I have been a YouTube TV subscriber since moving to the US in early 2017. Although I have tried other streaming and cable services, I continue to return to YouTube TV as my streaming platform of choice. I love YouTube TV for many reasons, including unlimited DVR and the best algorithm for surfacing content.

Still, not all features are created equal. You’ll want to tweak certain features and settings to improve your experience and get the most out of it on your favorite streaming devices. From one of YouTube TV’s earliest subscribers, here are my tips for getting the most out of Google’s TV streaming service.

Add any show to your library

Make the most of that unlimited DVR

There’s a secret to YouTube TV’s incredible content matching algorithm. You have to feed it as much information about your likes and dislikes as possible. After seven years, YouTube TV finally understands everything I like, and the platform has brought to light shows I didn’t know existed.

The first step is to find the shows you’re currently watching. Go to the show on YouTube TV and add it to your library. This does two things. It starts recording new episodes and starts recording all reruns.

Unlimited DVR means you can record tens of thousands of hours of content. After seven years, I’ve added over 500 shows to my library and can watch about 50,000 hours of content.

Live TV reruns many older episodes and my YouTube TV library contains all 22 seasons of NCIS. That’s 467 episodes of NCISplus at least another 50 of the spin-off shows. The same goes for Law and order And Law and Order: SVU (total more than 1,000), Modern family (250), The Simpsons (650+), The kitchen of hell (340+), Master Chef (270+), and more.

Sometimes YouTube TV will automatically play an older episode of a show, or if you’re using a streaming device with a remote, you’ll accidentally play the wrong episode. When this happens, it will appear on your home screen and you can easily delete it. On a mobile device, select Mark as viewed from the overflow menu (the three dots). For example, if you’re using an Apple TV (my favorite streaming device), hover over the show and hold select button.

Enable notifications for programs you want to watch live

Don’t miss the shows that really matter to you

When you have hundreds of shows and tens of thousands of hours to watch, it becomes difficult for YouTube TV to highlight the shows you want to watch when they’re live. That’s where notifications come in handy, and why you should install the YouTube TV app on all of your devices.

On your mobile device, navigate to a show on YouTube TV and press the call icon next to the check mark. This will alert you when new episodes of the show are airing live, and ensure that you don’t encounter spoilers on the internet. As my YouTube TV library grows, especially with the algorithm surfacing new content, it becomes harder to keep up with the shows I like to watch. Notifications ensure that I keep track of everything I want to watch live.

YouTube TV is fantastic for sports and live events

There is no better streaming platform for sports

If there is one reason to subscribe to YouTube TV, it is for sports and live event coverage. It is the best platform for this.

Alongside the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Google emphasized that YouTube TV Multiview is here to stay. It lets you watch four livestreams on one screen, like you’re at a sports bar. You can only choose from specific streams, but it’s still a fantastic way to watch when there’s a crucial moment in your favorite sport.

Source: YouTube

I also love the Key Plays feature. It’s enabled by default and lets you watch the key highlights of a match when you log in halfway through. I use this feature to watch the key goals and misses from my beloved Man United games.

The unlimited DVR is also handy. You don’t have to decide what to watch or record and you can record any sport. I’m not a huge American sports fan, but I have YouTube TV set to record every game for the Giants, Warriors, Sharks and Lakers. It also records every session of every F1 race and every Premier League game for every team. Why? Because it can.

Customize the TV guide and all add-ons

Make it your own, but be aware of this specific flaw

Source: YouTube

The last thing I recommend is to customize the TV guide and add-ons to your needs. YouTube TV has options to make it a truly customized experience. Want limited 4K coverage, offline downloads, and multiple simultaneous streams? Those are available via add-ons.

When you customize the order of the TV guide (or which channels are shown) and new channels are added to YouTube TV later, they won’t appear in the TV guide until you manually add them to your customizations.

Like most cable providers, it includes add-ons for other streaming services, including Max, Starz, Paramount+, Sundance Now and more, giving you access to a variety of streaming services from one platform. If you want the NFL, YouTube TV is home to Sunday Ticket and NFL RedZone, as well as every WNBA game.

YouTube TV keeps on giving

I went without YouTube TV for a few weeks when my card expired and I forgot to update it. I noticed that the platform keeps adding to your library. Instead of DVR recordings where you can skip the ads, it records the On Demand version of the most popular shows.

You can’t skip the ads, but at least your shows are being recorded while you’re technically not subscribed. This only lasts for 30 days. After that, it stops recording, so whatever you miss is lost from your collection until you resubscribe and it’s replayed on Live TV.

I love YouTube TV for so many reasons, and it’s the best streaming TV service. And with a few of these tweaks, you can make it even better.