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Ask HN: What are fun entertaining YouTube channels/videos you watch in free time?
52 points by codesternews on Jan 1, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 42 comments




Along with AvE

EEvBlog (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2DjFE7Xf11URZqWBigcVOQ) - Dave Jones does a great off-the-cuff channel on electrical engineering

This is Dan Bell (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjU-Cwjfqbo2hMRItlXwnnQ) - Urban Exploration without trying to make it seem overly edgy.

Regular Car Reviews (https://www.youtube.com/user/RegularCars) - Car reviews. Disclaimer: some dirty humor.


Three Blue One Brown is great for fun math concepts https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw


My all time favourite is I Like To Make Stuff https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6x7GwJxuoABSosgVXDYtTw - All things DIY, usually more focused on woodworking but with a nice touch of electronics, Arduino, etc. You can definitely feel his background on software engineering.


I discovered GeographyNow about 4 days ago. I've been binge watching ever since. It is suprisingly entertaining and informative.

https://www.youtube.com/GeographyNow

I also like RealLifeLore, Wendover Productions, Half As Interesting, and Tom Scott.





My lazy pleasure lately has been watching StarCraft 2 casts on LowkoTV. He is a knowledgeable caster with a great sense of humor.

I used to play StarCraft 1 when I was younger. I would never have the time to become good at sc2 today, but I've found the casts to be a fun, relaxing throwback. The top players are phenomenal and it is pretty incredible to watch them play.

https://m.youtube.com/user/Felixje0


There are a couple in this list that I'm not super proud of but I believe in honesty: Yogscast, Hat Films, Achievement Hunter, Kirsten Dirksten, Screen Junkies, Bangkok 112, Lazy Game Reviews, The 8-Bit Guy, the Russian/European hydraulic press guy, the Indian engineer who fake electrocutes himself all the time (can't remember name), The Slow-Mo Guys, ThePrimeThanatos, Mikey Chen.


FYI the "Russian/European" hydraulic press guy is Finnish!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMDMoNu66_1Hwi5-MeiQgw


I think you might be referring to ElectroBOOM - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ0-OtVpF0wOKEqT2Z1HEtA

Full Bridge Rectifier!!!


After a couple of hours of binge watching ...

Turns out he is Iranian.


FULL BRIDGE He lives in Canada, though.


oh, whoops



- old stuff (games, electronics): 8 bit guy, lazy games review, cinemassacre, techmoan, gaming historian

- maker stuff: useless duck, matthias wandel, useless duck

- general ramblings: louis rossmann, penguinz0 (kritical), casually explained, nyanners (don't judge...)

- nature & science: bbc earth, art of the problem, engineering guy, pbs space time, smarter everyday, amoeba sisters

- electronics: eevblog, ben heck show


CrashCourse: https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse Neat 10-minute educational video clips on pretty much all topics (economy, politics, film-making)

Movieclips Trailers: https://www.youtube.com/user/movieclipsTRAILERS Latest movie trailers

TV Promos: https://www.youtube.com/user/tvpromosdb Latest TV series trailers

China Uncensored: https://www.youtube.com/user/NTDChinaUncensored 10-minute funny but true clips about the fastest growing economy in the past decade


Cooking: You Suck At Cooking

Movies: Red Letter Media

Japanese tourism tips: Abroad in Japan

Odd trinkets, toys, and junk reviews: Ashens

Fast food reviews: ReviewBrah (Report of the Week)



Bon Appetit's It's Alive is pretty humorous and well-edited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng2zOFADe0s&list=PLKtIunYVkv...

I'm a big fan of Kenji Alt Lopez's cooking videos, especially the POV ones: https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt/videos


h3h3Productions became famous by exposing stupid trends on YouTube (e.g. social experiments) but they also cover current events sometimes: https://www.youtube.com/user/h3h3Productions

They also have a podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLtREJY21xRfCuEKvdki1Kw



Great advice about Macbook repair, working in tech and life.


I really like AvE (https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil).

Lots of really cool stuff if your into mechanical engineering or really just making/breaking cool (physical) stuff.


videowalks around Japan, no talking, no music, just somebody walking around, great to watch when riding on a trainer https://www.youtube.com/user/Rambalac/videos

Frank Howarth, great woodworking projects, now that's a shop! https://www.youtube.com/user/urbanTrash/videos

Primitive Technology, lots of interesting content https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA


VSauce is a science channel which I find both entertaining and educational. Fun and fast paced and often mind-bending.

https://youtu.be/SrU9YDoXE88


If you have YouTube Red, I also like his Mind Field series. I believe it's the only YouTune Red series I actually watch.

