At this point, I find I'm watching certain Youtube channels as much as, if not more than, some network TV shows. I find the quality of writing, if not subject matter, can be better than a lot of the junk on TV these days. Anyone else have some favorites? Here are mine: 1. Techmoan - Guy from England reviews, in depth, new and old gadgets, with a focus on AV gear. He has an *amazing* series on old media formats, including Elcasette, DAT, DCC - all the way back to an early wire recorder(!) He also takes them apart to show, in detail, how they work. 2. Adam The Woo - Weird name, great guy. For five years he drove around the country, living out of a van, then RV, and did a video blog every single day. He really likes checking out theme parks, but he's done episodes on famous movie locations, places where historical events occurred, weird roadside attractions and tourist traps. One day he's in Los Angeles checking out an entire haunted house built just to promote the new IT movie. The next day he's in the middle of the desert showing a stalled subdivision development that's been taken over by homeless people. He's kind of a goofball, and an acquired taste (he looks like he's in a punk rock band because he used to be in a punk rock band) but he grows on you. 3. The 8-Bit Guy - Similar to Techmoan, but about old home computers and cheap Casio keyboards. Good videos on how computers work at a very low level. 4. Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Because it's friggin' Mystery Science Theater 3000. Whole episodes! Go watch The Corpse Vanishes right now! 5. Tested - Kind of like Mythbusters, and Adam Savage is in a bunch of them. Lots of videos on how practical effects are done in Hollywood, but a lot of other content, too. There's a great video where Savage and John Hodgeman go to DragonCon in Chewbacca outfits - put together by the costumer who did the outfits for the new Star Wars movies. 6. EEVBlog - More electrical engineering nerdiness. Teardowns of awful gadgets. Teardowns of expensive, well made gadgets. Courses on boolean logic and electrodynamic theory. Plus an awesome Australian accent. 7. Bar-Times: Beautifully shot, wonderfully quiet videos of seasoned Japanese bartenders making, often, incredibly complicated cocktails. Not really a "how-to", more of a "check out how awesome these guys are." 8. AT&T Tech Channel: The new videos include a lot of security alert center fluff, but their archives are pure gold. Great videos of how the old Bell system worked, including an amazing mini-documentary about NYC long distance operators in the 1970's. 9. The Stuff They Don't Want You To Know: Guilty pleasure - an overview of various conspiracy theories. Interesting to me because the basis of most of these crazy theories is something that actually happened. Go check out the "Inslaw Affair," when the US government tried to steal a legal caseload management application from a small software company and run them out of business.
Thanks for the suggestions. I cancelled cable about a year ago and Netflix, Amazon and YouTube have filled the void. Having YouTube on Roku and watching it on the TV was a game changer for me. Programming is endless, but the challenge is finding it. One podcast that I watch pretty regularly that you might like is Joe Rogan Experience. Two to three hour chats with lots of interesting people. He drops a lot of f-bombs just in casual conversation, so not great if younger kids are around.
Brave Wilderness - Cool videos about insect stings, sea creatures and general outdoor activities. Makes you want to go and explore the wild. Cold Fusion - Videos about tech companies, artificial intelligence and new technologies. John Montagna - Musician from New York. Excellent Beatles cd reviews and album recommendations
Food Wishes - "These video recipes are from my website Food Wishes Video Recipes and Allrecipes.com - Watch these fun to make, and easy to follow recipes, and you'll improve your culinary skills dramatically!" I loves me some Chef John humor and cooking.
Trying pick from all different genres. In quotations are partial (or full) channel description from the 'About' tab. My comments are italicized below. BigThink — "BigThink is the leading source of expert-driven, actionable, educational content -- with thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, we help you get smarter, faster. We aim to help you explore the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century, so you can apply them to the questions and challenges in your own life." I've found this channel to be a real delight. 'Facetime' with such luminaries as Richard Dawkins to Penn Jillette. Nerdwriter1 — "The Nerdwriter is a weekly video essay series that puts ideas to work." Interesting takes on popular culture. ScreenPrism — "ScreenPrism is where you go to understand more about the movies & TV shows you're watching. We create entertaining, insightful video essays analyzing, exploring and commenting on a wide range of topics. Think: Endings Explained, Meanings & Themes, Inside the Scene, Hidden Messages & Symbols, etc." Authoritative deep dives on films and television shows, past and present. This channel has been entangled in some plagiarism allegations before (specifically over a video about some hidden meanings of a specific scene in Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING). I still think they do quality work though; I'm fairly forgiving this type of thing, in some cases. FilmRise — "FilmRise provides over 5,000 titles in a wide range of genres, including...Forensic Files, The FBI Files and others." FilmRise is actually a film and television distribution company that owns properties such as the afore mentioned shows, also other similar shows, along with documentaries, etc. Kind of neat to have whole libraries of shows one click away and free. MacRumors — "Apple, Mac, iPhone, and iPad coverage. News, rumors accessories and reviews." MacRumors has been my favorite website for Apple related news and rumor since forever probably. Their YT channel has been picking up steam in the last 2-3 years and they are really putting some elbow grease into the presentation. If you are an Apple fan or a curious consumer, it's worth a look. Just so you know the angle their coming from going in. ... That Shout! Factory MST3K channel is really nice. ShoutFactory's site has I think 40-50 episodes online now for free. Many of which are also annotated (or not) on the YT channel. Tested is also fantastic. Happy watching.
