What are some quality YouTube channels that you recommend?

ecoboy@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 309 points –

Kind of tired watching trash from YT.

Edit: Thanks for all the replies. It's good to see that there are still gems in YouTube.

283

Technology connections

Every frame a painting

Alt shift x

Dad how do I

Food wishes

Kurzgesagt In a nutshell

Primitive technology

Technology Connections is SO GOOD.

Kurzgesagt tends to push a lot of pseudoscience (e.g. carbon capture tech) and other stuff following the investment interests of their founders.

I like their animation style and honestly I wish they used proper data sources, however if you check the sources they mention on some of their more dubious videos they all come from some made up source.

This is particularly upsetting with everything related to parroting whatever Bill Gates is pushing (artificial meat, carbon capture, inequality is the teacher's fault, climate change isn't that bad, etc.)

Adding on to this; There's a video by The Hated One who initially broke this story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjHMoNGqQTI&pp=ygUVa3Vyemdlc2FndCBwcm9wYWdhbmRh

Have you watched their response?

Ys. It didn't feel very convincing, nor did they actually address the issue of them citing a company Bill Gates owns in order to support another one he owns.

Good to know, thanks for the info!

In that case: Skeptics guide to the universe and their sister channel alpha quadrant six

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Climate Town - Does a decent job explaining climate-related topics and still makes them interesting.
Jay Foreman - Very funny map trivia.
JerryRigEverything - A bit too much promotion on some stuff, but really comprehensive tear downs.
MIT OpenCourseWare - learn good.
Pop Culture Detective - Deconstructive pop culture tropes that make you think a lot.
SNES drunk - retrogaming (not just SNES) but well done, 0% additives just prime content.
stacksmashing - electronics trivia and hardcore reverse engineering.
The National Gallery - If you're into history, this is an excellent channel about art trivia. I'm not much into art and this is always top quality for me.
Tom Scott plus - Tom Scott does British telly stuff like playing board games or chasing people on the streets with an apple tag.
Voices of the Past - This is slow, exhaustive history for nerds. Worth it if you want to let the story wash all over you.
Vox - slightly left leaning great journalism, albeit sometimes too brief to explain complex topics.
Weird History - They get some stuff wrong, but it's still entertaining.
Project Farm - Wanna buy an angle grinder? Now you do.
Insider - Had a series of "How Real Is It?" videos that let professionals describe stuff seen in movies, and it is both entertaining and a learning experience.
Corridor - Some stuff of dubious quality but if you're interested in FX, it's good.
LegalEagle - Law is hard, but is law fun?
brian david gilbert - Existential horror camouflaged as comedy.
PBS Space Time - Good but hard space science.
BurtBot - Orcs with normal voices.
Joel Haver - Neat if you're into deadpan humor.
Taskmaster - Probably some of the best british television available in YT.

Bonus round:
Practical Engineering - How stuff is built but explained well enough that even I can understand it.

Plus, use FreeTube, not You Tube. Don't be a slave of their terrible algorythm and all the recommendations will turn out to be of your taste.

I love Vox, but I would call it more than slightly left leaning.

The journalists, sure. The company, less so.

The company, less so.

Well, it's neither a non-profit nor a worker-owned co-op, so that's to be expected.

Technology Connections

Love this guy. He's such a nerd! My kind of people

The only thing I would like to be improved is his rambling. But other than that: great content and I especially like his humour and acting.

I actually kind of like that about him, usually (I'm not gonna watch an hour long video about electric car chargers ffs).

To me, it makes the videos seem a bit less scripted and more like just a guy talking about things he's passionate about.

Ben Eater. He’s been explaining the low level details of how computers work. Literally building a functioning computer from nothing but a cpu and a breadboard. Incredibly good explanations.

I learned more from that guy than I did from the "intro to computer engineering" class I took for my CS degree.

I started in the industry doing 6502 assembly language programming and I’m still learning a ton from him!

I mean, he also built a functioning CPU on breadboards.

One of my favorite video series on youtube

In the same vein, check out CuriousMarc, especially the series about restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer to working order. (They actually finish up by simulating a moon landing.)

Definitely look up Kurzgesagt

Kurzgesagt RULES, I am a Patreon and I LOVE their work. Doesn't watch it now because I grew out of the style and prefer more scientific content but I support them for what they put out for the next generation

Laura Kampf

Simone Giertz

MKBHD

Tom Scott

Mark Rober

Climate Town

Jay Foremen (Map Men)

Daily Dose of Internet

Captain Disillusion

Casually Explained

Tom Scott would be my top pick for quality YouTube not tied to a specific hobby. His videos are great.

Besides his educational content, he also has some pretty good (still somewhat educational) game show type series, like Citation Needed and Two Of These People Are Lying (links to the playlists).

Also runs a podcast game show called Lateral which is pretty fun to listen to. Last I checked only highlights were uploaded to YouTube, and full episodes are on typical podcast services

Tom Scott, he has done a video every week for like 10 years. Sort of a science travel adventure nerd. His videos are generally short and interesting.

Veritasum - Science guy with some interesting topics

Donut Media - If you like cars, they do some interesting and funny things while not being complete asshats.

The Proper People - Abandoned places, nice videos and respectful exploration.

Cash Jordan - Gives tours of NYC apartments from tiny studio apartments up to multi-million dollar penthouses.

Geography Geek - A lot of interesting geography-related facts.

Knob Feel - Short and sweet reviews of various knobs.

Vice Grip Garage - If you are interested in how old cars are repaired and have lots of time, he has many ~1.5 hour videos of dragging old cars out of the bushes that haven't ran for 20 years, getting them mostly running, and driving them home.

Polyphonic - Interesting video essays about various music and musical artists.

Vice Grip Garage is excellent long-form car stuff for sure. Much easier to watch than the length of the video suggests.

