I started the YouTube TV free seven day trial a couple of days ago. I cancelled this morning, although it remains active for all seven days. But my credit card will not be charged after seven days and I can reactivate before then.
From a messages exchanged yesterday with YouTube TV support (yt-purchase-support@google.com):
Even this service confirms that streaming is not TV. Basic TV functions are missing.
Switching quickly among live "channels".
Fast forward during playback: scanning. Example: skip halftime.
Where the heck is the casting icon?
Cannot even mute. Streaming starts (on tablet), I'm trying to find casting (icon) and the audio is blasting.
Apparently, if I try to go to sports channels to watch live, all I can find are non live chunks on regular YouTube, not YouTube TV.
YouTube TV basically has the same practical limits as the other streaming services: it's geared towards watching movies, not sports. Start something and only pause occasionally.
TV may suck but we're accustomed to practical functions that designers of streaming services seem to never have experienced. Don't any of them watch sports?
________________________________The casting icon is NOT always at the top of the screen. I checked in regular YouTube and it's there.
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(casting to) Google ChromeCast. I got the (live) Nets game to cast. Then started a replay. FF takes it to the end. The only other option is to skip 15 seconds. Unbelievable. I'll write a critique and send you the link. Probably tomorrow.
Oh, then I removed the Nets from the library and tried to start a library show. First I had to stop the casting of the Nets game. I did. Then I had to cast again for the show; it required me to enter a PIN from the tv screen. I did. Then it searched for a nearby casting device, not using the name it just knew for the Nets game. It searched but didn't find. This has happened multiple times.
________________________________From YouTube TV support:
The fast forward issue is a very popular request to be changed, the arrow pointing forward does go to the end of the video. But by tapping multiple times you can skip multiple times which is a work around to that. I will also forward that to the product team as feedback for you. I also would like to be able to manage how far I can skip in a video.
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Say what? Whoever implemented fast forward (FF) had apparently only heard about it but had not used nor spoken to any mammal who had used it. Nor had this person ever used or even heard of a VCR (video cassette recorder), which had FF in the 1970s.
And why can't FF do more than speed up with visual frames flying across the screen at multiples of normal speed: 2, 4, 8? Why can't we also be able to tell it to go forward a certain amount of time, such as 30 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever? You'd think that if any company would distinguish its streaming service with that type of common sense extra it would be Google. But Google is no better and may be worse than the unimaginative streaming companies already out there. Forget about presenting a visual smorgasbord of content, which only slows things down, and have a simple "channel" guide, maybe even with "channel" numbers so that we can quickly find or go to NBC, channel 4 in New York?
Create a physical remote control with raised keys that do not require us to stare at the screen of a tablet or phone to change channels, especially switch to "Last", or perform FF, etc. Hey, it could run Android!
For perspective:
Cablevision (Optimum) DVR fast forward is crude, lacking what Verizon provides: skip forward 30 seconds. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016
So as bad as traditional providers get, things could be worse.
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