It's not as technical and detailed as normal Vsauce, but still interesting and entertaining.


There are many others, but this is a selection of the best

Numberphile (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A) - math related

Cody's Lab (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6mSoMNzHQiBIOCkHUa2Aw) - various science experiments - most of them go deeper into maths/physics/chemistry of it

Nile Red (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFhXFikryT4aFcLkLw2LBLA) - chemistry

BosnianBill (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1orOGJwZvjLAvckyxC4Nw) - lock picking - very soothing

Ian Atkinson (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLkCG-505-1t0rYlgBTSnpQ) - leatherworking

Mike Boyd (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRiWCPZoUyZDbydIqitHtQ) - a guy learning various things and timig how much it takes

This Old Tony (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NO8MgTQKHAWXp6z8Xl7yQ) - makers stuff

Clickspring (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA) - makers stuff - VERY addictive and soothing

CGP Grey (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w) - various historic/general stuff

jimmydiresta (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEk4xHBbz0hZNIBBpowdYQ) - maker stuff

Primitive Technology (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA) - guy living (for a few days at a time) in the woods

scaffoal (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAUtMll4-Bi2sWnbqtMVrTg) - making jewlery

Brian Oltrogge (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOywIdppbhn6hkgcEtDMatg) - metal casting




I like historia civilis, a history channel that goes really in depth about famous battles and roman society. Three Brown One Blue is a great math channel.


Doug DeMuro,Shmee150 and Saabkyle04. I love Doug DeMuro, his videos are long enough for mealtime watching


PBS spacetime


Science: MarkRober, SmarterEveryDay, TomScott

Informational: Vox, Vice

Dog rescue videos: HopeforPaws

Something different: SoulPanCake


Fun Fun Function on youtube


medium/short length documentaries DW Documentary

Also like watching movie character and screenplay breakdowns Nerdwriter1 and Lessons from the Screenplay


Wendover Productions

RealLifeLore


Red Letter Media

Seen Through Glass

Shmee150

Casey Neistat


Since you mentioned STG and Schmee I'd like to extend with:

Misha Charoudin - Daily VLOGs about him living and working at the Nurburgring

xthilox - super fast Nurburgring laps in his Cupra

DannyDC2 - great VLOGs about a Honda Integra DC2


https://www.youtube.com/user/CarlSagan42

a gaming stream edit dump where the vast majority of videos are of mario maker

the creator, carlsagan42, is a molecular biologist, post doc, working on ways to develop vaccines using plants.. a topic, among others, discussed on stream

the videos are edits of a once a week ~3-5 hour live stream

the community surrounding mario maker is really great with a ubiquitous quality of laughing off failure and mounting obstacle to overcome that resonates with me

one way carlsagan42 is noteworthy is in the way each level is approached experimentally while vocalising the inner monologue describing what is being done and why

i have spoken about one element of what is great about mario maker on this forum in the past(o)(i).. mainly parallels to algorithms

but there is so much more to appreciate beyond the game engine itself and the level makers' manipulations thereof

different level makers have different personalities that come through in their level design and it is fascinating how often and consistently makers develop new creative ways to utilise the finite tools of the mario maker engine

whether it be: the tightly complex one screen puzzles of seanhip2, or the trolling exploration of jon, or the glitch induced brilliance of psycrow, or the expansive puzzles of pinkbirdo, or any of the awe inducing creativity and 'kaizo' madness of the entire community, or even the surprises and 'hot garbage' of 'super expert'; culture emits

(o) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13675970

(i) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15067544

i'd recommend searching for the carlsagan42 videos with the makers and 'keywords' mentioned above because the playlists are often incomplete or simply too broad of categories to address the makers individually

that said the playlists can be an easy place to start and determine if the community is something you want to explore further:

'Puzzle Level' playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UxOBEr3SXs&list=PLbsPvOo5P-...

'Cool Levels' playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj1-q4E4PuQ&list=PLbsPvOo5P-...

'Super Expert' playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIf4Piq8I9k&list=PLbsPvOo5P-...


I found Linus Tech Tips channel recently when building a new rig. Pretty funny and useful at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw




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