Some More News - a disheveled and sarcastic anchor does a deep dive into a current topic

Contrapoints - an ex-philosopher does a really deep dive into a topic (sometimes a concept or a phenomenon, sometimes a particular person or event), with incredibly high production value and costumes. Unfortunately this means she only puts out 2 videos a year, but they're now usually 1-2 hours long.

Podcasts - some have YT channels, but often no video, so if you're looking for something to watch, this may not be helpful

Behind the Bastards - a deep dive (often 2+ hour+ episodes) into different historical or current terrible people

5-4 - a podcast about why the Supreme Court sucks

Maintenance Phase - two journalists talk about various health, diet, and wellness scams and misconceptions

If Books Could Kill (no YT channel) - Michael Hobbes from Maintenance Phase and Peter from 5-4 talk about "airport books"--bad pop science books

You're Wrong About - Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes (until late 2021) talk about pop culture misconceptions, everything from O.J. to the Satanic Panic to Iran-Contra and more.

Gave Some More News a try and I like it! Feels like a longer, more unshackled John Oliver. Somehow even the ads in the video were amusing.

Haha yeah I think they have some of the same writers but Cody gets a bit weird with it (have you met Warmbo yet?)

Glad you like it!

@ecoboy if you're into some educational vids on semi-serious but delivered in a humorous way,
ClimateTown is right there (https://youtube.com/@ClimateTown)

Sort of in the same vein is NotJustBikes, who has really great insight on subpar American infrastructure compared to other developed countries.
(https://youtube.com/@NotJustBikes)

EngineeringExplained with some cool insights on the intersection of nature and engineering (https://youtube.com/@PracticalEngineeringChannel)

Technology Connections is a fun one, Alec explains all sorts of everyday gadgets, and sometimes some old gadgets.

Watch Wes Work follows an auto/truck/tractor mechanic up north, he does a great job of explaining the why and how of his diagnostics.

The History Guy is another one of my favorites, especially his episode on transistors.

Adam Something - Mostly about civil engineering and public transportation, but also a ton of commentary on the right wing from a European leftist perspective.

Ladyknightthebrave - Film theory and criticism.

King Arthur Baking - Just solid baking videos.

Tasting History with Max Miller - Cooking show about historical foods with brief dives into the dish's history.

Oversimplified - Short animated videos on history.

F.D. Signifier - Black leftist takes on society, politics, and pop culture.

Lindsay Ellis - Now retired from YouTube due to harassment, but excellent film theory and criticism, originated the current film theory video format.

Chinese Cooking Demystified - Chinese cooking videos that focus on how it's actually done in China.

All Gas No Brakes/Channel 5 - Modern gonzo documentary news.

Breadsword - Film theory and criticism.

Contrapoints - Leftist trans commentary on philosophy, political theory, pop culture, and basically everything.

Luetin09 - Incredibly deep dives into Warhammer 40,000 lore.

I think all gas no breaks is gone, the host was up to something I can't remember. Great videos though

He had to rebrand as Channel 5 News. The initial investor for AGNB retains the trademark to that name.

He's since left YouTube and is Patreon-only now. A real shame too, he does some really great work, but not enough that I'm willing to pay a sub for it.

He was still active ok youtube under the channel 5 name. I dont think he posts anywhere now since it came out he was a sex pest

He hasn't released anything on YouTube since his movie came out. After that he went Patreon only, though Im sure the public scrutiny played a large role.

He also stopped posting on Patreon a long time ago.

Most likely. The allegations appear to be at least partly disputed, but not really clear if it's all going anywhere. His journalism is pretty solid despite his personal conduct, at least what he's admitted to, being fairly shitty and/or gross.

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Gotta give a shout out to Oculus Imperia for warhammer content! Not exactly for watching so much as listening, but his narration is impeccable and all of his stuff I've seen has been of top quality

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Kurzgesagt - science and futurism in colorful cartoon format

LockPickingLawyer - actual lawyer that lockpicks with a calm and explanatory voice, giving tips and suggestions both to lockpickers and locksmiths

McNallyOfficial - sarcastic, zero crap given, jaded version of LPL

Townsends - fun and educational 17th century learning through reenactment

JeremyJahns - always reliable movie reviews in my opinion

Sir Swag - news without the BS.

Tasting History - learning history through delicious step by step, historically accurate recipes

Skill Tree - LARP and cosplay DIY projects and tips

OverlySarcasticProductions - adorable cartoon history from Blue, and adorable cartoon mythology from Red.

Definitely want to highlight Townsends, OverlySarcasticProductions, Kurzgesagt. I would add EEV Blog (for electronics enthusiasts) and Five Watt World for music folks (mostly guitar).

I dunno what kind of channels you wanted.

Just wanted to say that steve1989mreinfo is posting again!

PBS Spacetime (Physics)

Money & Macro (Economics)

Patrick Boyle (Finance)

Perun (Military Analysis)

Veritasium (Physics)

3Blue1Brown (Mathematics)

Asianometry (Semiconductors and Geopolitics)

Engineerguy (Engineering)

RealLifeLore (Geopolitics)

Polymatter (China)

Tantacrul (Music)

Mustard (Aircraft and Trains)

Biolayne (Fitness)

I want to add Fermilab as a quality physics channel as well, easy to follow and Don Lincoln is entertaining to listen to.

LEMMiNO is extremely good. His older content is neat but his newer stuff is highly polished 30 min-1 hour ish long documentaries on miscellaneous mysteries like Jack the ripper or DB Cooper

Has anyone mentioned Knowing Better yet? Guy makes fantastic videos explaining a wide variety of topics. Some of his latest ones have been very in depth analyses about periods on American history, though he has covered many more subject as well. Highly suggested if you like long form content.

