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

[octavo]

I was under the impression that SpaceX has to pay for YouTube hosting.  And then you have to turn on ads in order for YouTube to provide reach (that's probably why SpaceX has turned them on, not because they expect to make any money off the ads).  Also, I have been having trouble finding the official SpaceX stream rather than the knock-offs.

No, you do not have to pay YouTube anything to host videos. You will not see adverts if you have a YouTube Premium subscription. YouTube keeps the service free by serving ads.

[RedLineTrain]

I was under the impression that SpaceX has to pay for YouTube hosting.  And then you have to turn on ads in order for YouTube to provide reach (that's probably why SpaceX has turned them on, not because they expect to make any money off the ads).  Also, I have been having trouble finding the official SpaceX stream rather than the knock-offs.

No, you do not have to pay YouTube anything to host videos. You will not see adverts if you have a YouTube Premium subscription. YouTube keeps the service free by serving ads.

Are you sure that there aren't charges for high-profile business accounts?  SpaceX has an extensive catalogue of videos, some of which have a high number of views.

[cartman]

its 1080p@60fps. Bitrate could be higher, it is only 3MBits

https://twitter.com/robotbeat/status/1699234289349484937

This video has much sharper quality than normal that I've noticed for Twitter videos.

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1699229958064005624

I know the SpaceX tweet is not a stream, but can anyone establish what resolution the drone video is at? Wouldn’t surprise me if Elon made sure SpaceX could use beta features not yet generally available.

[Starmang10]

its 1080p@60fps. Bitrate could be higher, it is only 3MBits

https://twitter.com/robotbeat/status/1699234289349484937

This video has much sharper quality than normal that I've noticed for Twitter videos.

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1699229958064005624

I know the SpaceX tweet is not a stream, but can anyone establish what resolution the drone video is at? Wouldn’t surprise me if Elon made sure SpaceX could use beta features not yet generally available.

I would still prefer to use it on Youtube, though.

[Cabbage123]

Given the upcoming Starship launch the timing of this could not be worse.

Normally I have YouTube via Firefox on my Win 10 desktop with an HDMI cable running to a 55 inch 1080 TV as a second desktop. The picture is always perfect, and enjoyed by all the family.

I've just tried watching the latest Starlink launch on my desktop and, although the resolution seems to vary, this is what I am getting most of the time (1080 monitor).

How does that compare to what other people are getting, and are there any settings to play with or other tweaks (different browsers etc)?

[DaveS]

Given the upcoming Starship launch the timing of this could not be worse.

Normally I have YouTube via Firefox on my Win 10 desktop with an HDMI cable running to a 55 inch 1080 TV as a second desktop. The picture is always perfect, and enjoyed by all the family.

I've just tried watching the latest Starlink launch on my desktop and, although the resolution seems to vary, this is what I am getting most of the time (1080 monitor).

How does that compare to what other people are getting, and are there any settings to play with or other tweaks (different browsers etc)?

If you're talking about YT, then the stream resolution can be changed by clicking the gear icon in the lower right and selecting your desired resolution from the Quality submenu. Your screenshot looks like 480p rather than full HD (1080p).

[Cabbage123]

If you're talking about YT, then the stream resolution can be changed by clicking the gear icon in the lower right and selecting your desired resolution from the Quality submenu. Your screenshot looks like 480p rather than full HD (1080p).

Thanks Dave. No, I have no problems with YouTube and do set it to 1080.

The screenshot is watching the last Starlink launch webcast on X.com this evening. When I click on the cog in X, I just get the option to change the playback speed but no resolution options (please see screenshot below).

When I watch the last full stack short the resolution looks much better. The two screenshots below were both taken on X.com on the same machine a few seconds apart, so I don't think it is an internet connection speed issue,

[octavo]

Are you sure that there aren't charges for high-profile business accounts?  SpaceX has an extensive catalogue of videos, some of which have a high number of views.

