10 YouTube TV Life Hacks Every User Should Know
YouTube TV is one of several streaming services for watching live TV, and it’s a particularly good choice for sports fans who want to watch and record every match from their favorite leagues. If YouTube TV is your platform, here are some tips and tricks to help optimize your experience.
Set up Family Sharing to share storage recommendations and limits.
If you and your family members have very different streaming tastes, you can create unique profiles for each person to prevent one person’s recommendations from influencing another’s and to separate DVR libraries. A single subscription can be shared with up to five additional family members, all of whom technically must live in the same household. Those who live outside the household must check in for access every three months (more on this below). You’re also limited to three active streams at a time, so six people can’t watch content on six different devices simultaneously.
Please update your YouTube TV home region data limit regularly for 90 days.
If you travel frequently or use YouTube TV as part of a family account hosted outside your home, be sure to log in every time you’re in the user’s region. YouTube TV requires all users to verify every 90 days to avoid losing access while traveling. (For baseball fans, MLB imposes viewing restrictions after 30 days.) Getting into the habit of updating every 90 days will significantly reduce the likelihood of being blocked while traveling.
Create custom multi-window modes to monitor multiple games or content types simultaneously.
YouTube TV has built-in multi-view modes that allow you to display three or four channels simultaneously—often multiple games of the same sport or a combination of sports channels. Earlier this year, the platform launched a custom multi-view , which allows you to choose up to four channels from different content categories. This means you can select specific games you want to watch or combine sports with news, TV shows, and movies to keep everyone entertained. From any live stream, press the down button and select “Multi-View” > “Your Multi-View” to select up to four channels.
Use the highlights preview feature to get a selection of the best moments before syncing them to the live stream.
YouTube TV offers a variety of features useful for sports fans. If you can’t start streaming right after the game starts, the platform offers several options when you start a stream: start from the beginning, join the live stream, or watch replayed highlights. The latter option shows only the game’s highlights and then redirects you to the live stream, so you don’t miss anything important, but you don’t have to watch or rewind the entire game to see what’s happening. You can also find highlights in the “Scores & Stats” section at the bottom of the screen. This feature is supported for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, and college basketball events.
Hide sports scores to avoid spoilers until you can watch the game replay.
Another way to avoid spoilers during live sporting events is to hide results, which prevents final results or game previews from being shown before you watch. For NFL, NBA, and MLB games, you can hide results for each team individually or for the entire league. If your league doesn’t have individual team pages, you can hide results for the entire league. On the team or league page, go to the “More” section and enable the “Hide all results for this team/league” option.
Adjust your YouTube TV Live program guide to minimize screen scrolling.
If you’re not sure what you want to watch on YouTube TV and none of the recommendations suit you, you can use the platform’s online guide, just like a traditional cable TV program guide. However, this version is customizable, so you won’t have to sift through dozens of channels you never watch to find the ones you like. In your web browser or app, go to Settings > Online Guide to rearrange, add to favorites, or hide channels from the list. This can’t be done directly from your streaming device, but when you open the online guide on your TV, select “Custom Filter” to see updates.
Pause your YouTube TV viewing history if you don’t want your content to influence the algorithm.
Your viewing history influences recommendations on YouTube and YouTube TV, which is useful for discovering new content, but it also means the algorithm can be influenced by everything you watch. If you don’t want certain content to influence your recommendations—for example, if you’re watching a show you don’t usually watch, or if someone using your account is visiting—you can temporarily pause your viewing history. Tap your profile photo, go to Settings > Privacy , and enable “Pause viewing history.”
To easily manage your music library, select specific teams or franchises to record.
YouTube TV offers unlimited DVR, but that doesn’t mean you have to fill up your storage with content you don’t plan to watch. You can record every match of an entire sport or league, or select just the teams or franchises you’re interested in. It depends on how you set up your recording: you can find a league and click “Add +” or the “+” icon to get all games, or you can find your favorite team or individual match. DVR playback has the same options as live streams, with delayed playback, including resuming where you left off and viewing highlights.
Switch between VOD and DVR versions during playback to skip commercial breaks.
Some of the content you recorded from a live stream may also be available as video-on-demand (VOD). In the former case, you can skip ads; in the latter, ads are non-skippable. However, if you used a DVR, you can select your version. Click down on the stream to see whether you’re using VOD or DVR, then return to the show page and select “Select Version” > “DVR” (if available).
Check Stats for Nerds will help you diagnose streaming issues.
If you’re experiencing technical issues with YouTube TV, the built-in “Stats for Geeks” feature can help you diagnose the problem (and determine whether it’s related to your network or YouTube TV itself). For example, if resolution drops significantly, your connection speed, buffer status, and dropped frames can help you determine whether your Wi-Fi is the cause. “Stats for Geeks” can be accessed on your TV via Player Controls > More > Error Icon . On a computer, right-click the video player; on a mobile device, select “More” > “Stats” from the video player menu.