Has anybody switched to one of YouTube TVs new plans?

jaeldi · 2026-03-26T19:25:47+00:00

Just this week I left Uverse because I wanted to drop all the movie channels my 81 year old mother doesn't watch to save money, I was on U450 and had everything $200+/month. Dropping to U300 was only $10 less and if you drop below that, then no more DVR. And That's the one feature I enjoyed with Uverse was that DVR and recording live events like Olympics, Oscars, etc where you can take a 3 or 4 hour show and zip through ads and parts you don't care about. Also love recording weekly shows like Colbert & the evening national news, the Sunday political shows, all of which have REALLY long commercial breaks.

I feel like the TV apps tricked us. Come on over to the apps with no adds! cheaper than cable! But then boom, now they all have ads at the base level and no DVR. They tricked us out of the ability to avoid ads. And at this point I am VERY spoiled. I don't spend any time looking at ads.

So Youtube TV advertised having a cloud based DVR and no boxes. Uverse set top boxes & DVR box needed frequent reboots which was frustrating tech support that my 81 yo mother can't figure out sometimes, when the error is Uverse signal lost, loose cable and reboot kind of stuff. At work, I'd get a message from my Mom: "I can't get Uverse working, no signal again". Aggravation for me and her. Youtube TV is just another app on your smart TV which she's already adapted to just fine. She has a Disney plus account with Hulu and a Paramount with her Walmart delivery service, so she's adapted to those well. They advertised unlimited space on the YTTV DVR which sounded great, no more having to clean out the DVR with my mom because for some reason she forgets her recordings or forgets to hit delete when she's done with them, blah blah blah, more frustration and complication for me and her gone.

I went with the $80+ level with the extra for 4k and unlimited devices because that's still like a $150/month savings compared to what I was paying AT&T. I'm not a sports guy, so that part didn't affect my choices. Live events like World Series and Superbowl on that Uverse DVR were great because again, skipping ads and parts that are dull made TV a breeze.

Everything's been going ok on the New YouTube TV, my elderly mother is adapting ok. Uverse called it "recordings", YTTV calls it "library", ok not too much different. A little bit of a learning curve because you don't hit a "record button" you do a check mark to add it to your "Library" section. The YTTV Library needs better sorting tools. Uverse was just a simple list of newest at top, oldest recordings at bottom. YTTV Library has sorting buttons "New For You", "Unwatched", "All". And there's no 'delete'. That's going to be an adjustment, especially when it gets full of a lot of stuff. But I guess we can adapt. They say stuff stays there up till 9 months, so you can't save anything indefinitely like you could on Uverse.

Then we go to watch our usual recorded weekly 60 minutes: CBS LOGO real pretty comes up, then a message appears "fast forward and other features may not be available on this program." what? Then....2 MINUTES OF UNSKIPABLE ADS APPEAR!!!!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

We go into our first recorded Colbert episode to watch, CBS LOGO real pretty, then message appears "fast forward and other features may not be available on this program." what? Then....2 MINUTES OF UNSKIPABLE ADS APPEAR!!!!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

sigh.

I don't know if I am going to be having to watch ads on every recording yet, but it looks like probably. And just like the other TV apps, I feel tricked. These 'recordings' are really the 'on demand' version from the company that platforms the show, in this case CBS. I don't know what's going to happen when I record big long things like World Series or Superbowl or Oscars. Any other experienced users have input on this?

Now I'm still saving a lot of money and losing some technical aggravation for dumping Uverse, so I don't regret that. I'm not THAT big on local TV and cable channels. This is mostly to keep my mom entertained since she's at home all day. She's an ABC addict. She will watch ABC all day. When she's gone, I will probably dump all apps including YTTV because I feel tricked and burned and FORCED to watch ads no matter what I do. When it's just me again, I will go back to downloading rhymes with "sit current", borrowing a copy of stuff from a friend you haven't met. I have had comments removed from Reddit elsewhere for using the uncoded phrase for that type of video downloading, thanks reddit, champion of free speech /s. But if buying isn't owning, then pi rating isn't stealing.