Another channel that I love is Captain Dissilussion. A guy dressed as a superhero breaks down the special effects behind hoaxes and viral videos, usually with a lesson in the end. Great channel even if you don't know anything about special effects, you can learn a lot about how effects are done, how to spot them and then be surprised when the guy flexes his own (better) version of the effects at the end.

Numberphile, Computerphile, PBS Spacetime, PBS Infinite Series (sad they stopped), Standup Maths, 3Blue1Brown

Do any of these channels post to alternative sites like nebula or floatplane? Seems like YouTube is heading down enshitification lane as well, only a matter of time

I'm not sure but I hope they all switch to Nebula

DIY/WOODWORKING

https://www.youtube.com/@craftedworkshop

https://www.youtube.com/@DIYPerks

https://www.youtube.com/@Fixthisbuildthat

https://www.youtube.com/@frankmakes

https://www.youtube.com/@Iliketomakestuff

https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelAlm

https://www.youtube.com/@modustrial

https://www.youtube.com/@nickzammeti

https://www.youtube.com/@PaskMakes

RETRO TECH, COMPUTERS, & GAMING

https://www.youtube.com/@ashens

https://www.youtube.com/@GamingHistorian

https://www.youtube.com/@GenXGrownUp

https://www.youtube.com/@LGR

https://www.youtube.com/@Nostalgianerd

https://www.youtube.com/@RMCRetro

https://www.youtube.com/@Techmoan

https://www.youtube.com/@The8BitGuy

https://www.youtube.com/@DavidXNewton

D&D & TTRPG STUFF

https://www.youtube.com/@BlackMagicCraftOfficial

https://www.youtube.com/@ColColonCleaner](Col Colon Cleaner)

https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole

https://www.youtube.com/@dimension20show

https://www.youtube.com/@DnDShorts

https://www.youtube.com/@DungeonDudes

https://www.youtube.com/@dungeonlootarmory

https://www.youtube.com/@GinnyDi

https://www.youtube.com/@marisharaygun

https://www.youtube.com/@WallyDM

https://www.youtube.com/@zeebashew

FOOD & COOKING

https://www.youtube.com/@BDylanHollis

https://www.youtube.com/@babishculinaryuniverse

https://www.youtube.com/@BrianLagerstrom

https://www.youtube.com/@howtodrink

https://www.youtube.com/@JoshuaWeissman

OTHER STUFF

https://www.youtube.com/@BrightSunFilms

https://www.youtube.com/@ComputerClan

https://www.youtube.com/@CuriosityIncorporated

https://www.youtube.com/@GeoffCastellucci

https://www.youtube.com/@kylehill

https://www.youtube.com/@NFTI

https://www.youtube.com/@TheEasterEggHunter

https://www.youtube.com/@Thevoiceplay

I literally just found genxgamer a week ago and love it. Ashens, 8bitguy and Techmaon I have followed for years

Wish nostalgia nerd would make more videos tho, he kinda dropped off recently.

I found GenXGamer like maybe 2 months ago, and it's been great. Same for me with the others, been following for years. I think Nostalgia Nerd is busy with the arcade pub he's building. But yeah I miss his content.

I really like Hungry Goriya's retro gaming channel. Her perspectives are usually unique compared to other reviews of the same games.

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(I’ll edit this post continually to add more channels detail. Kind of busy at the moment)

Warlockracy

Mandalore Gaming

Civvie11

Tim Cain

Minisodes

Olden Demon

Bedtime Stories

Beware The Qu

Alt Shift X

Historia Civilis

Forgotten Weapons

Paper Skies

ConeOfArc

RedLetterMedia

Bobby Broccoli

Sam O’Nella

Smartereveryday is incredible educational content, and he's been making them for years.

Haven't seen anyone mention Posy. The guy made an entire video on mouse cursors, it's great.

That feels like it should be boring but for some reason I am totally up for looking up a video about mouse cursors.

EthosLab. He is my favourite YouTuber, and has been for over 10 years now. He's super chill, and his Minecraft videos always make me happy. Sure, other channels may have more content or more entertainment value, but when it comes to sheer vibes, Etho is unmatched.

Shiey (urbex, train hopping exploring)

Steve Wallis (stealth camping)

Nerd of the Rings (LOTR lore)

Anton Petrov (science mainly astrophysics)

Megaprojects and any of Simon Whistlers channels

those are just some of the bigger ones I follow heaps of smaller niche channels too

James Hoffmann - for anything about making great coffee at home

The Food Theorists - Interesting content about food, especially in their older videos

Doctor Mike - entertaining but useful medical information

Dr. Becky - really informative and interesting astronomy news and info

Michael Reeves - Hilariously ridiculous projects usually involving code and technology of some kind

Kyle Hill - Love his Half-Life Histories series, even if he is a bit clickbait

Depends on the genre you prefer, but I'll try to cover a lot of bases for anyone who might be interested. I'll break it up into 2 comments cause it's not letting me post so I might have hit the character limit lol.

Part 1

If you like let's plays, I think Letsgameitout is one of the most consistently entertaining channels. His videos are a good length, not so long that they drag out, but not so short that they feel like they're done too soon, and he uploads frequently enough to not feel like it takes ages for a new video to come out, but not so frequently that it feels like he sacrifices quality.

If you like games but not the format of most let's plays, or just like general humour and don't mind most videos being game related, then DougDoug is hilarious. He streams on twitch but edits the streams down for YouTube. Seeing him interact with his twitch chat is really entertaining, and his shenanigans involving AI are also great as well. A good entry video for his content is probably the pajama Sam video he made recently where he tries to get chatgpt to beat pajama Sam, and the ai gets more and more unhinged as the video goes on. But it is one of his longer videos so you can also try any of his other videos. Another good one would be the one where he gets two halves of his twitch chat to compete against each other in GTAV using chat controls a la twitch plays pokemon. There's also GameChamp3000, who does a lot of gaming challenges, but she doesn't upload as often sadly. But her videos are very high quality and the lengths she goes to in order to get around a road block can be pretty crazy.

