The YouTube TV Thread

[Zookster]

YouTube TV generally informs customers about new channels added to the base package the day they become available (along with the corresponding price increase). I'm surprised the Viacom channels got announced so far ahead of time unless they were trying to gauge interest and the tolerance for a price hike in our current climate of 40+ million unemployment claims.

 

[ncted]

I got this cryptic email this afternoon.

Our records indicate that you may have more than one subscription for the same YouTube service and you might be able to save money by canceling one of these subscriptions.

Specifically we have identified that you have the following subscriptions billed by YouTube: YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium.

I have a YT Premium subscription and YTTV. From everything I've read, I don't get Premium for free with YTTV, and this specifically says they separate:

YouTube TV & YouTube Premium - YouTube TV Help

Am I missing something?

 

[Zookster]

I got this cryptic email this afternoon.


I have a YT Premium subscription and YTTV. From everything I've read, I don't get Premium for free with YTTV, and this specifically says they separate:

YouTube TV & YouTube Premium - YouTube TV Help

Am I missing something?

YouTube TV subs have never received YT Premium for free, at least not since Feb. 2018 (just access to the YT Originals commercial free).

I have noticed that over the past few months, almost every time I visit YouTube.com on my PC, I'm prompted by a pop-up to sign up for a 30-day trial for YT Premium. The pop up won't go away until you click to "Accept" or say "No Thanks" (clicking away or hitting ESC doesn't get rid of it). So maybe you or someone in your household inadvertently signed up again that way?

 

[ncted]

YouTube TV subs have never received YT Premium for free, at least not since Feb. 2018 (just access to the YT Originals commercial free).

I have noticed that over the past few months, almost every time I visit YouTube.com on my PC, I'm prompted by a pop-up to sign up for a 30-day trial for YT Premium. The pop up won't go away until you click to "Accept" or say "No Thanks" (clicking away or hitting ESC doesn't get rid of it). So maybe you or someone in your household inadvertently signed up again that way?

It doesn't show up anywhere that I can see in my account, and I haven't been charged anything unusual. My wife is not capable, and none of her devices are logged into YT, so it shouldn't be possible for her to. It is just the two of us. I emailed YT support, so we'll see what they say.

 

[ncted]

The response I got from support:

The email you received may have just been sent in error so you can disregard it.

 

[Jhon69]

Unfortunately, that is the way to get info from within the tv apps.

Regarding Hallmark, Lifetime, and AE. Add Philo TV service. It has all 3 Hallmark channels and 2 or 3 of the Lifetime channels in addition to the A&E network family.

$20 a month, 30 day dvr retention and unlimited recordings. I use Philo and YTTV with Amazon 4K Fire sticks and just use that remote, so can’t help with the Harmony.

I just returned to Philo,after being away after a little more than a year.I also have YTTV/w Starz both I consider a decent price,with all the repeats going on
(due to the Shelter in Place and COVID-19 issues) I had to have more channels.With YTTV adding more channels this summer their not the ones I used to watch
and miss,AHC,DIY,Science,Cooking,History,just to name a few.

 

[ncted]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there not a way to sort recordings of a given show in the order they were recorded? All I can seem to do it view them in the season/episode order or original airdate order. With a show like Dateline NBC, there are so many episodes, it is really hard to sort through them.

 

[Zookster]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there not a way to sort recordings of a given show in the order they were recorded? All I can seem to do it view them in the season/episode order or original airdate order. With a show like Dateline NBC, there are so many episodes, it is really hard to sort through them.

No, but you can mark ones you've seen as watched.

My biggest complaint in this area is that because the most recent episodes appear "at the top" (far left) and include a thumbnail image related to that particular episode, I sometimes catch spoilers as I scroll all the way to the right for the first episodes of the season or series if I'm not watching weekly. For example, if I see the bad guy's face in the thumbnail for episode 12, I know he survives all the way to the end of the season. I know. First world problems.

