Anyone have Youtube TV? What's your opinion of it?

[Jezza819]

I've always had cable tv. Currently it's with Xfinity. But if I examine it I'm really paying a lot of money for things I don't watch. I only watch Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, ESPN, NFL Redzone in season, and HBO. I used to watch NFL Network every morning for "Good Morning Football" but they've moved the show to LA and started it an hour later. By that time I'm at work every morning. I stream ESPN on my smart tv and you have to have a cable account for that. I will occasionally watch the Science Channel or the Smithsonian Channel (but it seems they are non stop Air Disaster reruns lately). I watch Max which I get since I'm with Xfinity.

So I've been thinking about reducing my costs by cutting the cord and I'm looking at YouTube TV. I think I can get most of what I watch there maybe except Smithsonian Channel. You can stream ESPN with a YouTube TV account, you can get HBO but I think Max might be a separate charge. What I'm wondering is how do they handle your local tv channels? Is that a separate charge or part of another package?

What are your overall experiences with YouTube TV? Do you like it?

 

[Joey D]

We tried YouTube TV and I thought it sucked. It was really laggy in Salt Lake City, which it shouldn't have been since we were in an area where the Internet wasn't made out of sticks, leaves, and chewing gum. We switched to Hulu and it's way better. If you like ESPN, you can get the Hulu bundle with ESPN+ in it and get access to all the stuff. You can bundle it further with Disney+ too. I believe you can access it all through one app now as well, but it makes it easier for me to keep Disney+ separate from Hulu so it's easier for my son to find what he wants.

With YouTube TV, we did get local channels, but I also had an antenna since that seemed to work better.

 

[Jezza819]

We tried YouTube TV and I thought it sucked. It was really laggy in Salt Lake City, which it shouldn't have been since we were in an area where the Internet wasn't made out of sticks, leaves, and chewing gum. We switched to Hulu and it's way better. If you like ESPN, you can get the Hulu bundle with ESPN+ in it and get access to all the stuff. You can bundle it further with Disney+ too. I believe you can access it all through one app now as well, but it makes it easier for me to keep Disney+ separate from Hulu so it's easier for my son to find what he wants.

With YouTube TV, we did get local channels, but I also had an antenna since that seemed to work better.

I've got 1gb internet speed and I've never had any trouble with live events on YouTube, Max or anything else so I would hope YouTube TV would be the same. I already get ESPN+ and Disney+ through my Verizon account and I've got Hulu separately. The streaming part of ESPN is the problem. You're restricted to a few carriers in order to stream it on smart tv's etc. Xfinity is one, YouTube TV is another.

I still might do the free trial just to check it out.

 

[Jordan]

My family has shared a YouTube TV subscription for about two years now and it's been great for us. My only real complaint is the interface can be a little confusing at times, especially finding shows in the DVR library as it starts to fill up with various shows.

In terms of performance, I've never had issues, even on lower-end devices like Amazon Firesticks and Chromecasts. It runs really well on something higher-end like an Apple TV 4K.

Of course, mobile viewing and transferring shows between devices and TVs is the "killer app" for cord cutting, in my opinion. I've started a recorded show on the TV in my bathroom, jumped over to my phone in the kitchen while I prepared and ate dinner, and finished it on the big TV in front of the couch. Also, having your entire DVR library and access to your full, live TV subscription anywhere you are is a game-changer. I have streamed many game broadcasts to my table in restaurants, or in the car, or just in a browser window on my computer. There is no way for cable or satellite to compete with that, so I would strongly encourage you to switch to a live streaming service of any kind, be it Hulu or YouTube TV, for those benefits alone.

I only watch Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, ESPN, NFL Redzone in season, and HBO.

I really only watch news and sports (ESPN/SEC Network), and there are two extremely useful sports-related features which I didn't know about until I started actually using the service.

First, you can specify the teams you want to follow, and it will automatically record all of those teams' games no matter what channel they appear on. Second, if games start late or go into overtime, the recordings just magically adjust, recording the extra time as needed. I don't know how they do it — maybe there is someone watching every game and setting the end points? — but as someone who frequently watches games from recordings this has saved me so many headaches.

What I'm wondering is how do they handle your local tv channels? Is that a separate charge or part of another package?

