If you are among the modern-day netizens, you probably prefer watching TV online instead of traditional cable TV viewing. Whether it’s on-demand content through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or any other popular platform, plenty of options are available out there for streaming your favorite TV shows and films whenever and wherever you want. Plus, no commercials are there to bother you.
But what if you also want to stream live TV channels? Well, there’s no shortage of options on this front as well. There are plenty of cable TV alternatives available with popular names in the industry, such as YouTube TV. It offers a hybrid streaming service with on-demand content and 100+ live American TV channels. The only downside is that you can’t access YouTube TV outside US due to licensing reasons unless you have a premium VPN app.
But before you get the ball rolling with YouTube TV, you must consider some key factors to get the most out of this incredible streaming platform. Let’s go through tips and tricks for YouTube TV you should know to get the ultimate streaming experience.
Categorize Notifications
Have you recently been watching a series and couldn’t stop checking your mobile once every minute to see if the upcoming episode was released or not? The awesome feature of YouTube TV is that it allows you to enable notifications for your favorite shows, which will notify you when the latest episode is available. Nevertheless, notifications are occasionally bothersome, particularly for a TV show we no longer follow, so remember to turn them off if necessary.
Hit the Dislike Button for Unwanted Content
As impressive as the technology is, and as wonderful as it can be for algorithms to assess what we enjoy watching, saving us all the work looking for it personally, it could be more flawless. Sadly, its algorithm occasionally makes incorrect recommendations, yet there is still hope. To assist the algorithm even more, choose “don’t show me this” from the three-dot tab, and the algorithm will then understand what you like and don’t like.
Use a VPN App
One of the most significant advantages of the internet is that it makes the world come much closer together, allowing us to learn a great deal about diverse cultures and communicate with people from all over the world. Even so, due to regional restrictions, some series may not be available in your country. To counteract this, the best option is to employ a VPN for YouTube TV, enabling you to circumvent the lock.
Change Video Streaming Quality
If you are using your mobile data, you might want to change the quality of YouTube TV streams.
For this demonstration, I’m using a mobile device. Select the Quality from the video player’s three dots in the upper-right corner. It is set on automatic mode on all compatible devices; however, you can always adjust it up or down as needed.
Mark What You Have Already Watched
Even though YouTube TV is excellent at suggesting TV series that it believes we will enjoy, it may occasionally suggest a series that we have already seen, which can be annoyingly repetitive when you’ve watched a lot of shows. To avoid this, the app features a handy tool that enables you to highlight shows, seasons, episodes, or as watched. To do so, simply click the three-dot menu and then select “Mark episode as watched” or “Mark season as watched.”
Share Your Account
Another point for those fresh to YouTube TV would be that you can watch some of the incredible TV shows by yourself. You can always add a maximum of six different accounts to YouTube TV, comparable to Netflix; even so, they must live within your residence. The basic plan allows you to watch from three different devices.
Use the DVR and Record Live Shows
Perhaps you’ve been watching a series but missed a particular episode the week before and are completely lost. Don’t fret, it occurs to the very best of us, however, with YouTube TV, it’s not an issue. If you like a show, you can save it to the YouTube TV library, and because YouTube TV has uncapped DVR storage, you can save all that you want.
Begin From The Start
You can visit a live program in progress and even skip the advertisements if you have it in your library. When you choose a live program to record, you will have two options:
- Participate in real-time
- Begin at the beginning
Make sure to add the program to your YouTube library BEFORE IT BEGINS to take advantage of this extensibility and avoid those TV ads!
Reshuffle Your Recommendations
Lastly, YouTube TV may occasionally make all of your suggestions wrong, or you may have allowed someone else to watch the content from your account, likely to result in the wrong suggestion. One way to correct this is to delete your watch history and search. You will now be continuing with a new account; therefore, anything you dislike or watch from then on will influence the algorithm’s assumptions for your content.
Wrap Up!
YouTube TV is a wonderful option if you want to cut the cord and enjoy cable-free live television channels on your digital or big screens. With a monthly membership fee of US$64.99 per month, you can stream major cable and broadcast networks, including CBS, ABC, FOX, Disney, NBC, ESPN, TNT, HGTV, Univision, AMC, and several others.
From sports, entertainment & lifestyle, and news, to kids’ content and Spanish language channels, YouTube offers a diverse range of content through some of the big guns of the TV broadcasting industry. You can use its cloud DVR with unlimited storage to record or download your favorite shows or live events. Moreover, a single account can be used on 6 devices per household.
YouTube TV is definitely worth giving a shot at, especially if you are on a hunt for a live TV streaming service.
