The YouTube TV Thread

[comfortably_numb]

I just went all the way to the end of the YTTV channel guide and saw that they now have StartTV, Telemundo, and COZI. Not sure how long those have been there, but I don't remember seeing them last time.

Anybody have an update on the PBS rollout? I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my local PBS...

 

[Zookster]

I just went all the way to the end of the YTTV channel guide and saw that they now have StartTV, Telemundo, and COZI. Not sure how long those have been there, but I don't remember seeing them last time.

Anybody have an update on the PBS rollout? I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my local PBS...

It's been awhile, like maybe a year, since those channels have been added. StartTV replaced Decades to the chagrin of many.

The PBS rollout that was supposed to being as early as Nov. 4 in some markets that were ready has been delayed. I heard some still may get it by the end of the year, but I'm not holding my breath. When I contacted my local affiliate in early November, their vague response sounded as though they were in only the very beginning discussion stage of working with YTTV to make it happen.

 

[N6BY]

I signed up for YouTube about a week ago and it was working great.

I liked the feature where you could tune in to a live show already in progress and backup to the beginning.

As of a couple of hours ago, this is no longer possible. Anyone else seen this?

 

[tigerfan33]

I signed up for YouTube about a week ago and it was working great.

I liked the feature where you could tune in to a live show already in progress and backup to the beginning.

As of a couple of hours ago, this is no longer possible. Anyone else seen this?

This was and is really never a feature of the service. It is hit or miss. Most times you can watch a program then switch back to another program you had been watching and the rewind may happen.

 

[ncted]

As my Amazon Fire Recast keeps randomly messing up, I am very happy I signed up for YTTV. I suspect the Recast will become just a backup to YTTV as our primary source of linear TV. I wish they had a skinnier bundle that costs less, but alas, it is still cheaper than the traditional sources of linear TV.

 

[N6BY]

This was and is really never a feature of the service. It is hit or miss. Most times you can watch a program then switch back to another program you had been watching and the rewind may happen.

So the ability to start from the beginning is something that periodically comes and goes?

It worked for the first week of my free trial, and now it doesn't. Oh well, it was really great to have while it lasted.

.... Another thing I am wondering about: The program guide only lets you look forward about 6 hours. Is there a way to extend that longer?

 

[Zookster]

So the ability to start from the beginning is something that periodically comes and goes?

It worked for the first week of my free trial, and now it doesn't. Oh well, it was really great to have while it lasted.

.... Another thing I am wondering about: The program guide only lets you look forward about 6 hours. Is there a way to extend that longer?

You can usually go back to the beginning of any current show on whatever the last channel you've been watching is, even across devices and after many hours since the last time you watched. It's not an advertised feature, but I came across it via trial and error. Your best bet is to simply record anything you regularly watch, including news, sports, etc. Then you'll always be able to start wherever you wish.

The program guide on streaming devices like Roku is very limited. I think it's closer to 8 hours. But you can go much further out (a week or more?) on PC browser and mobile. But you're better off using the search feature to find whatever you are watching. Once you've had YTTV for a while and it learns your viewing habits, browsing in the Home area of the menu will be much more useful.

 

[tigerfan33]

You can use the live guide and see what’s showing 24 hours for a particular channel. Go to live, scroll to a channel of interest. Click on logo then click on live then scroll to the right.

 

[ncted]

So the ability to start from the beginning is something that periodically comes and goes?

It worked for the first week of my free trial, and now it doesn't. Oh well, it was really great to have while it lasted.

.... Another thing I am wondering about: The program guide only lets you look forward about 6 hours. Is there a way to extend that longer?

I assume you are referring to things that aren't in your Library? I can start from the beginning of any Live recording while it is in progress.

 

[N6BY]

I assume you are referring to things that aren't in your Library? I can start from the beginning of any Live recording while it is in progress.

Yes. I used to be able to tune to any random channel and rewind it to the beginning, even if it wasn't in my Library. Now I can't. This was during my first week of the YTTV trial.

 

[rapidturtle]

I've been trying out You Tube Tv, and so far I really like it. One thing I am noticing is that the Prime time football games seem to have quite a bit of stuttering video. Sunday afternoon games seem fine. The stuttering happend Sunday night on NBC, and last night on Fox.