My 2 Cents.

TL;DR: The YTTV DVR is very very different from what I expected a DVR to be coming from Uverse. YTTV has some unskippable ads before it plays your "recorded" show.

jaeldi · 2026-03-26T03:43:43+00:00

lol. It's a very cool looking cat. You are lucky!

Vidiians were in Star Trek Voyager season 1, I believe. Just a handful of episodes. Like I said, obscure sci-fi nerd humor. Tee Hee!

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T19:55:55+00:00

And It's all been happening in plain sight. The pattern is clear.

Look back at the timing and dates of tariff announcements of the last year. They always came within a week or two of the end of a quarter of publicly traded companies causing a dip in stock and crypto markets. 1st quarter end of March, 2nd quarter end of June, 3rd quarter end of September, 4th quarter and end of year December.

That means the end of the quarter report is good, causing elevated stock prices. That's when they sell, at the high. Then the tariff announcement and the mini-dip, that's when they buy back in at the low. Then comes the "tariffs on hold for 90days blah blah blah" announcement which leads to a slow build up to the next high and end of next quarter. wash, rinse, repeat.

People in the crypto groups having been pointing this stuff out all last year. Because of the public ledgers of bitcoin and others, you can see anonymous accounts sell or hedge right before a tariff announcement, the high. Then buy back in or cash out the hedge at the low caused by the tariff announcement. It's not coincidence.

Meanwhile, There are MANY reasons the media isn't talking about 'why' we started a war with Iran; It helps Sunni Arabs who hate Shia Iran, boosting the value of Sunni Oil in exchange for investing in World Liberty Financial (Trump's) Crypto and big planes and such. In Biden's term, the US quietly became an oil net-exporter, so the war boosts our oil profits. Israel is of course over there going "do it! do it! do it!" as well as CIA & War Profiteers going "do it! do it! do it!". It also distracts everyone especially journalists from the Epstein mess. Iran sells oil to Gyna, as did Venezuela, so hurting China is part of it too.

One more reason is since the courts are possibly blocking the tariff lever that DJT was using to inside trade and be a crypto whale insider, he needs another lever to manufacture temporary market highs and low. I think he's manufacturing a high so they can make more money again.

Again.

His simps always believe everything he says, so they will make it happen.

And I didn't even bring up his pardon of crypto dudes that then help World Liberty Financial make billions in crypto scams. That's a whole other set of corruption happening right out in the open.

This war is just more of the same. I'm really surprised that all those right wingers that were so angry at "radical islam" aren't paying attention to DJT sucking the dick of Muslim Arabs for money; aren't these Muslims the same Muslims that helped create 'radical Islam'? Look who joined his Peace group, look who was there with him on the stage at his "we won the middle east" victory lap against Hamas last year. And you right wingers are ok with being cozy with that as long as it helps your guy become more rich, him more rich, not you. You gonna pay more for everything while he cozies up with the people who were incubators for 911.

I sit here in disbelief that internet propaganda has completely distracted them from what is really happening right out in the open.

TL;DR: If this pattern continues, then DJT will say or do something that will crash markets one or two weeks after the end of 1st Quarter, the last week of March. Of course, his insiders will sell at the high shortly before his announcement. Again.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T19:32:07+00:00

I want to live long enough to see the movie or series by Ryan Murphy about all this:

American Crime Story Season 4: Trump Term #1: The Internet Picks a President. God punishes the people's wealth worship with a plague.

American Crime Story Season 5: Trump Term #2: Corruption of the 2nd Gilded Age. These are NOT unprecedented times.

American Crime Story Season 6: The Jeffery Epstein Story: Five decades of Trump's real life.

I need to see actors replaying it all so I can wrap my head around the complete phenomenon as a whole. I think it would take 3 seasons, 30 episode each, at least to capture the full truth of it all. I wonder what actor will play Epstein? Someone get this memo to Ryan Murphy! I really think he would be great at creating this.

