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Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

ytch.xyz

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Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#191

Post by saintfire »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #162
A_Duck wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep this works really nicely, and psychologically it's somehow way more relaxing than having to curate what you watch I predict this appears as real youtube feature soon. Since it will also allow them to do a Spotify-style payola approach to scheduling.

I have long wanted Netflix to offer this feature. Just give me a random episode of a low stakes sitcom. Seinfeld, SVU, whatever. My other wishlist item was that Netflix would offer a “shuffle” this series option. For standalone episodic shows, ordering does not matter, and it is a bunch of overhead to pick something.

I didn't realize how much I would appreciate shuffle until i started using jellyfin.

I use it all the time for shows that have self-contained episodes (e.g. Futurama).

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#192

Post by teska »

A_Duck wrote: post #35
tantalor wrote: post #6

The best part of this is the channel doesn't pause when you flip away from it. It is always "running" and if you flip away you will miss it. That builds in a FOMO trade-off which causes user to automatically/subconciously decide on channel they most want to watch, because they can't watch everything.

Yep this works really nicely, and psychologically it's somehow way more relaxing than having to curate what you watch I predict this appears as real youtube feature soon. Since it will also allow them to do a Spotify-style payola approach to scheduling.

They experimented with it for a bit last year. I think Linus talked about it on the WAN show, and for a while LTT had it enabled on their channel.

It was essentially a 24/7 livestream which played from their back catalogue, with the ability to add "promo" segments in between videos, which they used for products on their merch store.

Seemed to dissapear around the same time the whole monoblock scandal and production shutdown happened last year, so I'm not sure if the YouTube experiment also concluded or if they turned it off during the shutdown.

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#193

Post by hadisafa »

jeffhuys wrote: post #187

Also works on localhost, run these commands: `wget -r -np -k https://ytch.xyz ` - downloads the website recursively `wget https://ytch.xyz/list.json ` - download the list of what every channel plays and will play (I'm not sure if this ever really changes. The real website adds ?t= ) Then for instance run `python3 -m http.server` and visit localhost:8000 :)

When a channel reaches the last video, list.json will be fetched to get an updated list of videos.

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#195

Post by hathawsh »

hadisafa wrote: post #2

Channel 1: Science and Technology Channel 2: Travel and Events Channel 3: Food Channel 4: Architecture Channel 5: Film and Animation Channel 6: Documentaries Channel 7: Comedy Channel 8: Music Channel 9: Autos and Vehicles Channel 10: News and Politics Channel 11: UFC Channel 12: Podcasts/Interviews/Talk Shows

This project is very cool. Amazing execution. Other channels I would suggest:

  - Cooking
  - Family movies (from the public domain?)
  - Baseball

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#197

Post by dustincoates »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #162
A_Duck wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep this works really nicely, and psychologically it's somehow way more relaxing than having to curate what you watch I predict this appears as real youtube feature soon. Since it will also allow them to do a Spotify-style payola approach to scheduling.

I have long wanted Netflix to offer this feature. Just give me a random episode of a low stakes sitcom. Seinfeld, SVU, whatever. My other wishlist item was that Netflix would offer a “shuffle” this series option. For standalone episodic shows, ordering does not matter, and it is a bunch of overhead to pick something.

Netflix offered this in France back in 2020[0], but appeared to have removed it in 2022[1].

0: https://www.vulture.com/2020/11/netflix-linear-channels-dire... 1: https://www.numerama.com/pop-culture/1273686-netflix-direct-...

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#198

Post by recursive »

tantalor wrote: post #6

The best part of this is the channel doesn't pause when you flip away from it. It is always "running" and if you flip away you will miss it. That builds in a FOMO trade-off which causes user to automatically/subconciously decide on channel they most want to watch, because they can't watch everything.

I don't see how this is a good thing. It's a totally artificial constraint. It's already impossible to watch everything on youtube. I don't want software I use to instill fear as a design goal, detached from any of the outcomes of user actions.

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#199

Post by enobrev »

angry_moose wrote: post #49
tantalor wrote: post #6

The best part of this is the channel doesn't pause when you flip away from it. It is always "running" and if you flip away you will miss it. That builds in a FOMO trade-off which causes user to automatically/subconciously decide on channel they most want to watch, because they can't watch everything.

I added ErsatzTV to my Plex setup about a month ago and we honestly love it so much. I've got 2 sitcom channels, British panel shows, Taskmaster, all Star Trek all the time, British sitcoms, cartoons, and a few others. Its really nice to just sit down and watch "whatever is on" (even though I could switch over to the main library and watch any episode I want). Sometimes I just want a 0-effort/0-decision background no…

I've been using Quasi TV (android app) to try out the concept. I remember having something similar back in the boxee / xbmc days. I especially liked that it "just worked" without having to set anything up besides pointing it at my plex. I'm not afraid of hosting something, but I didn't want to go through the trouble if it turned out I wasn't going to use it.

I quite like it. Unfortunately, the app's been a bit buggy - not always picking up the stream at the "current time" and sometimes navigation gets wonky. But it was a good test run and that, along with your post, has convinced me to give Ersatz (or something like it) a try.

Re: Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

#200

Post by TheKarateKid »

tantalor wrote: post #6

The best part of this is the channel doesn't pause when you flip away from it. It is always "running" and if you flip away you will miss it. That builds in a FOMO trade-off which causes user to automatically/subconciously decide on channel they most want to watch, because they can't watch everything.

The FOMO would only work if the content was exclusively available during that livestream, and not re-posted later.

That being said, I think the last thing society needs is to make these platforms more addictive. The algorithms already do a good enough job of keeping us glued.

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