I've been watching more and more Youtube lately. I know I watch it way more than I watch cable TV. I find myself either totally nerding out or watching car stuff. A lot of my faves were mentioned in the first post. I'd like to add: The Ben Heck Show. They mod a lot of stuff and build cool things using micro controllers and computers. Like hacking an N64 to make it portable, hand wiring an Atari 2600, building the ultimate glue gun, making a laser harp, and so on. Lazy Game Reviews. He's like a mix of Techmoan and 8 bit guy. Reviews of old computers, games, and equipment. Motor Trend Channel, especially Roadkill and Engine Masters. Car shows obviously. Engine Masters is cool because they actually test different types of engine mods on a dyno to see if and how well they really work. The last episode was a test of 19 different air cleaners, for example.
Today I Found Out Any of the Crash Course series, but especially History and Literature. I could listen to John Green forever. BigCliveDotCom CaptainDisillision Cinefix Computerphile It's Okay To Be Smart Mathologer Mental Floss Numberphile SciShow Veritasium Vsauce
"Adam The Woo" Fantastic stuff, he really grows on you after a while! But I see the Op listed him already!
Anthony Reichardt - plays old, often obscure music 45s from the '60s with an emphasis on Gold Star Studios in L. A. tendingthepalebloom - another music channel with a fairly broad selection across the decades; several of my '80s favourites are listed
Umm... I’m not sure if you guys would vibe with some of the Youtubers I watch often. Have you guys heard of “iDubbbzTV”? “iDubbbzTV” is a comedy YouTube channel created by Ian Carter, the content being particularly focused on offensive, ironic and Dadaist internet humour. I’ll elaborate on his content in depth if you all are interested.
Another brilliant YouTube channel, but with content appropriate for nearly everyone, is “JackFilms,” created by Jack Douglas, and running since 2006.
There used to be a couple of YouTube channels containing an amazing array of truly obscure TV series from the 50s and 60s, most of which were uncommon even among collectors. Predictably, the accounts got closed, presumably in response to too many DMCA takedown requests received by YouTube, but it took a while because the uploads all had coded names in an attempt to evade the copyright police. At least one of the closed accounts later reappeared using a different account, but that one eventually got yanked as well. For all I know, he's still playing cat and mouse with YouTube, but I haven't actively tried to find any of his stuff there in a couple of years.
Neebs Gaming - They make some of the funniest and most entertaining GTA V/Ark Survival/Battlefield videos out there! There is a lot of great chemistry with all of the guys involved in the channel. World Peace, baby! Lazy Game Reviews - For all fans of old PC hardware and PC games out there. Plus, Clint is very informative and extremely entertaining. Steve1989MREInfo - This guy reviews old and new military rations from all over the world. His voice and being informative makes it awesome. Alright, let's get this out onto a tray! Nice! ICARUSLIV3S - Anyone who loves the original Doom games will want to check his channel out as he reviews a metric tonne of Doom Mods and total conversions. HiVyNyws - Lots of great turntables and cartridges reviews, along with many videos of Japanese record and audio shops!
Linus Tech Tips-great computer and tech reviews David Von Pein's JFK Channel-anything and everything JFK, especially copious period assassination coverage InnerFidelity-headphone reviews Marques Brownlee-he reviews mostly phones, but will dabble in other tech as well Z Reviews-irreverent reviewer of headphones, DAC's, and speakers Numerous music channels, such as WABCRADIO77, Slayd5000, Rubellan Remasters (great 80's 12"ers), and Dance Classic. Band Geek Podcast/Richie Castellano-the Blue Oyster Cult tour mate plays awesome covers with his friends zellco321-the place to find extensive period coverage of space flights
Smarter Every Day - high speed camera and sciencey show. Very, very cool. Critical Role - Dungeons and Dragons played by high profile voice actors. Super fun. I watched that regularly for a while but missed a bunch of episodes...haven't jumped back in.
Speaking of abandoned buildings, Dan Bell also did some really nice videos of abandoned motels and other establishments. I also love this "Dead Mall" series with some nice vaporwave music in the background, really lending to his videos very well.
The Smoking Tire TheSmokingTire Basically, the host of the show, Matt Farah, drives other people's cars. Everything from typical Porsches and Corvettes to a base Toyota Tacoma with a supercharger and a modded Mazda2. The latest video, involving a 1967 Ford Lotus Cortina Mk. II is way cool.
I like electronic repair videos: guitar/amplifiers/turntables/radios: The Guitologist D-Lab Uncle Doug 12Voltvids Radiotvphononut Shango066 Simply Electronics RestoreOldRadios Blueglow Electronics Mr Carlson's Lab Radio Rescue Wampler pedals these are my go to's!
I think a lot of people here might enjoy the What's In My Bag series from Amoeba Records, where the famous and semi-famous talk about their record and CD purchases.
Here's 4 good channels that I stumbled across just in the last week. Wonderful Life: Videos mainly of historical photographs, including the very cool "75 Rare Historical Images You Have To See Before You Die" Wonderful Life Don's Tunes: Pick a video, any video, a cool song will be playing... Don's Tunes Obsolete Oddity: Nicely narrated and interesting, yet macabre documentaries like "The Gruesome Case of the Papin Sisters" and "The Bordello Orphan Who Became a Princess....then a Killer" ObsoleteOddity News Be Funny: Basically bloopers, but can be good for laughs News Be Funny As everyone knows, there's really so many channels on YouTube with a constant influx of new content that you can't really call out the "best", everything from live streaming from just about any corner of the world from wildlife to people to boats to outer space, documentaries on any subject from art to sports, short films, foreign films, comedy channels, magic, performances, concerts, learn songs, just about anything really... a ton of junk out there, but also a lot of quality.
