So I’m always on the lookout for new good quality channels. I seem to be watching less and less terrestrial stuff and more and more internet-based stuff.
I thought it might be interesting to post some of my current go-to channels and see if anyone else has interesting channels they regularly watch, not just for gaming, The Youtube recommendation algorithm is failing me these days
So here goes,
Motorsport:
Dirtfish
I’ve only just started following them, but they only just started producing content. I think I was sub number 500 something. They’re actually a well-known rally brand/school in the U.S but have suddenly exploded onto the rally news scene with the hiring of Colin Clark (former WRC plus pundit) and longtime rally journo David Evans. The content is very good. Better than Clark could produce at WRC.com because he doesn’t get into trouble for asking hard questions.
The Race
Another new one that has ex-Autosport people presenting. I discovered this one because they were legitimately able to stream the Bathurst 12HR on youtube. I watched a lot of it and it was great coverage. They’ve also done a lot of very good coverage of the new F1 cars as they get unveiled, going into the geeky details of each and every fin and channel.
Knockhill Racing Circuit
Surprisingly fun with some good interviews from some bigger names when they visit the circuit. Mark Webber one was memorable.
General Interest/Sciencey Stuff
Joe Scott
Researches his stuff very well. Very good at covering every side of an argument and staying reasonably objective. He mostly just talks to the camera but he’s very good at that. Humour can get a little irritating sometimes.
Tom Scott
Became well known for Things You Might Not Know. Extremely good educator; covers everything from coding to the evolution of language to Very Strange Places. He tends to present on location. Although some stuff is studio-based.
He was also the guy that got in trouble with the govt back in the 2000s for creating a parody website of the “in case of national emergency” website that got widely panned. His version went viral and the govt tried to get it taken down.
They failed. 🙂
Physics Girl
Excellent channel from Diana Cowern that addresses LOTS of physics-based questions. Some of which were things I’d been saying WTF about for a while, like why beads of coffee bounce off the surface and roll across the top at certain points and why the hell do plaster wrappers glow blue if you open them in the dark?
I actually use her with The Kid to try and covertly give her a female role model in the science youtube arena. She’s just very good.
As you might expect I have lots of photography ones:
Sean Tucker
Very good ’tog. Talks a lot about the ethics of what photographers do as well as the process. Can feel like a sermon but that’s no surprise as he’s an ex-minister who fell out of the habit ( ha). His work is good though and he’s a good source of info.
Kai W
Gear focussed photography channel. He’s often funny, sometimes cheesy, always detailed in ways you might not expect.
Jamie Windsor
He’s very good at tutorials but also just quite good with the ethics of certain things. He also steps out of photography into design and other areas, which I like, as I’m gradually stepping back into the design world.
Coffee
James Hoffman
If you love coffee and want to know more about how to make it well, then look no further. He gets geekishly detailed, but he can be very dry and quite funny with it. He’s an ex-World Champ Barista ( yes that’s a thing) and has a very successful coffee business.
Great for: learning how to make great coffee, objective detailed coffee gadget reviews ( he doesn’t generally accept review versions from companies, he pays for them from his Patreon and then gives them away to said Patreon), he also does a fun weird coffee science series as well.
Gaming and Film (I’ll try and avoid the obvious ones):
Escapist
I follow them mostly because Two Minute Reviews went there last year (and became Three Minute Reviews IIRC) but they produce good content outside of that; I particularly enjoy The Big Picture with Bob Chipman which is a fast-paced film show.
Gameranx
I quite enjoy their humour, they have a very similar sense of what an enjoyable game is to me, and so throw up similar left-field games like Outward etc. They’re not afraid to say there’s good to be found in games that the resetera hivemind has decided to trash.
A good source of new games coming soon that might not be on your radar. They’re genuine and tend to avoid the sneer of a lot of gaming community pundits.
Gaijin Hunter
Monster Hunter LEGEND. Nuff said.
Skill Up
Aussie journo who does fairly long-form videos that go into sometimes excessive amount of detail. I agree with him more than I disagree but sometimes I feel he panders to the baying crowd a little. Very knowledgable and very articulate.
Edit: he has a 30-minute Wolcen review which actually sold me on it once it has the promised controller support and is a bit less buggy. @Fumanstu 😉
That’s it for now. It’s far from everything. e.g. i haven’t bothered with my tropical fish channels here ( I am NERD 😉 ) but those are definitely my favourites right now.