SpaceX stops using YouTube; new content X only; effect on NSF content?

[M.E.T.]

Resistance is futile.

[HVM]

This time I was going to Watch NSF stream, no snapping back to the 480p... And no problem with my connection, it was X to NSF connection that failed (There can be artistic exaggeration on the second image).

[HVM]

Resistance is futile.

I'm not a trekker, but if I remember correctly resistance worked every time at the end for the Star Fleet.

Elon suggesting that X may switch to a paywall.  Will Spacex launch webcasts then be available only to subscribers? 

 - Ed Kyle

Here's the twee... XPost and CN:

[alugobi]

Eric Berger article about this:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/09/spacex-breaks-another-booster-reuse-record-but-did-anyone-see-it/

[meekGee]

Resistance is futile.

Well at least it's temperature dependent.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

NEWS: Here's some updates on X's livestreaming features from media engineering lead @marmars:

- Quality and latency updates on the way
- No current plans for 4k streams, but this could change if more people start watching on TVs
- finally updated to new usernames in comments

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1705347862672937154

4K is definitely coming, but we need to complete several other features first

[Jarnis]

I’m not sure I follow you here. Ive been able to watch Twitter videos without signing in if I have a direct link.

A lot of streaming platforms, actually most of them from Hulu to Netflix to Disney+ to Amazon Prime, require you sign in first before watching, and most of those require a subscription to see anything. Twitter lets you watch videos without signing in.

Videos, yes. Saved ones, after the event.

Livestreams, no. Unless they changed something in the past two weeks.

Comparing Twitter to premium streaming services like Disney+ or Amazon Prime is just silly. For one, those actually serve high quality streams. (4K, often HDR) and those services have no free option.

[M.E.T.]

I’m not sure I follow you here. Ive been able to watch Twitter videos without signing in if I have a direct link.

A lot of streaming platforms, actually most of them from Hulu to Netflix to Disney+ to Amazon Prime, require you sign in first before watching, and most of those require a subscription to see anything. Twitter lets you watch videos without signing in.

Videos, yes. Saved ones, after the event.

Livestreams, no. Unless they changed something in the past two weeks.

Comparing Twitter to premium streaming services like Disney+ or Amazon Prime is just silly. For one, those actually serve high quality streams. (4K, often HDR) and those services have no free option.

But premium streaming services don’t have SpaceX launches, so X for the win there.

[jtrame]

For us less technically minded folks it would be nice if they did an app (Xcast?) for the smart TVs.  That's how I access YouTube.  I do have an old Apple TV box lying around, maybe I can send the stream from my phone to that? 

[chopsticks]

I think one of the fundamental problems with moving this to Twitter is that Twitter is social media whereas YouTube is a video hosting site. Many people, myself included do not use or want to use Twitter or other social media. It's a lot more exclusive to use a social media website for this purpose.

[daveglo]

I think one of the fundamental problems with moving this to Twitter is that Twitter is social media whereas YouTube is a video hosting site. Many people, myself included do not use or want to use Twitter or other social media. It's a lot more exclusive to use a social media website for this purpose.

YT certainly IS "social media", it left the basic video hosting milieu a long time ago.  You can share content with subscribers, generate followers, and interact through chat sessions.  Sounds like social media to me.  Even Wikipedia admits it.

You can avoid all that on YT, but it's still there. Close chat windows, never subscribe, etc.  Just like you can avoid all the conversations on X if you prefer.  Set up an account and do nothing but follow SpaceX.  It will be pretty sanitary.

X started out differently from YT, sure, but it's evolving into a full-service platform, under Elon's vision.

You'll end up going where the content you want is served.  The marketplace of ideas will determine the winner.

[chopsticks]

I think one of the fundamental problems with moving this to Twitter is that Twitter is social media whereas YouTube is a video hosting site. Many people, myself included do not use or want to use Twitter or other social media. It's a lot more exclusive to use a social media website for this purpose.

YT certainly IS "social media", it left the basic video hosting milieu a long time ago.  You can share content with subscribers, generate followers, and interact through chat sessions.  Sounds like social media to me.  Even Wikipedia admits it.

You can avoid all that on YT, but it's still there. Close chat windows, never subscribe, etc.  Just like you can avoid all the conversations on X if you prefer.  Set up an account and do nothing but follow SpaceX.  It will be pretty sanitary.

X started out differently from YT, sure, but it's evolving into a full-service platform, under Elon's vision.

You'll end up going where the content you want is served.  The marketplace of ideas will determine the winner.

