The YouTube TV Thread

Now that my weekly shows are back from hiatus, I'm getting a little bummed with how quickly recordings of new episodes are switched out with on demand versions with forced commercials. I didn't think this would be an issue, as I normally have no problem watching any weekly show within 72 hours, and I heard that in most cases with YTTV, I would have a week before the on demand version was imposed. But this week, I had my Thursday recording of Gotham switched to on demand by Saturday night (less than 48 hours). And checking back on other shows I had watched in the past week (within 24 hours), I'm seeing some have already switched to on demand with forced commercials, so within just a few days (not a full week).

Part of the aggravation is not knowing which shows will get switched out early (in less than a week) on when, so I can make a point of watching them ASAP (though normally I hate feeling forced to watch I show I'm not in the mood for). This also puts me in a position of having to learn the "hard way," like I did this week with Gotham. I'm seriously considering switching back to Vue if this ends up affecting a good percentage of my shows.
 
Now that my weekly shows are back from hiatus, I'm getting a little bummed with how quickly recordings of new episodes are switched out with on demand versions with forced commercials. I didn't think this would be an issue, as I normally have no problem watching any weekly show within 72 hours, and I heard that in most cases with YTTV, I would have a week before the on demand version was imposed. But this week, I had my Thursday recording of Gotham switched to on demand by Saturday night (less than 48 hours). And checking back on other shows I had watched in the past week (within 24 hours), I'm seeing some have already switched to on demand with forced commercials, so within just a few days (not a full week).

Part of the aggravation is not knowing which shows will get switched out early (in less than a week) on when, so I can make a point of watching them ASAP (though normally I hate feeling forced to watch I show I'm not in the mood for). This also puts me in a position of having to learn the "hard way," like I did this week with Gotham. I'm seriously considering switching back to Vue if this ends up affecting a good percentage of my shows.

I've only been a customer for a few weeks and I'm currently only recording a few shows through YouTube TV but I haven't had this happen with any of mine so far. I even went back to my oldest episode and it was still my original recording. That episode is only a couple weeks old though.

I did get the on demand version of the second episode of Atlanta when I tried to watch it from the home screen in the "resume watching" area. When I backed out of this and went into my library and started it from there instead it was my recording instead of the on demand version though.

You have a lot more experience with this than I do but I just wanted to make sure that you weren't trying to watch from the home screen if that is what is causing the issue. It's more likely that my recordings from FX are just treated differently than stuff from the local channels.
 
I've only been a customer for a few weeks and I'm currently only recording a few shows through YouTube TV but I haven't had this happen with any of mine so far. I even went back to my oldest episode and it was still my original recording. That episode is only a couple weeks old though.

I did get the on demand version of the second episode of Atlanta when I tried to watch it from the home screen in the "resume watching" area. When I backed out of this and went into my library and started it from there instead it was my recording instead of the on demand version though.

You have a lot more experience with this than I do but I just wanted to make sure that you weren't trying to watch from the home screen if that is what is causing the issue. It's more likely that my recordings from FX are just treated differently than stuff from the local channels.

I haven't tried to access any of my shows from the home screen, but good to know it may result in the on demand version. I usually go through "New Episodes" or "Recent Recordings."

I'm wondering if the issue with Gotham has anything to do with it being recorded from the national Fox broadcast rather than my local affiliate (which YTTV doesn't carry). And with the others, I wonder if checking recordings of shows that were marked as "watched," including The Walking Dead, triggered the on demand version to be substituted in those instances. For the network shows, and I only watch a couple of others (The Blacklist on NBC and Marvel Agents of SHIELD on ABC), I seem to get the full week at least with the recorded version. I did hear in user groups that CBS shows get substituted as soon as the next day.
 
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Isn't it a day late?

Great news if it is so, but my understanding was the price increase started on the 13th.
 
Isn't it a day late?

Great news if it is so, but my understanding was the price increase started on the 13th.