If you like diy or humorous educational stuff, then electroboom is a very entertaining channel and also very informative when it comes to electricity and engineering. He's the guy who made the diy electric guitar. Basically he's an electrician who does projects where he tries to make something from scratch, and along the way he shows all the wrong ways you can do something by doing them himself and then getting hurt by it slapstick style. He's shown how he fakes a lot of the stunts to assure his audience that he's not putting himself in danger (though he has also confessed to some real near misses like the Jacob's ladder incident), but he's good at making it look really convincing which somehow adds to the humour. He's also good at telling jokes on top of the slapstick. Similar channels like his include William Osman, Michael Reeves, and I did a thing. But of the 4 of them Electroboom and I did a Thing upload the most consistently I think, though shout out to Michael Reeves for being the most insane of the 4 lol.

If you like just regular educational channels, then I've heard veritasium is good, and there's also Mark Rober though he's not just education, he also does some fun experiments and even dabble in dealing with scammers. There might be some controversy from when he made a video about autism because I heard he was promoting an autism advocacy group that was possibly tied to autism speaks (which is largely hated by the autistic community), but I'm not super informed on that and idk if he addressed it. His video about it was positive towards autistic people since his son is autistic though, so if that's a sticking point for you then you can always look into it and draw your own conclusions. It's not usually a topic of his videos though so if it's not a deal breaker then you can just watch any of his other videos and ignore that one.

If you like drama and video essays then TRO aka The Right Opinion is probably one of my favourite channels for that type of content, because he's really good at portraying every side fairly without coming across as obnoxiously neutral. He's also good at covering topics in a way that feels thorough without dragging on for too long.

Part 2

If you like video essays that aren't specifically about tea, or like social justice topics, then some good channels for that are Contrapoints, Shaun_vids, and SomeMoreNews. Their styles are quite different from each other but they cover a lot of the same or similar topics related to current events. Shaun_vids is the type to do a lot of in depth research about the groups he's talking about. He's more clinical, but also very thorough. Contrapoints comes in from a more emotional standpoint, not in the "feelings trump facts" way though, it's more like Hbomberguy is logically intelligent and tackles topics from that angle, while contrapoints is very emotionally intelligent, and tackles topics from that angle, addressing why different groups might feel a certain way and how they developed that mindset or how it influences their behaviour. Her video on incels is a great example of this, and is a really interesting video about those communities and the mindsets of the people who join them. I also really like her theatrical presentation, and she's very good at giving the other side of things a fair overview while not compromising her own views or being too gentle/forgiving with assholes or bigots. SomeMoreNews is the most confrontational out of the three. They also do a lot of research on the topics, but their style is very much like John Oliver, but with more of a news anchor theme rather than a talk show theme, and the host has more of a defined character that he plays rather than just playing "himself", though his personality does come through a lot too.

Come to think of it, John Oliver is another good channel in that genre since I think most episodes of Last Week Tonight have been uploaded on YouTube. He's very comedy focused but of these 4 his show has the most resources and as a result his show is possibly the most backed up by research on every topic he covers. Not that the others are lacking on that end by any means. But if you want actual on-screen citations from papers and studies, then his probably comes in first, followed by SomeMoreNews in second, and Shaun_vids (also known as just Shaun) in 3rd. Contrapoints comes in last but mostly just because the stuff she generally tries to tackle is the emotional side of things more than the statistical side of things (which can be just as, if not more valuable when tackling these topics. She has a reputation for deradicalizing a lot of alt right people for a reason), but that doesn't mean she doesn't cite her sources. She has an academic background and it shows. So it's not a criticism by any means, more a sliding scale of what each channel focuses on. So depends on where your preferences lie if that style of video appeals to you.

If you don't want to watch stuff about politics or social justice but still like video essays, then obviously VSauce is a good channel to binge, but if you want a channel that uploads more often and is currently uploading, then I guess it depends on what kind of topics you like. My tastes are really varies in this genre so I'd probably need more specifics if this is what you're looking for. Music? Movies? Theme parks? A little bit of everything? Debunking videos? Tv shows? Behind the scenes stuff? Archaeology? Space? True crime? Anime? Video games (as in it's an essay about the games, not a lets play or gaming challenge)? Let me know if you're interested in any specific recs in this genre or if you're up for a little bit of everything. The only channel that comes to mind that covers a wider range of topics is Folding Ideas, which is a great channel. But everyone else I tend to watch is usually more niche to some degree.

If you like more casual reaction content with funny people riffing off stuff they see online, then there's Chad Chad, Danny Gonzales, Drew Gooden, Cody Ko, and people in that general circle. They tend to reference other similar channels a lot so watching them can expose you to others if you like that genre. I only recently discovered Chad Chad who is really funny imo.

If you like less casual reaction content, as in movie/show reviewers, I have a lot, so if you're specifically interested in that let me know and I'll make it a separate post.

Some more random recs that didn't really fit into any particular category:

Any Austin. He does video game stuff, but not like any other channel, he does stuff like determining the unemployment rate of video game cities, or reviewing all the inns and restaurants in Skyrim, or talking about weird locations in video games that people don't usually notice or think about. One video series he has is seeing which video game characters in various franchises take the longest to drown. The topics he chooses are often very oddball but his delivery is so entertaining he manages to make the most mundane topics fun to think about. He takes the unemployment videos so seriously to the point of comedy, talking like he's a legitimate auditor and even printing out the reports and having a presentation at the end like he's at a meeting. He's good at making this so absurd that it's comical, but in a very deadpan kinda way.