 

[ncted]

No, but you can mark ones you've seen as watched.

My biggest complaint in this area is that because the most recent episodes appear "at the top" (far left) and include a thumbnail image related to that particular episode, I sometimes catch spoilers as I scroll all the way to the right for the first episodes of the season or series if I'm not watching weekly. For example, if I see the bad guy's face in the thumbnail for episode 12, I know he survives all the way to the end of the season. I know. First world problems.

Yeah, with something like Dateline, it is really hard to tell if you've seen it without watching a few minutes at least. I sent some feedback to YTTV about it, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[seaofblue]

With YTTV adding the Viacom channels next month I expect an increase in price. I subscribe to both YTTV and Philo and pretty much have all the channels I want (sports, Science, History, and Smithsonian and locals) .While its not a great UI experience with either one, it’s not terrible either. I don’t like having to switch between the two to see all the channels but that’s a minor inconvenience. But as the price continues to increase each year, I am reconsidering if I should just sign up for dish tv. I had Directtv for years and loved the User Interface. Have any of you guys thought about switching back to cable/satellite? Am I just having a moment of weakness and a step away from making a terrible mistake? Thanks


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[osu1991]

When the price gets too high, then I am done. I don't see myself switching back to satellite or cable. I could get by with just Philo if I gave up aussie football. Most likely I'll pause YTTV once the AFL is over. For various reasons, I just don't see myself following NFL or College football anymore, even if they do play this year, so that leaves me with 4-5 channels that I watch a few shows on and they are all on Philo too.

The UI could be improved, but once the video is playing, I am fine with it on the 4k FIre sticks and Android TV. Skipping the ads is easy enough. The thumbnails have been spot on for me, or I can use the voice function and just say skip ahead 3 mins or whatever.

The guide data is what it is. Its no better than what tivo and satellite are. Its serviceable, but not great.

 

[schneid]

With YTTV adding the Viacom channels next month I expect an increase in price. I subscribe to both YTTV and Philo and pretty much have all the channels I want (sports, Science, History, and Smithsonian and locals) .While its not a great UI experience with either one, it’s not terrible either. I don’t like having to switch between the two to see all the channels but that’s a minor inconvenience. But as the price continues to increase each year, I am reconsidering if I should just sign up for dish tv. I had Directtv for years and loved the User Interface. Have any of you guys thought about switching back to cable/satellite? Am I just having a moment of weakness and a step away from making a terrible mistake? Thanks


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Married to DirecTV for 23 years. Going back would be like going back to my ex. That ain't gonna happen. But, never say never. Ditto on the DirecTV interface. Exquisite. Running YTTV on a Shield Pro 2019 which brings all the pieces together nicely. Real OTA, OTT's, streamers, Plex, and a PC.

 

[Zookster]

With YTTV adding the Viacom channels next month I expect an increase in price. I subscribe to both YTTV and Philo and pretty much have all the channels I want (sports, Science, History, and Smithsonian and locals) .While its not a great UI experience with either one, it’s not terrible either. I don’t like having to switch between the two to see all the channels but that’s a minor inconvenience. But as the price continues to increase each year, I am reconsidering if I should just sign up for dish tv. I had Directtv for years and loved the User Interface. Have any of you guys thought about switching back to cable/satellite? Am I just having a moment of weakness and a step away from making a terrible mistake? Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

Dish Network is always going up too. Of course you'll probably get a nice offer to return by locking yourself in some kind of contract. Outside of any kind of promo period, I know my dad pays close to $150 a month, and that's with only one receiver and no premiums, just whatever sports add-on gives him Red Zone. But now he no longer get our local Fox RSN.

I can think of several reasons YouTube TV wouldn't be worth saving at least $50 a month, but for me personally the UI isn't one of them. I'm not saying it's great, but it's not exactly what I would consider a deal-breaker.