I am yes, Youtube does not charge users for hosting. Youtube is entirely subscription and ad supported. I have multiple 4-6 hour livestreams of me playing Kerbal Space Program and Rocket League from my PS5 on YouTube and I have about 8 total subscribers.

[markbike528cbx]

Looking at the bright side, my hobby of watching launches just got easier by a factor of about 3 or more.
Won’t watch Spacex on X/Twitter without NSF
Won’t watch Roscosmos - boycott due to the invasion of Ukraine
Can’t find Chinese launches
That leaves ISRO, JAXA, ESA and miscellaneous.
So I’m back down to a few or none a month.   

[catdlr]

Looking at the bright side, my hobby of watching launches just got easier by a factor of about 3 or more.
Won’t watch Spacex on X/Twitter without NSF
Won’t watch Roscosmos - boycott due to the invasion of Ukraine
Can’t find Chinese launches
That leaves ISRO, JAXA, ESA and miscellaneous.
So I’m back down to a few or none a month.   

I can recall a time when news about space was only available on the three major Network evening news shows, and even then, we were lucky to receive a brief 1-2 minute story about a launch. In the 60s and 70s, there were hundreds of launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, but none of them ever made it to the news, let alone a launch video or picture. Thanks to posts in the NSF Historical Threads, I have learned more about those old launches than I ever did back then. Today, people are so eager for videos of space launches that they feel entitled to them, and when they are not available, we become frantic like snowbugs running around.

Tony

[woods170]

Looking at the bright side, my hobby of watching launches just got easier by a factor of about 3 or more.
Won’t watch Spacex on X/Twitter without NSF
Won’t watch Roscosmos - boycott due to the invasion of Ukraine
Can’t find Chinese launches
That leaves ISRO, JAXA, ESA and miscellaneous.
So I’m back down to a few or none a month.   

I can recall a time when news about space was only available on the three major Network evening news shows, and even then, we were lucky to receive a brief 1-2 minute story about a launch. In the 60s and 70s, there were hundreds of launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, but none of them ever made it to the news, let alone a launch video or picture. Thanks to posts in the NSF Historical Threads, I have learned more about those old launches than I ever did back then. Today, people are so eager for videos of space launches that they feel entitled to them, and when they are not available, we become frantic like snowbugs running around.

Tony

Emphasis mine.

Agreed 100%!

These kind of people would go through severe withdrawal symptoms if they were sent back in time a mere 20 years. Even at the beginning of this century the vast majority of launches were not live-streamed. Nor were they live-broadcasted on TV. Live-streaming on the internet was still in its infancy back then.

I lived through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and most launches shown on TV (most of the time not even live broadcasted) were shuttle launches. Other launches that made it to the news were either BIG launches or failed launches. My impressions of spaceflight existed not so much from moving images, but from still-images available in newspapers, magazines and the occassional mail-package from the NASA PR folks.

I was however fortunate enough to live in the Netherlands back then. Renowned Dutch spaceflight journalist Piet Smolders had a TV program called "Nieuws uit de Ruimte" (News from Space) appearing on Dutch TV about two or three times per year. It was THE Go-To TV event to get footage of the latest launches from the USA, Europe AND the Soviet Union (courtesy of Piet having good connections in all of these places). I always had the VCR ready to record when that program began.

The current generation of live-stream addicts can't even begin to imagine the situation where footage from a particular launch reaches their Mk. 1 eyesballs some three months after it happened, if ever. But that was the default in the latter half of last century.
So, it annoys the h*ll out of me when some of those folks start complaining about twitter not being able to live-stream in 4K. Spoiled little brats they are if you ask me.

[HVM]

^Woods

-And you were forced to ski to the school in winter and summer, and it always was uphill, in both directions.

Old Finnish Proverb.

[Barley]

I can recall a time when news about space was only available on the three major Network evening news shows,

Time, Life, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, occasionally Rolling Stone or Playboy.  There was plenty of coverage.  But tell kids that today and they won't believe you.