You can't really say that YT is the same sort of social media as Twitter. I see what you're saying with chats and stuff, but YT is still a website where you go to watch a video. Twitter is a place where you mainly go to yell at people on the internet.

[edzieba]

I think one of the fundamental problems with moving this to Twitter is that Twitter is social media whereas YouTube is a video hosting site. Many people, myself included do not use or want to use Twitter or other social media. It's a lot more exclusive to use a social media website for this purpose.

YT certainly IS "social media", it left the basic video hosting milieu a long time ago.  You can share content with subscribers, generate followers, and interact through chat sessions.  Sounds like social media to me.  Even Wikipedia admits it.

You can avoid all that on YT, but it's still there. Close chat windows, never subscribe, etc.  Just like you can avoid all the conversations on X if you prefer.  Set up an account and do nothing but follow SpaceX.  It will be pretty sanitary.

X started out differently from YT, sure, but it's evolving into a full-service platform, under Elon's vision.

You'll end up going where the content you want is served.  The marketplace of ideas will determine the winner.

Youtube: Subscribe to channels of interest, visit subscriptions page URL directly. No 'social' functions, no posts, no images, no comments, no algorithmic content, just a chronological list of linked videos.
This absolute basic functionality cannot be recreated on Twitter. There is not even a list of past SpaceX launch streams (the 'media' tab omits them for some reason, and there is no 'broadcasts' tab). If you want to go back and check a stream, you need to go look up the launch date elsewhere, then scroll interminably though an unfiltered list of other random stuff until you get to the desired date, and hope the website has actually decided to serve up the link within the content stream (if it was posted as a reply to another post, then there's a good chance it will not ever appear).

[ClayJar]

This absolute basic functionality cannot be recreated on Twitter. There is not even a list of past SpaceX launch streams (the 'media' tab omits them for some reason, and there is no 'broadcasts' tab). If you want to go back and check a stream, you need to go look up the launch date elsewhere, then scroll interminably though an unfiltered list of other random stuff until you get to the desired date, and hope the website has actually decided to serve up the link within the content stream (if it was posted as a reply to another post, then there's a good chance it will not ever appear).

With all the middle-of-my-night launches, I've been watching them when I get up in the morning.  Tracking down the streams a few hours later is annoying enough, but I can only imagine how much more annoying it would be long after the fact.

Actually, I don't really have to imagine, as I just tracked down all the links and used them to create a new thread: SpaceX Launch Stream Links

We can't change what SpaceX is doing, but we *can* make it easier for NSFers to keep up with the streams.   

[catdlr]

This absolute basic functionality cannot be recreated on Twitter. There is not even a list of past SpaceX launch streams (the 'media' tab omits them for some reason, and there is no 'broadcasts' tab). If you want to go back and check a stream, you need to go look up the launch date elsewhere, then scroll interminably though an unfiltered list of other random stuff until you get to the desired date, and hope the website has actually decided to serve up the link within the content stream (if it was posted as a reply to another post, then there's a good chance it will not ever appear).

With all the middle-of-my-night launches, I've been watching them when I get up in the morning.  Tracking down the streams a few hours later is annoying enough, but I can only imagine how much more annoying it would be long after the fact.

Actually, I don't really have to imagine, as I just tracked down all the links and used them to create a new thread:

This absolute basic functionality cannot be recreated on Twitter. There is not even a list of past SpaceX launch streams (the 'media' tab omits them for some reason, and there is no 'broadcasts' tab). If you want to go back and check a stream, you need to go look up the launch date elsewhere, then scroll interminably though an unfiltered list of other random stuff until you get to the desired date, and hope the website has actually decided to serve up the link within the content stream (if it was posted as a reply to another post, then there's a good chance it will not ever appear).

With all the middle-of-my-night launches, I've been watching them when I get up in the morning.  Tracking down the streams a few hours later is annoying enough, but I can only imagine how much more annoying it would be long after the fact.

Actually, I don't really have to imagine, as I just tracked down all the links and used them to create a new thread: SpaceX Launch Stream Links

We can't change what SpaceX is doing, but we *can* make it easier for NSFers to keep up with the streams.   

ClayJar,
I've been posting all the HD re-broadcasts of SpaceX published by Space Dev when they post it on YT minutes after the launch live stream is complete, and then I post the YT link on the launch thread.  If you are not available during the launch, I'll be happy to also update your thread with the "X" post to keep it current.
Tony

[psionedge]

I tried to load a recent livestream on the app formerly known as twitter and it would simply load to a frozen image about around T+6min. That's just one problem among many with video on X.

