The YouTube TV Thread

[Zookster]

My usual use of DVR is just to time-shift shows a bit. I don’t archive them, watch and delete. But you can’t do that with YTTV, nor can you have it just record a series on one ‘channel’. And that makes for a mess. I can deal with it, I just don’t like it.

To me it's more "messy" to constantly stay on top of deleting enough content so I have enough space for new recordings, as with a typical DVR. Since you don't archive shows, I would think that would make YouTube TV even a better solution for you, as I know some people have issues with even the 9-month expiration date.

 

[lparsons21]

To me it's more "messy" to constantly stay on top of deleting enough content so I have enough space for new recordings, as with a typical DVR. Since you don't archive shows, I would think that would make YouTube TV even a better solution for you, as I know some people have issues with even the 9-month expiration date.

I don’t ‘stay on top’ as you put it, and it isn’t about space as that’s never been a problem for me. It is about finding the stuff there is stuff I haven’t watched and nothing else. Just neater IMO.

I will say that one advantage to the way YTTV does ‘recordings’ is that you can do a series that isn’t currently doing new shows and have the VOD be there. Kind of like my list of about 150 One Pass settings on my Tivo. I can see at a glance in the One Pass Manager what is active over the next 2 weeks. This is on a Tivo. It and the list of recorded shows is an actual textual list and not all icons/thumbnails. That is more similar to how the Hopper presents it.

 

[SpaethCo]

I don't watch any VOD on YTTV. It is literally only for sports (mainly F1, which has few if any ads), local news, and things that haven't made it to the streaming services yet.

This is where we have ended up with YTTV as well. We started off watching it the same way that we watched DIRECTV, and now we use it for all the same things you define above.

Even though we're paying for network TV recordings with YTTV, it's just easier to watch them commercial free on Hulu or CBS:AA.

For a while we had Philo to watch a handful of shows, but we ended up just buying the seasons on iTunes for a couple shows on History and A&E instead. Instead of paying $20/mo for Philo, it's $20/season per show and you can watch them all commercial free the day after they air on the channel. For the handful of shows we watch, this ends up being cheaper for a better experience anyway.

 

[lparsons21]

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Even though we're paying for network TV recordings with YTTV, it's just easier to watch them commercial free on Hulu or CBS:AA.

Hulu and CBS:AA is the way I watch all the shows on broadcast and some others too. I’ve got a Tivo that gets all the locals and could do them there just as easily.

Besides just fiddling around with both YTTV and Sling, I’m more leaning towards Sling/Hulu/CBS:AA as the right solution for me. Sling Blue has the 9 cable channels that are on my must have list, a few sports which covers all I want in sports and a few others even less cared about.

YTTV is probably the best cable/sat replacement streamer, but it seems to me that it is overkill for what I chose to watch. And their DVR is just a DVR, no intermixing of recordings and VOD.

BTW, Sling has Showtime on free preview this weekend it seems.

 

[SpaethCo]

I couldn't make Sling work for me because of the lack of my local RSN (FOX Sports North) and 30fps on so many of their channels.

If you can make it work for you, it's a great money saving option though.

 

[lparsons21]

I couldn't make Sling work for me because of the lack of my local RSN (FOX Sports North) and 30fps on so many of their channels.

If you can make it work for you, it's a great money saving option though.

If sports were a big thing with me, I wouldn’t use Sling. As to PQ, looks the same to me as YTTV and other streamers though I haven’t actually looked at every channel I get on it, only the ones that interest me.

 

[ncted]

Sling is a good option when paired with Hulu, CBS AA, and OTA. That is what I would have if our local CBS station could finish their new transmitter that hasn't worked well since the repack in September, and the Recast was more reliable about recording what we schedule.

 

[docdaddy]

Trying a trial of YTTV, have Dish in the house we're selling while I'm in another state in an apartment at the new job.

After a couple of weeks, I'm still not crazy about the interface and in particular the guide. Also - can I not just select a series and say "Record this series" and pick "New Episodes Only?" I assume I'm missing how to do that as every DVR interface I've used has that option. And I know someone said how to do it but I can't find it now: when browsing shows, how do I see the season number and episode number and original date of a show? As in, e.g, a Blue Bloods: S10, E4 "Original Look" Original airing Oct. 8, 2019?

 

[lparsons21]

No, you cannot only pick ‘new’ episodes, and you cannot even pick which channel. You pick a series and it will record and provide VOD for that series whenever and wherever they show up.

 

[SpaethCo]

YoutubeTV calls it the “Library” instead of a “DVR” because you pick shows and it assembles a Netflix-like catalog of those shows. It’s also built to steer you towards search to find content instead of using the guide. (hence the very limited guide display)

Sling took the approach of taking the traditional TV experience and replicating that with Internet delivery. YoutubeTV is focused on putting the content from traditional broadcast TV into something closer to a Netflix interface.

