What Youtube channel has maintained high quality standards over the years?
Inspired by this post but the other way around. Which channels (any subject) do you think have stayed true to their beginnings and are still worth watching today?
My pick would be Gamers Nexus.
Tom Scott with amazing places & things you might not know.
But he stopped making videos. I'd say that's a significant drop in quality.
He placed the main channel on hold, but has still continued to produce content. He has an extraordinary game show in podcast format that shares very unique trivia called Lateral. He is also in the post-production phase of a new run of videos featuring a big road-trip, according to his newsletter. He also occasionally still makes new series of Technical difficulties.
I am about to cross a road
I'm off to the Arctic for three weeks
Ayoo. Another Tom Scott fan. Rad!
Love his videos. Each one had so much passion and thought put into them
Captain Disillusion - Does videos about fake videos and pictures and about video editing in a humorous way. He has had same high quality over 18 years now.
CD is the GOAT
I also really like the Corridor Crew for VFX content but it’s not the same tier.
Very high quality.
If anything keeps upping the ante that's why it takes him so long
One of the best ever
I'm amazed by the fact that it remains such high quality even when you go so far back to the early videos. It's crazy. Dude is a genius.
Primitive technology. There are many imitators, but the original is a man on his own in Australia. His videos focus on building structures in the woods. Starting with river mud, he will make a furnace in order to make bricks in order to make a building to sleep in in order to use it for kiln drying for larger structures etc.....
Be sure to watch with subtitles to read his explanation of things!
Edit to fix: he is based in Australia, not new Zealand.
All true, except he’s in Queensland, Australia.
I'm still amazed he's alive after all this time working in the Australian jungle
Also needs to be said that he's been creating for a decade and every video is consistently as good as the last one. The man single handedly spawned an entire genre and he just kept doing his own thing, algorithms and influencer culture be damned.
This was also the first channel I thought of when looking at the question. Shame that it created so many low effort imitations that are obviously fake though.
Is there anyone out there that is even vaguely similar without being fake?
Very glad to see this mentioned, yet somewhat miffed you think he's in, I assume "Tropical" New Zealand?
His videos, and those of Lemmino, are the only ones where I'll set aside a time of day so I can watch them alone and happy.
You can blame this all on me for my ignorance. As someone from the US, I can't say I am very familiar with the details on Australian versus New Zealand geography. No miffing was intentional, I assure you!
I watched this channel for at least 5 years before I knew to turn on the captions!
Isn't he in Northern Qld, Australia. In only ever watched part of 1 episode and he was there then (I am Australian)
I get the idea he's around Kuranda ? maybe Tully (i lived up there many yeaes ago)
The various PBS YouTube channels almost never miss.
Some of the best science content on the internet and explains everything in layman's terms.
For higher level science:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheInstituteOfArtAndIdeas
Puts up conferences and interviews of some of the top scientific minds on the planet.
Tasting History with Max Miller.
FortNine: both the content and the video quality are top notch.
TechnologyConnections is the only channel where you'll waste an hour nerding out on washing machines, even if you don't own one.
Louis Rossmann has been instrumental in the fight for right to repair in the US.
Yeah i could list many more but you asked for one (and i already overran that), plus these are the ones that stand out to me.
+1 for technology connections. Who knew I could watch 3 hours about dishwashers and stay interested?
Rossmann fights the good fight, but his two hour rambles could be a blog post instead
He also dramatizes for clicks.
you're not supposed to watch it on 0.25x speed
Rossman does good work but I wouldn't call his videos "High Quality"
He's like Gamers Nexus, very rambly and angry. If you like that vibe and just want a techy "Grinds my gears" ass rant channel to put on while you do anything else, he's fine.
Fortnine made a famous video about how motorcycle armor was a waste of time and front to back, the entire video is wrong and the comments from ER MDs back that up. Fuck Ryan.
fortnine noticeably dropped off in quality when they lost the original editor and moved out west.... early videos are still gems tho!
I did notice Aneesh is missing, didn't know it was due to moving.
I just find Lewis Rossman to be an incredibly irritating person. I appreciate what he's doing but at a personal level I can't stand him. He's just very whiny.
LockPickingLawyer - Keeps things short and sweet, doesn't waste your time. my mechanics - Restoration channel, doesn't pull any YT tricks or shit. danooct1 - PC Virus showcasing channel.
His quality had definitely fallen around the time he made his site. He would just upload videos of shitting on bad locks and using his own tools. I unsubscribed shortly after. I don't know if it's any better now, but originally he would upload a video when the video had something worthwhile to show.