Just enter your zip code and your local channels appear in your channel list, and their shows can be recorded the same as any other channel.

They also have a limited referral system, so if you do decide to sign up you can use my referral link here. If you decide to subscribe, we'll both get $45 off over the next three months. They also have the 7 day free trial, so so you can see how it works before paying anything.

 

[Jezza819]

My family has shared a YouTube TV subscription for about two years now and it's been great for us. My only real complaint is the interface can be a little confusing at times, especially finding shows in the DVR library as it starts to fill up with various shows.

In terms of performance, I've never had issues, even on lower-end devices like Amazon Firesticks and Chromecasts. It runs really well on something higher-end like an Apple TV 4K.

Of course, mobile viewing and transferring shows between devices and TVs is the "killer app" for cord cutting, in my opinion. I've started a recorded show on the TV in my bathroom, jumped over to my phone in the kitchen while I prepared and ate dinner, and finished it on the big TV in front of the couch. Also, having your entire DVR library and access to your full, live TV subscription anywhere you are is a game-changer. I have streamed many game broadcasts to my table in restaurants, or in the car, or just in a browser window on my computer. There is no way for cable or satellite to compete with that, so I would strongly encourage you to switch to a live streaming service of any kind, be it Hulu or YouTube TV, for those benefits alone.


I really only watch news and sports (ESPN/SEC Network), and there are two extremely useful sports-related features which I didn't know about until I started actually using the service.

First, you can specify the teams you want to follow, and it will automatically record all of those teams' games no matter what channel they appear on. Second, if games start late or go into overtime, the recordings just magically adjust, recording the extra time as needed. I don't know how they do it — maybe there is someone watching every game and setting the end points? — but as someone who frequently watches games from recordings this has saved me so many headaches.


Just enter your zip code and your local channels appear in your channel list, and their shows can be recorded the same as any other channel.

They also have a limited referral system, so if you do decide to sign up you can use my referral link here. If you decide to subscribe, we'll both get $45 off over the next three months. They also have the 7 day free trial, so so you can see how it works before paying anything.

Thanks for the info. That's what I was looking for. I'll definitely look into it.

 

[Jezza819]

@Jordan I signed up so you should see your discount too.

But I'm confused by the layout of the homepage. Is there a channel guide or something saying what is on right now? The network selections are all the way toward the bottom of the page. Like if I want to know what is on right now on another channel, how do I do that. Because the only way I see is to exit out of what you're watching now and go to that channel.

 

[TB]

the TV in my bathroom

Your what in your where?!?

 

[Jordan]

Your what in your where?!?

You never forget your first time pooping while watching a game.

 

[Pupik]

Your what in your where?!?

Amazingly, my mother had a TV in her bathroom but it faced the actual bathtub. And she despises sports!

Finally removed it last year when the newest "cable boxes" didn't play nice with her old 13" 480p color set.

You never forget your first time pooping while watching a game.

I went to a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Texas which had flat screens embedded in the mirrors in both the stall walls and facing the sinks. The former example was a little unnerving the first time I visited...at first I figured the another occupant had their phone up way too loud.

 

[Jordan]

Amazingly, my mother had a TV in her bathroom but it faced the actual bathtub. And she despises sports!

Finally removed it last year when the newest "cable boxes" didn't play nice with her old 13" 480p color set.



I went to a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Texas which had flat screens embedded in the mirrors in both the stall walls and facing the sinks. The former example was a little unnerving the first time I visited...at first I figured the another occupant had their phone up way too loud.

Mine is just a 19-inch LCD mounted in the corner above the sink/mirror, with HDMI and power cables routed to a Chromecast in a closet on the other side of the wall. I wasn't sure about it at first, but now I use it every day. I have a glass shower so I can watch it throughout the whole showering/drying/shaving process.

 

[Brett]

You never forget your first time pooping while watching a game.

I do that on my phone.

 

[Jezza819]

I do that on my phone.

I think everyone I work with does that. No matter what time of day I go down to our bathroom someone is in one of the stalls watching a video.

But back to the original topic. I did purchase YoutubeTV a couple of weeks ago and turned in my cable tv equipment last week. So far so good. I think the picture is much better on YoutubeTV than Xfinity cable. I do like that I could go in and block certain stations from showing up. But the interface is taking some getting used to. Sometimes it will remember the channels I just watched and have them at the top when I sign on, and sometimes I have to do a search for them.