 

[Zookster]

I've been trying out You Tube Tv, and so far I really like it. One thing I am noticing is that the Prime time football games seem to have quite a bit of stuttering video. Sunday afternoon games seem fine. The stuttering happend Sunday night on NBC, and last night on Fox.

Are you watching the Thursday night game on Amazon Prime? Therein would lie the problem. I don't think Prime broadcasts those games in 60fps. (They've always looked crummy to me too.) I've never noticed a difference on YTTV between the Sunday day games and Sunday/Thursday night games. But the quality would also depend on your local network affiliate and the quality of their transmission to YTTV.

 

[rapidturtle]

No, not on Amazon. It's on YTTV. It may be my network. I went down to Optimum and swapped out my modem today and I'll see how that works. I'm supposed to be getting 200MBPS, but for some reason at night, its dropping down to 30 MBPS. Now even with the new modem, I'm trying to watch Goldrush, and it keeps buffering and then it starts fast forwarding itself. I'll have to make sure my speeds are steady tonight, and try it over the weekend.
For you guys using YTTV, is it pretty much flawless most of the time? I have a wife who likes to just hit the power button and have TV come on, so if there is a lot of tinkering involved, it may not be for me.

 

[Zookster]

No, not on Amazon. It's on YTTV. It may be my network. I went down to Optimum and swapped out my modem today and I'll see how that works. I'm supposed to be getting 200MBPS, but for some reason at night, its dropping down to 30 MBPS. Now even with the new modem, I'm trying to watch Goldrush, and it keeps buffering and then it starts fast forwarding itself. I'll have to make sure my speeds are steady tonight, and try it over the weekend.
For you guys using YTTV, is it pretty much flawless most of the time? I have a wife who likes to just hit the power button and have TV come on, so if there is a lot of tinkering involved, it may not be for me.

It's flawless 99.8% of the time for me (subbing since Feb. 2018). The only time I have any issue is when there's a big nationwide outage (a couple times a year) or my ISP is down for inexplicable reasons (1 or 2 times a year). And once in a great while I'll experience the kinds of app glitches one encounters with any streaming service (Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc.) that requires restarting the app. BTW, I've been mostly using 2016 Rokus (4630 and 4640) and now as of two weeks ago mainly use my new 4K FireTV stick, which is much faster with loading times, changing channels, fastforwarding, etc. So, newer devices = better experience.

 

[rapidturtle]

I'm actually using the app through my Samsung T.V. Is that not a good way of doing it? I don't have any problems with disney + , hulu, or the netflix app.

 

[Zookster]

I'm actually using the app through my Samsung T.V. Is that not a good way of doing it? I don't have any problems with disney + , hulu, or the netflix app.

In the YTTV discussion groups I follow, it's fairly common that someone using a smart TV app encounters problems no else is experiencing -- people who are using Rokus, Apple TV, FireTV etc. Streaming live TV is a different beast, benefiting from greater processing power and memory. As I noted above, I noticed a significant improvement just going from a 2016 Roku model (Roku's most powerful that year) to the newest FireTV stick.

 

[Ronnie-]

I’d definitely use an external streaming device over a smart TVs app to ensure you have a more stable experience. Plus if you do have issues, the chances that others are having the same issues increases, as do the odds of it being fixed.

I’d wager that’s your issue and it isn’t internet speed. Even if all you are getting is 30 out of the 200 listed in your plan , that’s plenty of bandwidth for multiple streams on any live service.

 

[rapidturtle]

Thanks for the replies. I have one of the roku ultimate, or whichever the one is for $100 ( got it for $49 on BF) so I will use that on one t.v., and pick up a couple of regular ones for the other tv's in the house.
I've been watching it all night with no problems, and I am really liking the interface, and the fact that I'm getting Philly sports locals. I normally only get NY where I live. I will be cancelling Directv if I decide to stick with YTTV. I'm a little skeptical, as I do get some pretty decent discount swith DTV. (I have the phone service also, so I pay about 80 a month for my package.) Saving $30 a month would be a nice deal though.

 

[Darrell S]

Anyone have a link for a list of PBS stations launched today? I noticed in the Dallas market that it's listed in the guide as on demand only.

 

[comfortably_numb]

KCPT is now active with live video on Youtube TV here in Kansas City.