 

[seaofblue]

Dish Network is always going up too. Of course you'll probably get a nice offer to return by locking yourself in some kind of contract. Outside of any kind of promo period, I know my dad pays close to $150 a month, and that's with only one receiver and no premiums, just whatever sports add-on gives him Red Zone. But now he no longer get our local Fox RSN.

I can think of several reasons YouTube TV wouldn't be worth saving at least $50 a month, but for me personally the UI isn't one of them. I'm not saying it's great, but it's not exactly what I would consider a deal-breaker.

It’s not really the user interface so much as the price just keeps climbing. I like YTTV. I just wish they had the science and history channels. I guess it is all about personal preference. I guess if they were adding those two channels I wouldn’t be on here complaining lol. I just hate going from YTTV to philo on the Ruku because it is so slow sometimes.


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[Zookster]

It’s not really the user interface so much as the price just keeps climbing. I like YTTV. I just wish they had the science and history channels. I guess it is all about personal preference. I guess if they were adding those two channels I wouldn’t be on here complaining lol. I just hate going from YTTV to philo on the Ruku because it is so slow sometimes.


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Price concern was my initial point. It's not like Dish has stopped going up in price. We don't even know in fact if YouTube TV will go up in price with the Viacom channel additions. Though Google is hurting in the ad-revenue department, they also know 40+ million people are unemployed right now, and that doesn't include small business owners able to reopen but who will be barely able to break even with greatly reduced foot traffic. I.e., this is a REALLY bad time to announce any kind of price increase when there's very little in the way of live sports right now (a main draw for any live TV service, but especially YTTV's lineup) and production of new shows has been pushed off indefinitely. We'll see.

But if YTTV doesn't have the channels you want, they don't, and I think that would be the primary factor in deciding whether it's for you.

 

[seaofblue]

Price concern was my initial point. It's not like Dish has stopped going up in price. We don't even know in fact if YouTube TV will go up in price with the Viacom channel additions. Though Google is hurting in the ad-revenue department, they also know 40+ million people are unemployed right now, and that doesn't include small business owners able to reopen but who will be barely able to break even with greatly reduced foot traffic. I.e., this is a REALLY bad time to announce any kind of price increase when there's very little in the way of live sports right now (a main draw for any live TV service, but especially YTTV's lineup) and production of new shows has been pushed off indefinitely. We'll see.

But if YTTV doesn't have the channels you want, they don't, and I think that would be the primary factor in deciding whether it's for you.

You bring up some fine points, I just assumed they will. I tried the channel live plus app on my nvidia shield tv and fire stick and it’s works really well. I didn’t incorporate the homerun into it because my local tv stations via antenna is spotty on a good day. But I really like how it took philo and YTTV and put them together and the simplicity of it.


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[Bruce]

I just hate going from YTTV to philo on the Ruku because it is so slow sometimes.

Well those Rukus are not known for their speed.

Speaking of Rokus, what model and year do you have?




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[seaofblue]

Well those Rukus are not known for their speed.

Speaking of Rokus, what model and year do you have?




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It’s one of the TCL television. I bought it about two years ago


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[Bruce]

It’s one of the TCL television. I bought it about two years ago


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‘If it is a 4 series, those are known to be slow, the 6 and 8 series ( i have both) are quite fast, the biggest plus is you can always buy another Roku ( Ultra is the fastest) and hook it up to your TCL.

 

[N6BY]

I went from Cable last year to YTTV for several months, then Orby, and now Dish Network. Of the 4 I like Dish Network the best (by far). They no longer force you to pay for locals so I was able to get Americas Top 120 (without locals) and a Hopper Duo for under $50 a month. First 3 months I get free premium channels.

But yeah, I had to do a 24 month contract and after that the price will increase.

Looking back, I really disliked YTTV's interface. Its far better (at least for me) with Dish Network to have a full featured remote and a dedicated box for storage. The remote is pretty cool. If its dark you can shake it and the buttons light up.