You're right. I got fooled (my bad) into posting about the deadline when I read the following in the Cord Cutters News article: The downside is that starting March 14, 2018, new subscribers will pay $40 a month. The best we can tell, current subscribers will continue to pay $35 a month, so make sure to subscribe before March 14 if you want the lower price.

But I see various legit tech news sources give March 12 as the deadline to sign up at the old price: Last chance for $35 YouTube TV: Price jumps to $40 on Tuesday
 
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I don't see anyway this lasts for lifetime membership, but...... I'll take it as long as I can get it and the service stays reliable.
 
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I’m hoping it lasts. There is some precedent on a google music service, I read of some users still on the original price of $6/mo despite increases for new users. Directv Go Big grandfathering at $35/mo, though a shorter time example.

I’m hopeful :)
 
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I’m hoping it lasts. There is some precedent on a google music service, I read of some users still on the original price of $6/mo despite increases for new users. Directv Go Big grandfathering at $35/mo, though a shorter time example.

I’m hopeful :)

If the service grows, who knows.

What's a few hundred thousand first adopters if you grow to several million.

I'd certainly be happy.
 
I really don't believe the $35 will stay for life but it does have me questioning my plans to cancel when March Madness and my shows end this spring. If being in at the initial price point means you are safe from all future price increases it would be worth keeping my subscription active and retiring the Tivo from it's OTA duties. I would definitely like to see this in writing on an official Google website somewhere.
 
If Google was going to put this lifetime price guarantee for early adopters in writing, they would have done it at the time the price increase was announced in February. It wouldn't serve much purpose to announce it at this point given that as far as anyone knows it's already indefinite.

Regardless, YouTube TV has greatly increased its margin for error as far as I'm concerned. A few minor inconveniences won't be enough for me to see if the grass is greener with some of these other services, which I don't see ever being able to match what YouTube TV currently offers me for the price.
 
I’ve been watching March Madness all evening and I’m glad to see that YouTube TV has been just as solid as any other night. One of my concerns with these internet delivered options was that they would get bogged down with people doing free trials during events like this. I’m happy to see that YouTube seems to have the bandwidth to handle it without issue.
 
My wife is having a weird issue where it is making her log in and activate each time she uses it, but nobody else (5 total users in the family) are getting that problem. she's tried both the Apple TV and Samsung TV App. She is logged in on the tv apps, but not on a phone or iPad or anything. I almost wonder if using it on her phone would help, I'm at a loss for ideas and a google search didn't turn up much.
 
I’ve been watching March Madness all evening and I’m glad to see that YouTube TV has been just as solid as any other night. One of my concerns with these internet delivered options was that they would get bogged down with people doing free trials during events like this. I’m happy to see that YouTube seems to have the bandwidth to handle it without issue.
I have also noticed it has been very stable during the tournament. Vue last year was as well. Sling and Directv Now were not.
 
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I just had my first experience with one of my recordings from NBC being replaced with the on demand version. It is even worse than I thought it would be. A 30 second ad before the show starts and then 5 separate commecrical breaks with 5 ads each in a 30 minute show? That seems a bit excessive and the worst part is that it was the same few ads over and over and you can’t fast forward through any of it.

So far I’ve only seen this happen with my recordings from the local stations but it looks like it’s doing it with pretty much all of them just a day or two after recording. My TiVo appears to be dying and I don’t see myself replacing it so this might be a a real annoyance going forward.
 
I just had my first experience with one of my recordings from NBC being replaced with the on demand version. It is even worse than I thought it would be. A 30 second ad before the show starts and then 5 separate commecrical breaks with 5 ads each in a 30 minute show? That seems a bit excessive and the worst part is that it was the same few ads over and over and you can’t fast forward through any of it.

So far I’ve only seen this happen with my recordings from the local stations but it looks like it’s doing it with pretty much all of them just a day or two after recording. My TiVo appears to be dying and I don’t see myself replacing it so this might be a a real annoyance going forward.

Hard drive and power bricks are easy to replace if that is the TiVo problem