[Herb Schaltegger]

I was under the impression that SpaceX has to pay for YouTube hosting.  And then you have to turn on ads in order for YouTube to provide reach (that's probably why SpaceX has turned them on, not because they expect to make any money off the ads).  Also, I have been having trouble finding the official SpaceX stream rather than the knock-offs.

No, you do not have to pay YouTube anything to host videos. You will not see adverts if you have a YouTube Premium subscription. YouTube keeps the service free by serving ads.

Are you sure that there aren't charges for high-profile business accounts?  SpaceX has an extensive catalogue of videos, some of which have a high number of views.

No, even “high-profile business accounts” do not pay hosting charges. The true high-value clients (think: Disney, NewsCorp, UniversalComcast or whatever they call themselves these days ….) may have special co-marketing deals with special ad sales and placement agreements to maximize revenue generated by their content, and agreements to use some specially-created content as inserted ads in other users’ content, but they don’t pay for hosting.

(As an aside - it’s these kinds of deals which are the real money makers for Google and what Twitter - pre-Elon - was striving to emulate. Post-Elon, Twitter/X has shed advertisers - and those those sweet, sweet ad revenues - badly.)

[woods170]

^Woods

-And you were forced to ski to the school in winter and summer, and it always was uphill, in both directions.

Old Finnish Proverb.

No, I don't exaggerate.
I went to school by bike and cheated on the uphill portions by getting towed by my best friend who was riding his moped.

[JMS]

I can recall a time when news about space was only available on the three major Network evening news shows, and even then, we were lucky to receive a brief 1-2 minute story about a launch. In the 60s and 70s, there were hundreds of launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg, but none of them ever made it to the news, let alone a launch video or picture. Thanks to posts in the NSF Historical Threads, I have learned more about those old launches than I ever did back then. Today, people are so eager for videos of space launches that they feel entitled to them, and when they are not available, we become frantic like snowbugs running around.

Tony

I remember the excitement of the TV cart (black & white) being rolled into my classroom for Gemini and Apollo launches. And the updates on the CBS evening news ... my father's preference. So, while not being a fan of twitter/X, if that's where SpaceX will be going forward, I'll be there without complaint. NSF as well.
As an original space cadet, you bet your turtle I appreciate the current abundance of riches.

Now, get off my lawn.

[Psynchro]

I get annoyed at the YT ads that pop up right at staging when watching replays, but not going to vent about it.

Ads? I have no idea of which you speak.

It is pretty annoying for many reasons. The quality, the notifications, the relative difficulty of finding previous streams.

IMO, a very bad move.

[catdlr]

I can recall a time when news about space was only available on the three major Network evening news shows,

Time, Life, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, occasionally Rolling Stone or Playboy.  There was plenty of coverage.  But tell kids that today and they won't believe you.

Right,Kids now want to live-stream their personal media display equipment (smartphones, etc.) with chat alongside the stream to ask silly questions. I was excited to wait a month to read an in-depth space-related article with diagrams and a few well-composed photos in any of the aforementioned periodicals, delivered to my mailbox via snail mail. ( .....but perhaps not Playboy).  Thanks, Barlrey.

[catdlr]

I get annoyed at the YT ads that pop up right at staging when watching replays, but not going to vent about it.

I understand that you get ads while watching YouTube or Roku directly on your Smart TV. That can be annoying. But, as Yoda would say; "There is another." Ad blockers are available to eliminate that entirely for PCs and smartphones. Just screencast or drive the PC screen to the TV via HDMI and voila, no ads.

[Robotbeat]

I get annoyed at the YT ads that pop up right at staging when watching replays, but not going to vent about it.

I understand that you get ads while watching YouTube or Roku directly on your Smart TV. That can be annoying. But, as Yoda would say; "There is another." Ad blockers are available to eliminate that entirely for PCs and smartphones. Just screencast or drive the PC screen to the TV via HDMI and voila, no ads.

I wonder how long Google will allow that.