlipTV) and Wayne Wang (”The Princess of Nebraska” on YouTube).

The user-generated-content giant announced the move as it trotted out previously reported content deals with Sony and MGM, as well as a few lesser pacts.

In a week in which YouTube showed its strength and great worth — with the newsmaking videos of the disgusting duo from Domino’s and the delightful spinster singer from Scotland — you hate to see the online video giant lower itself with this stinky serving of Hollywood leftovers.

As anticipated, the TV offerings come on a page called Shows and films can be found under Movies.

Shortly after the redesign went live, the movie page was featuring “Carrie,” “St. Elmo’s Fire
and “Slacker.” Mostly, these are movies you couldn’t sell for a quarter at a flea market. And they have ads.

To view movies with R-rated content, viewers were told to log in via YouTube or Google. Once done, they then were required to link their Yahoo and Google accounts. Yuck and suck. Show of hands, please, for those who need more Google in their lives.

The Shows page had “Married With Children,” the current CBS series “Harper’s Island,” “The Addams Family” and “The Dana Carvey Show.”

YouTube’s move to integrate full-length professional content makes sense for financial and viewership reasons, but to premiere the service with such a half-assed library just screams: “We can’t even begin to compete with Hulu.”

The plump and disheveled Boyle took the stage Saturday to eye rolling from the “American Idol”-like show’s judges. Hoots and jeers from the audience. The 47-year-old said she wanted to be like British musical theater goddess Elaine Paige, bringing on another chorus of abuse. Then Susan Boyle opened her mouth to sing …

There are several versions of the segment on YouTube — all blocked from embedding so view the Susan Boyle video here (HQ). This appears to be a monster YouTube event, with millions upon millions of views so far (did I actually count 20 million?).

Did it all really go down like that, with the judges truly stunned and their jaws dropping and all? I want to believe. But even if not, this is extraordinary online video, as viral as it comes. Too bad we can only see it for the first time once.

Of course, Sony won’t be giving up its latest boxoffice hits. The studio’s film showcase crackle.com serves up fare such as “Groundhog Day,” “Shakes the Clown” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.” While we wouldn’t mind revisiting “Shakes” or “Neighbors,” there’s little but moldy catalog stuff on the Sony site. That’s what would come to YouTube, probably in limited numbers and perhaps unspooled on a branded Sony player.

Still, this seems reason enough for YouTube to get excited. The user-posted-video site, which spent years alienating Hollywood’s suits, is finding it tough getting anything of value out of would-be premium partners such as Sony. YouTube’s upcoming redesign prominently features movie and TV content.

YouTube hasn’t been able to monetize its endless user-generated content — beloved by the public but considered trash by the ad buyers — and is desperate to do something about its money-losing ways. Credit Suisse analysts just projected an annual YouTube loss of $470 million.