Nah still the same, pushing his tools hard in every video.
Only the April Fool's videos are worth watching now.
Honestly, while I did recommend him, I have stopped watching his channel a long time ago, like a year and a half ago.
I get it that he's a very experienced lock-picker and almost no lock can withstand his level of skill. But I'm at two minds of this. First off, while he is educating people about bad locks, he is kind of also breeding criminals who'll now have a better understanding as to bypass locks especially his tools. I hope in the back of his mind that he knows this.
The other is, how the hell can we tell whether or not a lock is bad when he makes all of it look so easy? Mind as well just be all the locks available is bad and we just mind as well have a hope and a prayer nobody takes our stashes without locks.
Yeah his channel was fun for a while, but now I just feel like he's being completely smug about his skill. The only video I was remotely entertained by, was when he actually had a few locks he couldn't pick because of their unique design. Maybe once a while something actually is beyond him.
This is the LockPickingLawyer, and today we have a-
lock spontaneously performs an impression of the bluesmobile at Daley Plaza
...in any case, that's all I have for you today...
My Mechanics is fantastic. His current restoration of the 240z is excellent, he even supplied parts to Ronald Finger for his 280z.
Some of these channels have changed over the years, expanding and adding hosts and things, but they consistently make good content and have either improved or maintained that quality.
Wendover and Half As Interesting
Real Engineering
Mustard
Legal Eagle
Mentour Pilot
Not a channel, but a creator: Yahtzee Croshaw (was Zero Punctuation/Extra Punctuation on The Escapist, is now Fully Ramblomatic/Semi Ramblomatic on Second Wind.
CGP Grey
SciShow (and many of the other projects from the vlogbrothers, including Crash Course and vlogbrothers itself)
Technology Connections
Shaun
HBomberGuy
ElectroBOOM
Videogamedunkey
+1 for Wendover, Half As Interesting, Real Engineering, Mustard, and Mentour Pilot.
Love those channels. Can somehow keep me engaged enough to watch a few hours of content on some random stuff. :)
I like the way Legal Eagle has branched out and invited other attorneys to help keep tabs on ... gestures broadly.
https://youtube.com/@explainingcomputers
DOT COM
https://youtube.com/@mothersbasement
I only listen to this one guy for anime reccomendations.
https://youtube.com/@colinfurze
Never has a lull, always good.
https://youtube.com/@chemicalforce
Pretty toxic chemistry
https://youtube.com/@weirdexplorer
If you don't really care about exotic fruit adventures, at least watch his feature length Nutmeg documentary it's most excellent.
Boomer shooter comedic...retrospectives? I like him.
https://youtube.com/@mrcarlsonslab
He repairs very old electronics and is soothing to listen to.
I don't even really care about motorcycles, but their video editing skills are incredible.
https://youtube.com/@lowbuckgarage
Accurate, he will do everything possible to avoid spending money on a project.
https://youtube.com/@styropyro
Mad scientist.
https://youtube.com/@casuallyexplained
His sense of humor doesn't get old for me.
https://youtube.com/@thecodyreeder
Mad scientist.
Taught me more about language than any teacher in my life ever did.
I find a lot of obscure old games to play via this guy and his videos are high effort.
https://youtube.com/@posymusic
Every video is a work of art. It doesn't matter what the subject is, you'll be entranced.
https://youtube.com/@techtangents
Bitrot necromancy enthusiast.
https://youtube.com/@littlevmills
A Canadian who makes high effort metal music covers.
https://youtube.com/@joel-haver
He just likes to make movies. I like his movies. A lot.
https://youtube.com/@theslowmoguys
It's in the name!
Mad scientist.
https://youtube.com/@evenflow2907
High effort vehicular brainrot.
Have a good day!
A lovely weird Canadian artist I adore.
Never has a lull, always good.
Still waiting for him to connect the secret tunnel to his bloody bunker though. THAT WAS THE BLOODY POINT OF IT. But nooo, he got too into the idea of an underground garage. Which is, in fairness, very cool.
I swear I can hear his voice. "Explaining computers... dot com."
That's a long list. Glad to see FortNine made it, because I was going to mention them if someone else didn't already do it. I am into motorcycles, and no one else in that space has better camera work or editing. Usually good info too, although some of Ryan's takes get controversial
I'll hop on the Technology Connections train and add
Styropyro
CathodeRayDude
Civvie11
Northernlion
O hey cancer mouse.