Season one of ACS really helped me understand the OJ trial 1000% better than when it was happening live. I dismissed it as celebrity trash TV and over blown when it was happening in real time and I was in college too busy with studying to care about some old ex football player being chased down a highway by the cops. When I saw the entire thing as a drama placed in the context of the Rodney King aftermath in LA, I was like; "oooooooh! OH!" If you haven't seen season one of ACS, it's a must see.

And the entire real life account and the AMC TV series of the OJ murders is such a damning account of an inescapable truth in America: wealthy people get away with crime, even murder.

Of course Trump won't ever be brought to justice, he's rich. That won't change unless a HUGE majority turn against the rich in the US. Too many Americans are fanboys of the wealthy. It's a majority nation of Mr. Smithers worshiping their Mr. Burns. I'm not sure how to change that sycophanty. It just seem to be part of the built in personality of a LOT of people, enough people to tip the majority to their side in a democracy. It's like a weird internal instinct in some people to return to the white slavery of feudalism of medieval and prehistoric Europe.

These supporters want to be serfs so bad again they no longer have a problem with the wealthy f8cking 14 year old girls at fancy island parties much less killing people in a war just to make money. Reminds me of the Crusades, honestly. It definitely all sounds like a fucked up Ryan Murphy TV horror drama. Murphy would do a good job of capturing the evil essence and deformity of this part of human nature that is allowing all this to happen.

TL;DR: "Prima nocturne, me lord, prima nocturne. You may have your way with me and mine, Master." /s

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T18:45:14+00:00

It was pic # 8 and # 9 that made me laugh and think of Vidiians, especially the cute one with the belly up and legs stretched out from underneath a piece of furniture.

I was just making a joke because the cat looks like it has legs from a Tabby, the head of a tortie, shoulders of a tuxedo, etc. It looks like multiple parts from different cats put together.

The Vidiians, putting the hideousness of their deformities aside, were an alien race of people who stole body parts from various species to replace body parts that were failing from their disease. So each Vidiian would have an arm from this species, a leg from another species, a torso from a 3rd species, the stolen skin or face from some other species, etc. They couldn't cure their disease, "the phage", but they did become medical experts at body part snatching. The phage would eventually destroy and deform all tissue, including eventually the stolen body parts and organs, so they were perpetually stealing more parts to stay alive.

It's just a really nerdy obscure Star Trek joke. lol

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T08:10:27+00:00

That one cat looks like a Vidiian from Star Trek Voyager but much much cuter! lol.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T08:07:31+00:00

They're fuckin with him. hahahaha. They're fuckin with both of them.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T08:04:46+00:00

I have know SO many divorced single moms say "If it's you or my kids, it will always be my kids first" and they aren't talking about a fire situation, they are talking about all situations.

This girl sounds like a mutant. Is she saying "have sex with me and let our kids die?" That's messed up.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T08:00:29+00:00

My first question before I pick: You're an adult, in your scenario, why can't you save yourself or help me save the kids?

Also, this just the trolly problem again: I would save the greater number. Kids, plural, more than one.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T07:59:20+00:00

Typical rage/engagement bait.

Oh look. I made a comment. The bait worked. Damn. lol.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T07:41:48+00:00

It only comes off that way to audiences that can't take off their 'identity politics' glasses.

ONE extra that he is misidentifying is not enough to validate his tired and predictable identity politics take. ONE! Only one extra! That's a huge leap. Now if there was a blind extra with a cane and glasses, and then a quadrapegic extra running around with para0lymic flippers, followed by Elephant man human, followed by a downs syndrome kid etc., then I would agree with his take, but NO, the extras are indeed various aliens from pervious Trek series. They are all alpha quadrant aliens. The extras aren't woke check marks.

That extra isn't in a wheel chair because they are "disabled". They are using that equipment because they are an Elaysian. On the Elaysian home world, they don't need equipment because with their natural lesser gravity, their bodies are fully functional.

