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.
Practical Engineering. His videos are about all the infrastructure that makes the modern world function.
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.
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.
Captain dissolution
Corridor crew
James Hoffman, it even keeps getting better with time. The prophet for the coffee fans
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.
As someone who owns a couple lock picks and plays around with em, let me tell you, knowing how to do it does not make it easy. Info about how to pick locks is easily obtained elsewhere, and honestly his videos aren’t exactly helpful in an instructional way. I really doubt he’s had a large effect on criminals using lockpicks, especially when it’s so much easier to most to cut them with bolt cutters. What I would say he has had more of an impact on is people using more secure locks than masterlocks. I suspect he’s had a net benefit on security. I dunno, not like I know the statistics or anything, I think it’s a fair estimate though.
Yeah I do sort of wonder what the point of his channel is. Every now and then one of his videos will be recommended and I’ll watch it, but I’ve learnt that there is absolutely no point because they’re all exactly the same. He always picks every lock within about 4 seconds.
I’m not really interested in knowing which locks I shouldn’t buy. I want to know which locks I should.
All the lock picking channels are like that though, I think they feel that if they upload video where they can’t get into a lock, that means that in some way they’ve failed. So they don’t do it.
I want to say the general consensus is not to buy locks that places like Wal-Mart or Harbor Freight sells and he seems to have a particular bone to pick with MasterLock because of how often they show up on his channel.
But it’s like, you need some level of protection so it would help to know what would protect our valuables from lock-pickers or those that steal your bikes when locked down somewhere.
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.
Map Men / Jay Foreman
Interesting and genuinely amusing for about 15 years at this point.
Grimbeard, puts out well researched and highly entertaining game retrospectives.
BobbyFingers creates dioramas of famous events with insane tangents while documenting their creation. One video even has a choreographed song.
Lawerence systems covers a lot of self hosted tech with articulate and concise instructions. Really like his method of teaching.
GreenX has some amazing retrospective videos about games, they’re a bit newer of a channel. Every upload has been fantastic though. Insanely funny, highly recommend watching their STALKER video.
Facefullofeyes, same as above but has a very inconsistent upload schedule. Much less humor than greenx but very insightful analysis. Highly recommend the SWAT 4 video.
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.
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!
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?
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)
I watched this channel for at least 5 years before I knew to turn on the captions!
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.
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.
Very high quality.
If anything keeps upping the ante that’s why it takes him so long
One of the best ever
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.
Or simplify taking a stand that he wasn’t willing to go down the click bait path the algorithm pushes for. I haven’t found another comment for a channel I agree with here yet
Actually, 3Blue1brown and PBS science videos (minus space) are pretty great too
what about pbs space time?
Yeah, good question. I can’t remember why I went off it. There is definitely some good content. I think he just went have a patch of being really excited about multiverse and that’s just a bit too strong an interpretation in my mind to go push that hard. It might have been something else. Its been a while
Seriously wtf space time
pbs spacetime, discusses astrophysics, and discovery on the universe, if you a nerd for physics that is.
No I used to watch it, I just didn’t think k it was very high quality compared to the other PBS projects. So much speculation!
oh yea, and it would be more prudent to use an actual physicist, astronomer, astrophysicist on the show it would improve the quality.
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
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!
I’ll add some that haven’t been mentioned.
Tech Ingredients - various experiments and builds. Everything on how to make rum to good novel speakers.
Erik Brandal - makes sound sculptures
/noclip - video game dev documentaries
This old Tony - Machining while being funny
Posy - Quirky beautiful retro HiFi/Tech
Edit: have to add Posy
Testing history with Max Miller and How to Drink.
Red Letter Media. I’ve grown bored of the content though but that’s a me problem.
Majuular. He makes long form retrospectives of old games, his Ultima retros are amazing. Just keeps getting better and better.