DNSL. I'm not really sure how to describe him other than as a very successful troll who messes with people in online games. He doesn't go too far and most of his targets are assholes, so it doesn't feel too mean, more absurdist lol.

Sushi Ramen. He's like if a Japanese game show was a person. His vids are in Japanese, but with subtitles on most of his videos. He's very funny and has done some wacky things. It's hard to describe what he does exactly, kinda like Jackass mixed with a prank show mixed with some of the comedic diy style channels.

Scary Interesting. Stories about various disasters and tragedies. There are lots of channels like this, but scary interesting is the only one that I stuck with. I like the variety of stories, they way they're told, na how there aren't any bells and whistles, just some imagery put on screen to match whatever's happening or the setting, or from the event if available, and the guy telling the story. He tells them well without drawing them out too much or being sensational or over dramatic, while still including enough information to understand what's going on. Does lots of cave diving stories or mountain climbing stories, but also dabble in murders and disappearances and other various topics. Morbid but fascinating, and not all his stories have bad endings so it's not all depressing.

That's not all I have by a long shot but I tried to pick out the ones that stood out to me the most without getting bogged down in specifics, but if anyone wants more specific recs then let me know and I can elaborate or add on to what I've mentioned already.

Internet Comment Etiquette with Erik https://www.youtube.com/@commentiquette

Incognito Mode https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Q7XEy86Q7T-3kNpNjYgwA

UpIsNotJump https://www.youtube.com/@UpIsNotJump

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My subscriptions:

  • Cathode Ray Dude (placed him on top, because he deserves it. Loads of tech stuff that goes really into the nuts and bolts of it all)
  • Practical Engineering
  • Lazerpig (not for everyone, but check out the WW1 tank videos to see if it suits you)
  • Jay Foreman / MapMen
  • Tom Scott
  • Kurzgesagt
  • Lemmino
  • Lord Hardthrasher (kind of similar to lazerpig)

You should look up Ordinary Things. And once or twice a year Internet Historian puts out a new video.

Atomic Shrimp - He's got a huge variety of content. Scam baiting, cooking, his weird stuff in a can series, nature stuff. Absolutely lovely fellow.

To add a few I haven't seen mentioned yet:

  • jon bois
  • knowing better
  • folding ideas
  • Todd in the shadows
  • I did a thing
  • legal eagle
  • internet historian

And a few more which I think are great but YMMV depending on your particular interests:

  • city planner plays
  • historia civilis
  • junkyard digs
  • tech ingredients
  • Scott Manley
  • BobbyBroccoli
  • summoning salt

tl;dr: if you only pick up one name from all these comments, let it be jon bois. He's made some of the most compelling content I've ever seen, especially the "pretty good" series. Money back guarantee, you will not be disappointed.

tl;dr for real: jon bois, climate town, electroboom.

ISHITANI FURNITURE

Abroad in Japan

Girlfriend Reviews

Jeremy Fielding

Kai W

Matthias Wandel

Periodic Videos

Primitive Technology

Veritasium

Veritasium tends to push stuff that's relatively promotion - based. Not so different to kurzgesagt.

I've seen a couple of rebuttals from his videos that were sobering.

EDIT: That said he's a great communicator and his black hole video helped me a lot trying to make sense of it.

Do you happen to have a link to any of the rebuttals? I watch him a lot so I’m curious.

This is one I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM0aohBfUTc, they go a bit with the Veritasium guy in the comments.

A similar thing also happened before to CGP Grey with Adam Something (https://youtu.be/oafm733nI6U), though I would argue that I didn't think CGP Grey had any secret agenda, it was just overreaching.

That said, even the people I mention here they are also biassed in their own ways or they tend to now and then throw a foul ball.

I simply felt that both Veritasium and Kurgesagt are very good at convincing of certain opinions shared with their promoters.

The ISHITANI FURNITURE channel is a goldmine of craftsman info. One day I will make my own bed like his.

Viva La Dirt League if you're looking for short but hillarious videos. I also quite enjoy Foil Arms and Hog, Daniel Thrasher and Chris Hallbeck

Kurzgesagt and CGP Gray for general easy to understand science.

Numberphile, Stand-up Maths and 3Blue1Brown if you are into math facts and stuff and computer science. Also minutephysics for physics.

If you like Minecraft, you must check out all the members of Hermitcraft.

That about sums up my subscription list.

I follow some Canadian van dwellers. I like Foresty Forest best. He just goes around Canada and sometimes the USA climbing mountains with his dog, and living in his van.

His videos are chill.

Here lately I've been watching Camping With Steve. He's a really likeable Canadian guy who does all sorts of camping videos, and a lot of them are stealth camping, where he camps in some pretty crazy places in all sorts of imaginative and inexpensive ways. I've always liked to daydream about camping out in various wooded areas that I would see while driving by them in the car, and this guy actually goes and does it. Along highway on-ramps, in the middle of a round-about, behind billboards, in the wooded lot behind a police station... you name it. I'm too old and comfortable to go do something like that now, so it's fun living vicariously through him.

The Present Past (History)

Cody’s Lab (Science)

NileRed (Chemistry)

Finematics (Cryptocurrency)

The Hated One (Privacy)

RealLifeLore (Geography & Recent History)

Tom Nicholas (Sociology & Philosophy)

PhilosophyTube (Philosophy)

NileGreen is also great! YouTube keeps censoring them though

Depends what you're into

I like:

Air Safety Institute - https://www.youtube.com/@AirSafetyInstitute - they cover recent GA crashes, all sorts of stuff related to airplanes and what not. Really interesting and well presented.