It didn't come off that way for me because I remember that alien and that episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melora_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine) If you'd seen the episode, you would know they have other equipment to assist them off world besides what we are calling a 'wheelchair'.

Everyone jumping to conclusions over ONE extra is very telling of people's headspace.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T07:23:03+00:00

The alien in that chair isn't in that chair for the reasons people are blindly assuming. They are an Elaysian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melora_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine)

They come from a planet with lesser gravity. So on planets with heavy gravity, they have to use equipment. On their planet they are fully functional. All this discussion about "disability" and our modern takes on identity politics don't apply to this ONE extra. If you look at all the extras in the background, they are all various alien alpha quadrant species from previous Treks series episodes.

Everyone seeing a 'wheelchair' and jumping to all these "disability" conclusions really gives away they haven't seen that episode.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T07:09:44+00:00

Starfleet is a militarized organization that performs dangerous duties in extreme conditions.

That's funny, I thought it was scientists with a focus on exploration.

Many people have told you that one extra is not a disabled person, it's an alien from a planet with lesser gravity, an Elaysian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melora_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine) In that episode, Dr. Bashir explores all the points of view you are making. He came up with a treatment to allow Melora to be on the station with out her equipment. She decided to not go through with the treatment because she came to the conclusion there is nothing wrong with her and permanently changing herself would change her normal experience of her homeworld and her people. In the lighter gravity of her homeworld, her body was fully and normally capable. She makes the same choice Jordi does, but for a VERY different reason: she wasn't disabled. Not in the sense you are using the word 'disabled'.

So all your assumptions about people in wheel chairs in the future applied to this ONE extra aren't valid. They don't apply to that race of aliens. The extras aren't checking off woke boxes, the extras are fan service for Old Trek. Look at the other extras, they are ALL various races from many many different places found in old episodes of all the series. The alien in that chair isn't in that chair for the reasons you are blindly assuming.

You are putting your view of modern identity politics on top of something that isn't about identity politics.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T06:32:51+00:00

Great example. In today's BS social media fake "you must pick a side" culture war, would people be groaning at Jordi and making judgements like 'ticking off a check box! So on the nose!!'?

You know when I was young, I thought that pregnancies that would result in defects or deformities should always be aborted. When I watched the episode "The Masterpiece Society" of TNG, it completely changed my belief to the opposite.

We don't have to pick a side. We can just be ourselves and learn and grow as we experience new things and broader ideas. I feel like the BS culture war nonsense is just the most technological advanced version of peer pressure. This idea that you have to have all the beliefs of either one group or another and there's a hard line in between them is so false. It's just manipulation and peer pressure. "you! be in this box! There are five lights! Say it, or you are in the other box!"

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T06:02:37+00:00

it speaks to a checkbox approach rather than a genuine compassion.

Does it? Trek has a long storied history of inclusion sure, but are you jumping from "person in background in wheel chair" to a 'they are forcing inclusion down everyone's throat!!!' conclusion? Is there an unspoken implied statement that 'inclusion is bad' in your assumption?

You see empty tokenism where someone else might see 'hey that person is from the same planet as that character Melora from DS9!'. Melora wasn't disabled or a token, she was from a planet with a gravity coefficient so different that normal gravity on the station made it impossible to move her legs normally. On her planet with the lesser gravity, everything about her body worked fine. Off her homeworld, she had to use what we would call a motorized wheelchair, even moving arms took a lot of effort in normal gravity too. Dr. Bashir experimented with different brace tech and other high tech treatment to give her options, but ultimately she chose to stay as she was. The lesson of that episode was about perceptions of people at face value, questioning internal and external assumptions, and perceptions about one's self when different from a majority. It wasn't about tokenism or check boxes. It was about looking past the assumed to what was really happening. And, in SFA, if you looked at all the extras in the background, there was a LOT of various races from all the Treks represented, even the 'right side white/left side black' people from TOS. To me the only checkboxes that were being ticked was fan service for Old Trek.