Doesn't mean much to me since they've become pretty boring. I care more about the missions themselves than the fact of launch. And yet another starlink launch isn't appointment viewing for me. And if replays aren't available then I guess I won't be watching them.

[butters]

I think one of the fundamental problems with moving this to Twitter is that Twitter is social media whereas YouTube is a video hosting site. Many people, myself included do not use or want to use Twitter or other social media. It's a lot more exclusive to use a social media website for this purpose.

Vimeo, Brightcove, and Spotlightr are examples of video hosting platforms. You know they're video hosting platforms because when you go to their websites, you see a b2b marketing pitch, not a selection of videos to watch. The videos they host are usually embedded on the customer's website, app, marketing materials, etc.

YouTube is video-focused social media. You consume content on their platform. There's an algorithm that tries to get you to consume more content and view more ads, which is how they make money. Users subscribe, like, and comment, which are important inputs to the algorithm. Creators don't have to pay to post content. These are all hallmarks of social media.

Twitter/X is the same concept, but starting with short-form text as the content medium and expanding multimedia options more recently. Reddit is social media. And you know what? So is phpBB. The NSF forums are social media. We're using it right now. We love it. Smash the like button if you agree.

So if you don't like X, which is a totally valid expression of preference, then it must be for reasons other than it being social media. Perhaps those reasons define "social media" in your mind. For example, if you don't like social media platforms that are prone to snarky, polarizing, or toxic content, then perhaps social media platforms which lack those attributes are not "social media" to you. It's a term you use to describe things you don't like.

As another example, many social media properties are based on the same software, and yet they feel like very different communities with very different social norms. You may love NSF, there are undoubtedly other phpBB forums that you would loathe. This is a great community. With other communities, your mileage will vary.

And on the topic of community, I hope our's does not succumb to the kind of polarization and thoughtless virtue signaling that has impacted a lot of social media and frankly our civilization. We have many more substantive topics to disagree about, debate, and discuss than which social platforms we prefer. Pretty much everything in our lives should be more important than where launch webcasts are hosted.

The fact that this topic has inspired so much conversation suggests to me that we're really not talking about video streaming. We're talking about who we are, how we see ourselves, what we stand for, etc. and presenting that image to our peers for their approval. That's the stuff that gets us all riled up about trivialities, and social media in all its forms does have a way of bringing these human behaviors to the forefront.

[edzieba]

The fact that this topic has inspired so much conversation suggests to me that we're really not talking about video streaming.

No, we're tlaking about poor UI for video. On one hand, you have a firehose of random content with some videos sometimes present in it, shuffled by 'the algorithm', with little to no effective archiving and a search function that is ineffective at best. On the other, you have a chronological list of video streams (with some optional social stuff that can be entirely ignored with no consequence or impact) searchable within a single channel.

tl;dr: here is a list of every SpaceX livestream on Youtube up until they stopped hosting them. There are no social posts to wade through, no randomly missed links because an algorithm forget to include them, are in simple newest-first chronological order, are clearly titled, and are trivially searchable without random content from other channels being included.
No such equivalent exists on Twitter.

[RedLineTrain]

The fact that this topic has inspired so much conversation suggests to me that we're really not talking about video streaming.

No, we're tlaking about poor UI for video. On one hand, you have a firehose of random content with some videos sometimes present in it, shuffled by 'the algorithm', with little to no effective archiving and a search function that is ineffective at best. On the other, you have a chronological list of video streams (with some optional social stuff that can be entirely ignored with no consequence or impact) searchable within a single channel.

YouTube is a great service, but it's not perfect.  Discovery of interesting streams and videos outside of specific searches is not very good.  Twitter's is better in some respects for my purposes.

The YouTube search function varies by device.  The desktop YouTube search function is pretty good.  But the TV YouTube search function isn't very useful on my TV.  It was becoming a hit or miss whether I could find an ongoing official launch livestream.  Even going specifically into the SpaceX subscription would give you a more or less unusable list of videos.

This is all a moving target.  YouTube improves and regresses as well as Twitter does.

[catdlr]

I had a past discussion with the "Videos from Space" from SPACE.com team and, at that time, they would not commit to re-broadcasting any SpaceX live streams, only replays afterward. Well, they changed their minds, and starting today, they plan to rebroadcast the SpaceX flight. Broadcast courtesy: SpaceX.

My other contact is The Space Devs, but they will continue to provide a HD replay after the launch broadcast is completed.