HorrorGeek - https://www.youtube.com/@TheHorrorGeek - amusing reviews of horror movies

NerdExplains - https://www.youtube.com/@NerdExplains - really snarky and mean-spirited horror movie reviews

PeriscopeFilm - https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm - Archival film footage from through the ages, just all kinds of crazy stuff

Ill Advised Records - https://www.youtube.com/@illadvisedrecords - relaxing music

Law & Crime Network - https://www.youtube.com/@LawAndCrime - Content about crime and trials and what have you

Cryochamber - https://www.youtube.com/@cryochamberlabel - Relaxing music

There's a bunch more (the New Jersey museum guy, Drachnifel, bunch of true crime stuff) but that's what leapt to mind first

Steve Wallis - camping with Steve

Super wholesome - great dude. Enjoys camping in..... Non traditional spots.

First video I watched was him camping in the middle of a roundabout (traffic circle). Good times.

Haven't seen acollierasto mentioned yet.

She's a scientist with a PHD in Astrophysics and does deep dives on specific topics, generally from the angle of science communication and how it often fails that topic in some way.

Her videos are very simple and low production value, but packed with information. She's a great communicator and you walk away from each video, not just with better knowledge on a topic, but also with a sense of where the holes in that knowledge are. Like where the limits of the metaphor being used to covey the topic to you exist.

Adding to those that aren't here

Tech ingredients - science experiments at home on a wide range of subjects

This old tony - well crafted videos about machining and other shop stuff with a pinch of humor

Look mom no computer - electronics and synths

Strange parts - maker, electronics (he made the iphone with USB c)

AvE - foul mouthed hero, tool teardowns and other stuff

Wintergatan - about a man who's making a music machine

Wintergarten: a man who keeps getting defeated by ausic machine

Can't believe nobody's recommended NileRed/NileBlue yet. His videos are awesome

Code Bullet: Australian doing stupid and entertaining programming

John Savill: if you want to know anything about the Microsoft Azure Cloud

Francis John: Irish dude playing Rimworld and Oxygen Not Included with weird settings.

Without saying what you like it is quite hard to recommend things.

Only ones I haven't seen mentioned so far:

Post Apocalyptic Inventor

German guy visits scrapyards to find tools and other items to repair out repurpose.

AudioPilz

Aka. Bad Gear. Reviews of synths and drum machines. Goes over the pros and cons, mostly cons. Does AV audio demo and 2 song demos with music videos made from retro cartoons and tons of meme content.

David Hilowitz Music

I guess I would call this mostly unusual music stuff. Lots of unusual and found or cheaply made diy instruments. He uploads sample libraries for then as well so you can make songs with them too.

Rose Anvil

Dissects shoes and boots so you can find footwear worth the cost.

I love bad gear. I’ve got many of the things he’s made videos about and I always get a laugh out of the endless rapid fire meme onslaught.

Sadly, I don't have any, but I still love the videos. My SO can't stand the sound of synths, plus I don't really know how to use one anyway. I do want to get a midi controller and learn to make some lofi stuff though. I think I could get away with that!

You could start by messing around with GarageBand on an iPhone or iPad. It’s free, surprisingly deep, and you can wear headphones to not bother your SO.

  • Nino's Home - Easy desserts and snacks recipes
  • Historical Italian Cooking - self-explanatory
  • Tasting History with Max Miller - historical recipes recreated
  • toldinstone - Historian explains common Ancient Roman questions
  • JustOneCookBook - Japanese recipes
  • Kommander Karl - NPC skits

Cool DIY projects with an overall chilled vibe: https://www.youtube.com/@DIYPerks

Relaxing watch restorations with informative commentary https://www.youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival

For informative but entertaining car related stuff MCM are pretty great: https://www.youtube.com/mightycarmods

If you're into F1, The Race has a pretty good youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/WeAreTheRace

Also Josh Revell deserves a shoutout https://www.youtube.com/@thejoshrevell

Crazy mashups - think Mr Bean in Cyberpunk: https://www.youtube.com/@eli_handle_bwav

General drunken shinanigans: https://www.youtube.com/@coldones

Chilled, nicely shot Japanese cooking videos: https://www.youtube.com/@JunsKitchen

Other generic cooking advice but also quite entertaining: https://www.youtube.com/@SortedFood

Geeky coffee related stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@jameshoffmann

Standard self plug (mostly stupid gaming stuff): https://www.youtube.com/@WoodstockYT

Love Wristwatch Revival. Almost makes me want to learn watchmaking.

So good isn’t it? I did buy a few Burgeon tools after watching for a while! If money was no object I’d have all of them.

If you like artists and nonsense comedy to distract you from reality, I highly recommend Drawfee

Content Warning: M (Millennials)

When it comes to food, stay away from non-professional channels like Tasty or even websites like Allrecipes.com. The recipes may turn out to be disasters - pro sources always test and retest their recipes.

I can recommend these food channels:

Thai cooking by a Thai https://www.youtube.com/@PailinsKitchen
Soul food by Momma Cherri https://www.youtube.com/@MommaCherri
EZ Asian cooking https://www.youtube.com/@adamliaw
Italian https://www.youtube.com/@NOTANOTHERCOOKINGSHOW
Keto recipes https://www.youtube.com/@KetoConnect
Baking https://www.youtube.com/@BrianLagerstrom
Food Lab https://www.youtube.com/@JKenjiLopezAlt/videos
Ethan Chlebowski https://www.youtube.com/@EthanChlebowski/videos

I would recomment to you Maangchi. I love her Korean recipes and she is so funny and cute.

French Cooking Academy: youtube | invidious

Alex - he now focuses on series, where he explores how to make something by talking to experts and then experimenting. Some of my favourites are the fried rice and the pasta series. Does not focus on recipes though his earlier content did. youtube | invidious

I'll skip the ones already mentioned.