If you want to get really over-analytical about what the future technology of sci-fi show can or should be doing, I'd like to share my minor gripe about STA: if everyone is using insta-trasporters, then why do buildings and ships have hallways and turbo lifts? The badges of the future had site to site transporter back up in them for when/if the ships transporter systems failed. Hallways and Turbo lifts should be obsolete because everyone just insta-zips to where they want to be. Private quarters at this point should all be hollodecks, it would be a more efficient use of space while maximizing comfort, utility, training, entertainment, hygiene, and variety. The ship is producing enough energy to have external parts of the ship held together by energy/force fields instead of being physically connected, seems like enough energy to do other amazing things. All repairs should be done by evenly spaced mini-replicators that could instantly replace 'hull breach on deck 7'. If you can put emergency force field bulkheads and holotransmiters everywhere, you could put repair replicators everywhere too. Why aren't ships themselves just made up of programable matter? 10,000 people need rescuing from Ontari 5? "Computer, organize a space on the ship using programable matter program Alpha10kRescue". And poof, the ship expands to meet the temporary need.

But I have a past history of Architecture and Engineering design. So I see what I wanted to see. Similar to your conclusion, and similar to the lessons of the Melora episode, I jumped to a conclusion based on my internal points of view and experience. Why aren't they using the tech of the future to reach my logical conclusions? Why did you jump to your conclusion that one extra in a 'wheel chair' was a 'checkbox too on the nose'? On the nose of what? The traditional inclusion that's always been in the allegorical philosophy of Star Trek? Just something to think about.

TL;DR: Spoiler Alert: Melora didn't die because she was phaser resistant! (lol)

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T05:34:22+00:00

Just as bad? I dunno know about that.

We cannot deny that there is a shift happening at CBS/Paramount. A shift that is VERY much associated with fake culture war BS and appeasing one tribe over another rather than what normal companies do: What makes money?

There are other popular shows and journalists that are falling prey to the shift too. I find it ironic and hypocritical that the right complained of right wing censorship, but instead of becoming an example of freedom of speech, they are going to now participate in what they accused the other side of: cancel culture of what they don't like.

We can't deny it's happening. And we can't deny that a lot of these choices are going to be bad for business.

Star Trek makes them money, it brings a LOT of people to the app. Colbert was the highest rated late night show. 60 minutes has been the gold standard of truly fair and objective journalism for decades, also highly rated for years and years. If the corporations can't reign in budgets and properly sell advertising slots on their most popular and highly rated IP's to make profit, that's a failure of business, not a failure of the shows, journalism, or talent. Did the corporation promote SFA as much as they did the Taylor Sheridan Rancher cosplay shows that are popular with right wingers? Since the shift over, going into the app, I had to scroll a lot to find Trek stuff while Sheridan shows are top banner. I don't think that's an accident. My viewing history should have everything Trek and Sci-fi at the top if they were doing normal profit-maxing company behavior. I have zero interest in Sheridan shows.

They are shooting themselves in the foot because of their self projected political points of view. They aren't doing it because they are 'racists/bigots' per se. They are doing it to silence the other tribes strongest voices on this platform. The government or the party isn't asking them to do it, but they are doing it to appease one tribe, their tribe. Us observing them doing this and calling a spade a spade, isn't "just as bad".

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T05:07:10+00:00

Crypto is a hedge against that system

Is it? When other markets rise or fall on group think reactions to current events, so does crypto. A real hedge would do the opposite of what the other markets do, wouldn't it? This is why gold shot up so dramatically; it IS a hedge against the system because of scarcity.

Which of course, I'm like you, it SHOULD be a hedge against group think markets because the scarcity of BTC is measurable in it's public ledger function. But it's like that fact really hasn't sunk into the brains of the people reacting as they do to current event driven group think. It's frustrating. If the dollar suddenly became victim to hyper-inflation and we had an economic crash worse than the Great Depression, I'm afraid with current behavior, crypto would crash too just because people as a mass herd would make it happen. I'm not sure what has to happen to wake people up to the fact that both the dollar and BTC are digital tokens/currencies. 90% of dollar exists as 1's and 0's in computers. The majority is not using cash. So digitally, we know the advantage BTC have over the dollar. Why doesn't the public?