As with most of the live streaming services, if you’re expecting all the features and options you get from traditional cable/satellite services you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[docdaddy]

Yeah, we watch Netflix and Prime a lot, Hulu some, so we're used that that type of interface. So far, not what we want in our primary source though.

 

[SpaethCo]

And I know someone said how to do it but I can't find it now: when browsing shows, how do I see the season number and episode number and original date of a show? As in, e.g, a Blue Bloods: S10, E4 "Original Look" Original airing Oct. 8, 2019?

When you add shows to your library, it automatically builds out the catalog indexing by season and episode. Here’s what it looks like on the TV interface:

 

[Bilbo1]

I'm still not crazy about the interface and in particular the guide.

Others have said it, but I'll put it how I see it...

The guide is useful for what I want to watch now, or watch next. It's tactical. I mostly use it to see what's on. I see use cases like tune in tonight's shows, go to a sporting event, or causal viewing.

The library is for things you know you want to watch. It's where you go to watch that must-see show. It's for... Tonight we are going to watch (show)! More strategic, deliberate viewing.

I understand wanting to have only the most recent, or unwatched episodes of a show. My DVR would become cluttered with partially watched series or shows/specials/movies/concerts that I recorded because I thought I wanted to watch them. My wife had certain shows she would watch, she was into animation and could watch a few episodes os Steven Universe whenever. Hundreds of things were stored. Placed essentially randomly in a list (OK chronological based on most recent recorded). Eventually you hit storage space limits. We all developed personal strategies for cleaning up our DVR.

I like the idea of a library... It should contain all episodes of a series I'm interested in. I should be able to know which episodes I've watched ( at least in that library). No duplicate episodes. I know where I am in a series, regardless of where the episodes were recorded. I should also have access to all episodes of a series regardless of whether I've recorded them, they were available on-demand, etc. I would also want to know which version was definitive... The original broadcast version, as opposed to a potentially edited rerun.

As for those old movies, concerts, a show I fudnt know about but a co-worker mentioned that sounded cool, on-demand is a great model.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zookster]

It's also worth mentioning, YouTube TV started as a mobile-device only platform geared toward millennials (or at least folks who haven't spent thousands of dollars over the years on their home theater setup). It's adapted gradually to become more of a cable replacement/home living room viewing experience, starting with the launch of the Roku app two years ago.

After using PS Vue and then YTTV going on almost four years now, I would say my only real complaint I have at this point is that YTTV has no single button press to get back to live TV while browsing menus. That is the only real inconvenience I find with the interface, and it obviously wouldn't require a massive redesign to add such a thing (there's even an unused button on the Roku remote that would be perfect for it).

 

[SpaethCo]

After using PS Vue and then YTTV going on almost four years now, I would say my only real complaint I have at this point is that YTTV has no single button press to get back to live TV while browsing menus.

On AppleTV and Roku, you can get back to watching live TV by pressing the "Play/Pause" button twice. Not as clean as a single button, but still seems to work okay.

 

[Ronnie-]

On AppleTV and Roku, you can get back to watching live TV by pressing the "Play/Pause" button twice. Not as clean as a single button, but still seems to work okay.

I’ve been using it off and on for a while and I didn’t know that. Thanks.

 

[Zookster]

On AppleTV and Roku, you can get back to watching live TV by pressing the "Play/Pause" button twice. Not as clean as a single button, but still seems to work okay.

Are you effing kidding me?! I've been using YouTube TV for just over two years, mainly on a Roku, and had no idea. lol I've confirmed it works on FireTV and Roku.

 

[Ronnie-]

Are you effing kidding me?! I've been using YouTube TV for just over two years, mainly on a Roku, and had no idea. lol I've confirmed it works on FireTV and Roku.

Lol, that’s exactly what I did when I read it as well. I’ve been using it even longer than you. I had no idea. Haha.

 

[Zookster]

Playing around with the quick return to live TV hack, I've discovered when I drill down into the menus, say for example to access episodes for a given show in my Library, after double tapping Play/Pause to get to live, when I hit the back/menu button again, it takes me to where I left off in my browsing rather than taking me to the main Home menu screen (which I'd prefer). So I still have to repeatedly hit back to get back to the other main menu areas.

 

[N6BY]

After yet another bug with YTTV I said to heck with it and cancelled. But since they just billed me today for another month I am stuck with YTTV till March 24th.

Today I wanted to watch 'Mad Money' from my library and it gave me 'Shark Tank' instead. And strangely, at the bottom of the screen there was no position marker!

I tried it on my Sony Bravia X950G and also my Fire TV. Same thing happened. However, it worked fine on my laptop computer.

If they could model YTTV after TiVo, or any other decent DVR I would be very happy with it. But they chose to be different. May work for some, but it is not for me.