He just put out a new Blood video that was under 10 minutes. I didn't think something so short was possible for him.
I LOVE TC, NL, and Styropyro. I’ll have to check out CRD and Civvie11!
Primitive Technology. He started the whole "build a shelter in the woods" genre that has become so dumb, but his videos are still just as great as ever. No narration or music, other than the sounds of the birds and insects, just interesting experiments into basic technology like shelters, fire, charcoal, kilns, pottery, small machines, bricks, roof tiles, etc., all using only the most primitive stone age tools, created from materials found in the forest and stream around his camp.
Even his attire is as spare as his videos, just a pair of khaki shorts.
Currently, he's working through a series of experiments to make fire hot enough to smelt metal.
I've been watching him since he started, and he's the only channel that I stop everything to watch when a new video drops.
If you're interested in why he is doing what he is doing - I would highly suggest turning on the close captions. It was a game changer as someone that is entertained by infotainment!
Holy fuck
Oh, yeah, I discovered the captions long ago. Had to go back and watch all the old ones with the captions on.
Map Men. It's always educational, interesting, and they have amazing Monty Pythonish gags and jokes.
Seconded! They changed channel name to Jay and Mark now though, but it's the same great content.
‘Map Men’ was always sort of a series on Jay Foreman's channel. He also has other content, namely various urbanistics trivia about London, and humorous songs performed live.
Map Men / Jay Foreman
Interesting and genuinely amusing for about 15 years at this point.
They are great, I love their sponsored adverts moments also! Can't wait to read their new book, This way up.
Yep, literally the only time I watch a sponsor segment on YouTube, insane the effort they go through compared to other channels
Cross-instance linking is a mess. You linked to an ad for your mobile app, which links to a kbin instance, which links back to lemmy.world... The app page devotes most of its space to download links while kbin demands the viewer log in before it will show them anything.
Technology Connections are great, but this doesn't feel very connected.
Trying to get a correct URL to change it but I literally can't. Any idea? :/
Edit: Changed Voyager settings and now I can share the original. Please let me know if it's ok now
Worked for me
Op should have used threadiverse.link, or the home instance of the content, both of which are options in Voyager. The voyager link is primarily for sending to non-lemmy users.
This one guy Richard Astley. Banging tunes and the smoothest moves.
But really: Technology Connections
I'd say Alec of Technology Connections has increased in quality. Started good and got better.
videogamedunkey
Been watching his videos for ~10 years now
I haven't checked out dunkey in years! I should see what he's been up to lately.
He's really slick these days.
He has a real Knack for making videos entertaining.
Numberphile and any other channel by Brady Haran.
Computerphile as well.
ZeFrank. After a long gap in videos he's back even better
his poster has been on my wall for like 10 years, appreciate that dude
That is how the insert animal name do
No captain disillusion?!
He's the best. I'm just sad he publishes one video a year
Project Farm
we're gonna test that!
Honestly I have begun to question whether Project Farm staying exactly the same is good or not for me as a viewer.
I used to watch every video, even if it was for a tool I'd never need myself. Now on a lot of them, I just tend to watch just the beginning to see the initial assessment of the competing products and the final summary, since I know what the whole middle is going to be.
I'm sure that's not the healthiest thing for the channel, as it cuts "engagement time" and I'd like to see a heat map to see if I'm not the only one doing this.
I just trust the guy maybe too much at this point, plus since most products I don't need, I'm not that invested in the minutia show by the main segment of the videos.
None of this is a knock on the channel or his videos, but as the question was about what has stayed good and you are still watching, that made me think how PF was still as good as ever, but that has somewhat reduced my watching of it.
I'm in the same boat. I subscribed to the lowest tier of his Patreon to stop feeling guilty : https://www.patreon.com/projectfarm
In a Nutshell - Kurzgesagt
In a Nutshell is often too simplified. They often present fringe hypothesis as widely accepted scientific theories.
Then again, they've always done that, so their quality has stayed the same.
I think the main issue with Kurtzgesagt is that it is an entrance to a deep science YouTube rabbit hole that will make you unable to enjoy Kurtzgesagt anymore...
Their videos all have clickbait titles nowadays, really annoying. Wish they would actually write what the video is about on them
I think they've really started to go downhill lately. Mostly clickbait and miscorrelation in their recent stuff.