Anton Petrov - Science and Space news
Postmodern Jukebox - Modern songs in different styles
Legal Eagle - A lawyers take on modern events, movies, etc
Ze Frank - I am unable to describe, just give a video a watch
Anything with Simon Whistler, he has too many channels to list
Munro Live - An engineering firms take on new cars.
nicola white mudlark - Very good if you like history.

Nick Zentner (@GeologyNick) has been delivering college level lectures and seminars in geology for years. He has several lecture series ranging from 101 level, senior College level, to breaking research. He also has many shorts and onsite presentations.

Noraly (@ItchyBoots) has been traveling around the world via motorcycle for 6 or so years. She's currently traversing western Africa, and has hundreds of hours of backlog. She has previously traveled from India to the Netherlands, and then from Argentina to Alaska (with a break for COVID).

GeoGuesser's GeoWizard's adventures

I'll watch anything, but never expected I'd watch a dude just walk in a straight line for hours

Edit: clearly not that memorable, but still recommended!

For in-depth game analysis: Joseph Anderson; Whitelight

If you're interested in a dry-humored, game-reviewing owl with an upload schedule just as fucked up as his sleep schedule, try Shammy.

For humorous but interesting, creative and well explained engineering: Stuff Made Here

For interesting gaming challenges: Ymfah is absolutely amazing

For entertainement:

Good Mythical Morning
Mythical Kitchen
Cold Ones
Girlfriend Reviews
Ididathing
William Osman
Michael Reeves
Ludwig/Mogul Mail

Podcasts:
H3 Podcast
The Yard Podcast
Trash Taste Podcast
PaymoneyWubby Stream Archive

Michael Reeves

It kills me that he uploads so infrequently. I love his content and can never get enough of it.

Veritasium, high minded science made simple and easy without it seeming patronizing

And of course a plug for Simon Whistler, the man has like 8 individual channels covering a lot of information

History Matters is absolutely hilarious if you like world history and British humor.

Sam Holmes Sailing. I know nothing about sailing and somehow stumbled across his videos. He makes vlogs about his solo sailing adventures. They are relaxing to me for some reason.

yes! his solo trip to Hawaii was the first I came across, one of the more genuine sailing channels and not as "influencerish" as a lot of the others

DankPods

He recently announced that he'll be taking a break from content creation, so this is the perfect time for you to binge watch everything he has made in the past 3 years.

Little Chinese Everywhere
I've traveled in China a lot and she goes to places I've never had the opportunity to, asks so many well thought out questions to the locals, and does an excellent job editing it together. Great channel if you like travel stuff

The B1M
Incredible channel about construction and architecture. Because they cover worldwide you get a big of regional information. The videos are high quality with tons of business details you would have to pay for premium subscriptions to get before.

Maigomika
New channel about a couple who moved to a very rural part of Japan and their challenges. It isnt stuffed with info, they let the environment lead the pace and fill in little details here and there. Beautiful imagery with a bit of home cam style that really brings the viewer into their world.

@yousuckatcooking - entertaining cooking and legit recipes!
@fortnine - amazing quality motorbike channel. Even if you don't ride its very educational and entertaining.

SUV RVing: https://www.youtube.com/@SUVRVing

An extremely down to earth travel channel about a guy who mostly just drives around exploring the American West and sleeping in his car.

He finds all kinds of hidden gems you have never heard of and he researches and tells you a lot of interesting details about the areas he visits. But the videos are very chill and he talks about some of the more mundane details of his trip that would be cut from most channels videos.

It is extremely relaxing to watch, really feels like you are hanging out and going on a road trip with your buddy.

AvE Adam Savage/Tested Bushy and the Backlogs

I really like Potholer54 - he doesn't do any ads so youtube NEVER promotes his videos. He will read, cite, link all his sources and more importantly, will respond to misrepresentations of science in the media. He will usually explain the science behind the articles he sources and explain why the media gets it wrong.

I've also found Skip Intro is really good regarding copaganda. He has some great videos on a lot of the media I was exposed to growing up and its good to reexamine it with a more modern take. He also dunks on paw patrols which is fucking terrible.

  • The China Show
  • The Punkrock MBA
  • Callmenchoko
  • Kmac2021
  • The Art of Photography
  • TwoSetViolin
  • Davie504
  • NFKRZ
  • TwoMinutePapers
  • Adam Neely

I scrolled quite a ways and did not see anyone mention "Well, there's your problem". Its a podcast about engineering disasters with slides and pronouns.

Sampson boat co (incredible rebuild of a classic sailing yacht)

Andrew camerata (crazy construction projects and equipment)

"The Infographics Show" kind of my favorite.

Also recently seen video "Tourism in Afganistan" recorded less than year ago. Interesting content I would say.

Cathode Ray Dude, CloudCuckooCountry, Distant Signal, Jacob geller, Jay foremen, patriciantv, power pak, technology Connections, train of thought

  • zefrank (funny 10 minute nature documentaries)
  • AlphaPhoenix (highly informative science communication)

https://www.youtube.com/@MrBallen/videos

MrBallen is a guy who retells storys in a very compelling way. Stories of murder-cases, odd occurences, sinister events, etc.

This channel is really worth listening/watching (and also binging). I discovered his channel two years ago and follow it ever since. The videos length unsually varies between 15 to 30 minutes. Although the video's thumbnails and titles appear like it is clickbait, each video is well-made and worth a watch! Almost every Sunday a new video is uploaded.

Overly Sarcastic Productions have a fun mix of history and entertainment, combined with a nuce art style

Photonicinduction - Fun with electricity. A good reminder about not messing with electrical devices and cables.

The Engineerguy - Bill Hammack explains the mechanisms and insides of various items. (CC-by licenced.)

Bushbeeman - In the bush, finding bees, the man.

SUSD - Modern boardgame and cardgame reviews.