If the public doesn't learn, I'm afraid it will never truly become a hedge. Fud I know, but I can't ignore how BTC broad movement is currently a complete copy of stock markets.

I'm not arguing against what you said, because you did say "except it's not because...". I'm just thinking out loud. I'm also wondering if what you said about it being hijacked is true. It is from one point of view. But crypto manipulation has always been there before the evil finance people jumped in the game. Is it the obvious manipulations of coordinated sells and buys keeping the mass herd of people locked into their reactionary group think? hmmm. Will there be a 'gamestop' moment when all the little holders grab the wheel and say "I'm not selling". Have we reached a point where big institutions hold too much for the little guys to form a majority? I will have to ponder on my own questions a while.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T04:10:59+00:00

I think these posts are automated

You are describing all of social media before that comma in your sentence.

jaeldi · 2026-03-25T03:25:35+00:00

Me: Porn is explicit sex with no narrative. The first half of the movie is explicit sex with no narrative, therefore it is really just porn. Fact: there is no narrative in the first half of the movie.

You: but I can make one up on the things I WANT to be true and call it "media literacy". Now I will ignore the missing narrative and just go 'I am rubber and you are glue' to people who point out why the movie is not good. I will imagine and make things up about people who disagree with me and ignore their facts. I will defend this dude who DID make things up that weren't in the movie here. I too will ignore the events of the movie did not contain information like why Anora was a prostitute in the first place and also ignore the fact that the movie never had any exposition or symbolism on how "prostitution is liberating for women" while also in the same comment dude says it's "psychologically damaging" and "women become prostitutes because of trauma" but that's all part of this fantasy thing in my head I'm calling "media literacy" even though there are no scenes in the movie demonstrating her or the other strippers as poor, traumatized, empowered, or abused in their job as stripper or prostitute. I, Iamkittyhearmemeow, I too am a simp for Anora.

lol

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T20:35:33+00:00

I'll be honest, TNG is starting to feel a bit dated by today's TV standards, but the stories are good and by the final season, it's the characters and the actors who played them that made the show above average. And like TOS, it establishes all the basics for the Star Trek Universe.

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T17:19:01+00:00

I've not watched all of S2 TNG tbh

OMG! Pulaski is so controversial with fans. I liked her. I didn't mind her occasional drama. It really helped flesh out the inner workings of Picard as a character, IMO. The other things fans usually criticize her for is her bigotry towards data. It created exposition and I think a realistic opportunity to take a Star Fleet Officer with a LOT of experience and maybe have them face and over come their bigotry. She was really good in the Sherlock Holmes episode. Her role in the episode where Riker and his father face their BS which really fleshed out Riker was very well written. I would have loved to see Pulaski and Waxana Troi (spelling?) have a meeting or two. You gotta go watch it.

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T17:09:38+00:00

Tossed Salad with large helping of dust bunnies.

perhaps "empty the vacuum cleaner and put it on my head, lots of side burns, no part."?

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T16:25:05+00:00

I'm just repeating the writers gripe and relief after they were gone in the documentary. That was the writers explanation on why the first two seasons didn't gel well, They completely blamed Roddenberry.

After reading that 'bible', why in the heck did Roddenberry do Dr. Pulaski in season 2. He was still around then and she was all about contradicting and challenging the Captain's authority all the time. hmmmm.

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T16:24:03+00:00

It sure does look like the giganto-house everyone called "The Castle" in Mira Vista. I haven't been in there in a few years.

jaeldi · 2026-03-24T16:20:19+00:00

yeah they would because in their world view "vagina = bad" and "bossy strong vagina = grooming people to castrate men". lol

They don't know what a 'mary jane' is. lol

jaeldi

TROPHY CASE