I think a whole lot of "maker" type channels have all stayed pretty solid, off the top of my head
This Old Tony
Adam Savage
Xyla Foxlin
Clickspring
Blondihacks
Colin Furze
Inheritance Machining (though compared to some of the others he's relatively new)
Stuff Made Here
Jeremy Fielding
Branching out a bit
How to drink
Caitlin Doughty (ask a mortician)
LockpickingLawyer
NileRed (and NileBlue)
Tasting History
Townsends
Useful Charts
EDIT: Almost forgot Technology Connections
Some of them have changed their format a bit over the years, I don't think that's been a negative for any of them. Also due to how YouTube revenue works these days a lot of them have had to rely more heavily on sponsors, patron, merch etc. don't hate the player for that, hate the game.
Colin is a blast lol
Clickspring is absolute gold. The guy is crazy talented and to be fair most of the time I don't know what he's talking about, I just enjoy watching a master at work.
I watched Colin Furze for the first time in some time, recently. I was surprised by how much more calm and measured he seemed. And then I realized it was likely because he was a little older, had more people in his life to be careful for, and probably moving a little slower in general. And then I felt old. And sad. And surprisingly irrelevant.
Some ones I haven't seen yet:
Edit: fixed formatting error
Going to be checking some of these out for sure. Nice list!
You and I have very similar viewing tastes. Nice list.
Funny enough, you're not the first one who's also noticed this. A couple years ago, me and a colleague (in helpdesk) shared our YouTube subscriptions and found 80% of them matched, and he introduced me to such channels like Usagi Electric.
I do otherwise tend to notice comments on one channel's videos make references to other channels I also watch (outside of the usual Bringus Studios and DankPods references), so I tend to think I'm part of a larger niche of Gen Z / Millenial computer geeks.
I watch, subscribed and supported Camping with Steve. He's such a humble guy. I felt very bad for him when he lost his wife one year then like the next year, lost someone who he considered a best friend he can ask for that was a part of his camping (Crazy Neighbor he was called). He did not deserve those losses.
Smarter Everyday (space, slow mo, manufacturing), PBS Space Time (space, quantum physics, astrophysics...), Xisumavoid (Minecraft Let's Play), Magnus Midtbø (Climber), Asianometry (technology, manufacturing, science history)
Smarter Everyday has only gotten better and better as he has grown in notoriety. Fantastic content, and not beholden to sponsors.
Except for all the American Armed Forces stuff
except him spouting more and more religious shit
Absolutely, he's getting access to places and hardware that keep pushing the envelope, but still remains that very humble human being he always was. He's so kind to everybody working in the factory tours. Absolutely recommend. The only thing i'm not a big fan of is the content he produces with weapons, but that's a cultural thing, i get it.
Almost all of the smarter everyday videos I wish were 1/10 of the size, or two videos (learning vs something glittery that he's distracted by). I'm glad that he's there for people that enjoy that though
Hbomberguy has been getting nothing but better.
Foldingideas also has fantastic long form video essays that I really enjoy.
Yeah Folding Ideas is one of the few youtubers I often make a point to watch with my wife as an event. As is Hbomberguy
Similarly, I know controversy follows her everywhere, but contrapoints maintains very good content, and while some of her videos have their issues they tend towards high quality and extremely well thought out, even when I don't entirely agree with all of the takes she has in them.
Practical Engineering. His videos are about all the infrastructure that makes the modern world function.
Testing history with Max Miller and How to Drink.
Literal Disney prince makes hardtack. Excellent channel.
Yes! Both are interesting and well researched.
Tom Scott for sure kept video quality high and standard over the years. I miss him.
I just wanted to say, y'all are my people, we don't agree on everything, but I'm glad to have moved to lemmy. The few channels mentioned here that I'm not subbed to, I'll be checking out.
Lemmino, Ahoy and kurzgesagt
Kurzgesat became highly biased after a partnership with the Gates Foundation. They were independent beforehand.
Can you clarify?
I haven't spotted anything too obvious.
Add NileRed and that would be my list as well.
This Old Tony started posting sporadically again!
Goofy dad joke making hobby machinist with a sprinkling of fun cuts, and literally just a voice and hands working on things. One of my favorite channels.
This is definitely in my top 2 YT channels, contending with Technology connections.
Agreed!
There's a single video with his face, btw
Ahoy. video game documentarian. Makes 1 or 2 very high quality videos a year and has done so for years.
Tested got me through covid
Project Farm is still a go to for me. It's not perfect but he does more than enough for me most of the time
Techmoan, if you are interested in old or weird tech.
Love techmoan. Guy's an unsung national treasure.