 

[Brett]

I think everyone I work with does that. No matter what time of day I go down to our bathroom someone is in one of the stalls watching a video.

But back to the original topic. I did purchase YoutubeTV a couple of weeks ago and turned in my cable tv equipment last week. So far so good. I think the picture is much better on YoutubeTV than Xfinity cable. I do like that I could go in and block certain stations from showing up. But the interface is taking some getting used to. Sometimes it will remember the channels I just watched and have them at the top when I sign on, and sometimes I have to do a search for them.

You can reorder the Live tab to whatever you want, but I think you have to do it on computer. As far as I can remember, I don't think there is a way to reorder them on a TV.

 

[Jezza819]

You can reorder the Live tab to whatever you want, but I think you have to do it on computer. As far as I can remember, I don't think there is a way to reorder them on a TV.

Probably so. It was on the computer where I blocked those channels.

 

[Jordan]

But back to the original topic. I did purchase YoutubeTV a couple of weeks ago and turned in my cable tv equipment last week. So far so good. I think the picture is much better on YoutubeTV than Xfinity cable. I do like that I could go in and block certain stations from showing up. But the interface is taking some getting used to. Sometimes it will remember the channels I just watched and have them at the top when I sign on, and sometimes I have to do a search for them.

Yeah, the interface relies heavily on its recommendations for what it thinks you might want to watch. It's great when it works (and it especially if you only watch a couple of different hings), not so much when it doesn't. Finding a specific or non-regular show can be difficult sometimes. I think, per the "Google way", they really want you to rely primarily on search, but that's not always useful.

 

[Jezza819]

Yeah, the interface relies heavily on its recommendations for what it thinks you might want to watch. It's great when it works (and it especially if you only watch a couple of different hings), not so much when it doesn't. Finding a specific or non-regular show can be difficult sometimes. I think, per the "Google way", they really want you to rely primarily on search, but that's not always useful.

With my Samsung tv's if you go to the app in the home screen it bring up a sub menu with channel icons which sometimes will be the last channels watched, then at other times it will be completely random. Similar to the way the actual app works. But that's a nice shortcut when it works. Setting favorites on the website as @Brett suggested might help and I'm going to try that soon. But overall I haven't missed Xfinity at all. There isn't one thing I had with them that I don't have now with Youtube TV.

 

[Jordan]

With my Samsung tv's if you go to the app in the home screen it bring up a sub menu with channel icons which sometimes will be the last channels watched, then at other times it will be completely random. Similar to the way the actual app works. But that's a nice shortcut when it works. Setting favorites on the website as @Brett suggested might help and I'm going to try that soon. But overall I haven't missed Xfinity at all. There isn't one thing I had with them that I don't have now with Youtube TV.

Yeah, Brett is right about making the custom channel lists on the desktop site. It's pretty easy. Then you just select which custom list you want on the TV apps. 👍

 

[Brett]

I did check over the weekend. The custom channel list can only be made on the desktop site. I took the time I was looking into that to rearrange my list some more.

 

[Jezza819]

I did check over the weekend. The custom channel list can only be made on the desktop site. I took the time I was looking into that to rearrange my list some more.

I did that over the weekend. Arranged them in the order I wanted on the desktop, that transferred it over to the app on the tv. Now when I turn the tv on and go into the app, if what I want to watch isn't one of the live tile choices I can just scroll down a little to my preferred channel lineup.

The only slight negative not having cable tv is with my bedroom tv. I have an alarm system to wake me up in the morning. Through the Samsung Smart Things app I have the tv scheduled to come on 2 minutes before the phone alarm goes off. Sometimes that would wake me up ahead of the phone alarm. They acted as a backup to the other one. I am a bit paranoid about missing an alarm even though I don't get a lot of sleep. But now not having cable tv when the tv comes on at it's assigned time, it's just a blue screen with no sound. But that's been ok so far. Sometimes I see that first or sometimes I hear the alarm first.

 

[Brett]

Could you hook up an antenna to that TV and get OTA channels that act like cable?

 

[Jezza819]

Could you hook up an antenna to that TV and get OTA channels that act like cable?

Nah that would be too much trouble. It's working out ok so far.