Haven't checked these out much, but they were recommended too:

Technology Connections

Household tech tips

How Money Works

Informative ones I subscribe to:

  • Technology Connections
  • Rebecca Watson
  • Steve Mould
  • Dr Becky
  • Naomi Wi
  • Climate Town
  • History Matters

Legit Street Cars, Primitive Technology, Ghost Town Living, Donut (their older stuff is better than newer), Colin Furze (older stuff also better than new, but newer stuff is bigger, more expensive projects as his channel has grown), Blackmail Studio and Wristwatch Revival. Those are the YT channels I'm constantly watching (along with Critical Role, but excluded due to length of episodes).

Edit: Oh and SpyroPyro does some awesome stuff with Lasers.

Captain Disillusion (vital video debunking and general videography/effects)

Jim Can't Swim (criminal interrogation psychology)

its called doom scrolling literally OP they weaponized everything no tinfoil

Neil Halloran! They produce the highest quality documentary-like videos on YT. And I bet you never heard of them! Please do give him a search

Will do! Thanks!

Awesome! Thanks for this post by the way! It has been my favorite post to go through since I don't have a google account and can't use their recommendation system. Plus, the recommendation system definitely doesn't give us as high quality channels as some from this thread.

There are still hundreds if not thousands of hidden gems on YouTube. I'll come back to this post and share some as I rediscover them.

Here is another one before I go. Astartes. Sad they stopped but glad they found employment at least for their skills.

That's great! I was actually surprised with the amount of responses this got but it's really opened me to a lot of great content on YouTube. I've been coming back to this too and trying a bunch of recommendations. 😊

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I'm basically copying most of my subscription list here:

  • Chef James Makinson - a chef who has done more calm reaction videos recently but has recipes on his channel as well
  • Dark5 - one of those channels that produces videos on 5 things about many different stuff (mostly on dark subjects)
  • Brew - scaring people from everyday stuff, one video at a time
  • Mentour Pilot - commercial pilot giving insights to accidents and incidents as well as other aviation-related content
  • 74 Gear - another commercial pilot but has more lighthearted aviation content
  • TheFlightChannel - recreations of flight accidents and incidents with text explanations
  • PBS Eons - interesting channel on the evolution of life on Earth through the eons
  • HONEST GUIDE - channel that offers honest advice on Prague, Czech Republic
  • Mustard - high-quality documentary videos on some technologies, they don't post regularly but the wait is worth the content
  • Langfocus - a language enthusiast talking about languages and simplifying them as an intro
  • Jelle's Marble Runs - marble racing, the world's sport

I think that should be good enough...

Kill Tony (1 minute stand-up comedy peformed by mostly amateurs)

One Bite Pizza Reviews (try and guess the pizza score before it drops)

I've really enjoyed Strange Parts (Also Stranger Parts for longer format) over the years. He's been through a lot and the videos show some of that. But I think he's doing alright again now and has interesting things frequently.

I also really enjoy Simone Giertz, she's an excellent follow, also has gone through a lot (brain tumor for one) over the years but is still enjoyable.

Adam Savage Tested - It's Adam Savage from mythbusters etc, but doing his own thing and being a geek about it. I really enjoy his personal content. I greatly dislike Mythbusters and most forms of TV media.

ProjectFarm - Independent testing of all kinds of things. If you need to know how tools compare to each other without worrying about sponsor money, Todd is excellent. His methods aren't perfect, but they are good enough for what he is trying to do and for understanding somewhat practically how the various things compare.

If you are ok with a little more spasticity, Colin Furze is always up to a cheeky bit of fun.

Zach Freedman - Prototyping and 3d printing but make it fun and full of puns and sarcasm and a dash of nonsense

Mr Carlson's Lab - If you like electronics and very long format, chat while working style content. This is a great one.

DownieLive - Has good travel videos, especially liked his Alaska series, the canal series was neat and he has multiple unique train ones that are interesting.

I've started to check out Alice Cappelle after watching a good video on the counter points to the 15-minute city.

Music

Lauren Babic - Metal singer, does lots of covers, has her own stuff too, but I enjoy her stuff a lot. She's my favorite singer along with Courtney LaPlante.

Ichika Nito - Lots of really chill, intricate, technical guitar, I wish he'd do more long format stuff but he's fun to listen to. Similar playing to Covet and Polyphia but generally solo and easier going.

From the bandwagon: GothamChess. He's a bit too dramatic at times, but it's fun.

Self-sufficient me is nice and relaxing

History Matters is absolutely hilarious if you like world history and British humor.

This a the millionth comment but I found this CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED channel that fills me with glee.

Down From The Attic

Reviews old nostalgic board games and has the most lovely persona. No clickbaity over-hype YouTube persona BS. He’s absolutely wonderful.

Astrum Decoding the Unknown NOVA PBS Official

Advoko Makes is my favourite. Russian guy building stuff in the woods. Posts new videos rarely but the quality is top notch

check channelcrawler dot com, but the main thing about any social media is you get on look at what you went there for in the first place and get off never scroll and watch recommended videos best case scenario you lose 2 hours scrolling or get mk ultra'd into buying door dash every night

Not a channel, but some resources. The addons are all open source. Also unfortunately many subreddits that had quality channel suggestions have been either banned due to being "unmoderated" or are lost to time. Please post any finds here or help archive them if you can. The Datahorders community is a great place to start!

List of resources to find more gems. Note many posts and subreddits have been lost/banned/removed. Here are the ones I found.

H3 podcast is the best show on the internet baby let's go

OrdinarySausage has great videos. I try to watch them as soon as they are released

A few I haven't seen mentioned yet:

AaronGrooves Atomic Shrimp bald and bankrupt Limmy Pat Finnerty Quentin Smirhes Sabine Hossenfelder

FortNine; motorcycle and related stuff with a knack for writing and cinematography.