Stefan Milo - real archaeology, not ancient aliens
Cool Worlds - real astrophysics, not aliens
PBS Space Time - it's never aliens
twoodford - Zen and the Art of Guitar Repair
PBS Space Time is routinely over my head and I love it.
Brick Technology (link)
There's no voiceover, no clickbait, no intro or outro, just an engineer building absurd Lego machines to overcome set challenges. The quality and entertainment are top tier.
RedLetterMedia
They used to do the Mr. Plinkett reviews and still publish a bunch of videos of reviewing movies that are very, very good (and entertaining) and other movie related content. While there are no more Mr. Plinkett reviews, they have maintained the same high quality of the channel for the last 15+ years. They just don’t publish content as often. It’s down to once or twice a week now.
Its a German channel, but I would throw Simplicissimus into the ring. They always had high quality content, and the quality of their videos is constantly rising.
They also have an English channel
Phil DeFranco is better than he used to be by a long shot. He's getting senators and journalists in interviews for all manner of new related content. And he stopped with the enlightened centrism angle he had for a bit. Much more mature and level-headed.
I like PDS and watched for over a decade. but ive had to stop treating it like a news source. I feel his coverage is not informative unless you live under a rock and need a quick rundown of what's happening. He oversimplifies to the point of being misleading definitively leaves out contrary info and makes way stronger claims than the evidence really supports. He knows his audience (me included) and spins the story for them and in reality its probably not him but his writing team.
His interviews with officials are still good.
I listen to him almost everyday after work
politics, reaction, influencer types are usually of lower quality than other non-political channels, most of them devolve into clickbait or reaction slop. plus its like watching cnn or fox in youtube format, no need if you already access the same political content from other social media platform. Youtube pushes heavily on politics into your feeds(even non-conservative content). i used to followed asian ytubers that give commentary/jokes on news , but when it comes to politics, they lean heavilya certain way, but was always able to play off of it and not in your face, overtime they became lazy and lean all the way in to it now, that it turned fans off, adding a little mysgoyny as well.
Forgotten Weapons
Huh. Reddit used to allow VPN users to access images they host even if they didn’t let them browse the platform anonymously. Guess they “fixed” that.
My feelings on Ian himself have become a little strained, but he is doing the same or better quality than ever now that he gets invited around the world to show off so many rare items. I could not name a better source anywhere for weapons history and being able to see the actual weapons and often their entire disassembly.
While modern life has made me less interested in gun culture, their mechanics, development, and how they have shaped history and society I still find very interesting.
Benn Jordan
https://youtube.com/@bennjordan
If you are into sequencers and drum machines then for sure Captain Pikant
Starsky Carr, Woody's Piano Shack, and David Hilowitz are great as well!
I definitely second David Hillowitz.
The USCSB has a channel with breakdowns of chemical disasters
It's got a pretty fun cult following and it posted within the last week XD
I love those videos. They've done more for safety awareness than any ad campaign ever will
And they just recently posted!
Mighty Car Mods are a pair of Australian blokes who have been doing car-based videos for 15+ years. Everything they've done has been high quality and entertaining.
I honestly don't know how they do it.
100%. While some of their builds don’t interest me the quality is always right up there and has a perfect balance of detail and entertainment.
If you like reviews/comparisons check out Project Farm.
Overly Sarcastic Productions, consistently producing animated essays about history, mythology, and story tropes
Hard for me to say because over the years I've lost interest in most channels I watched years ago.
BobbyBroccoli, NightHawkInLight and Technology Connections are three that I always watch every time I notice a new video.
Techmoan is one of those that I watch from time to time.
And Nerdwriter1 is one that I haven't watch in some time but it is hard for me to imagine it having a decline in quality.
BobbyBroccoli is the GOAT
Bad Obsession Motorsport ! I've been watching them build a Mini rally car for 12 years. They keep getting distracted by perfectionism and I'm very here for it.
I echo a lot of the sentiments here. Two I'm not really seeing are Project Farm and Eric the Car Guy. Eric is just coming back from a hiatus of sorts.
A few others I like
CNC Kitchen
Rob Dahm
Low-Buck Garage
Zach Freedman
SuperfastMatt
StrangeParts
Driving4Answers
CrackerMilk
PixelPete
Andy Didorsi (not as old a channel though)
Mr Carlson's Lab
Heather Cox Richardson
And of course, Technology Connections and Gamer's Nexus.
Bonus item because I like what they are doing, Edison Motors.
Music bonus item because she's remained consistently excellent for years, Lauren Babic.
Michael Reeves. One video a year, making the dumbest most hilarious shit you can think of.
