I love long-form videos that tell information and stories. Documentaries about most any topics, especially ones that last an hour or more, are my bread and butter. But when I’m using YouTube on my TV, I can’t tell from thumbnails what the quality of a channel is. Sometimes I find gold, but other times it’s obvious they’re using an AI voice over or AI imagery and I immediately turn it off. I’m so tired of trudging through the slop, even though it’s just beginning.

So for now, I figure I’ll check with y’all - do you have any preferred/recommended channels that make the sort of video I’m looking for, that are still human-made? I’d love to hear about them.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 2 points 7 months ago

Dime Store Adventures is a guy who researches local history from around New England, travels there and makes videos about it. Often researching or trying to find something while filming, making it feel like an actual adventure. A lot of it is centered around cemeteries, background stories about the people buried there, grave monuments with crazy backstories, but also old newspaper articles, local legends and forgotten historical landmarks or geographical features. He seems pretty serious about doing his research, he clearly knows his way around local libraries and archives and I find his way of presenting the information and his enthusiasm about the subjects very engaging. Especially when he goes around looking for something and actually finds it.

What on Earth is This? Is a British guy who travels mostly around Europe (sometimes further) and goes to see engineering features or other manmade structures that have interesting backstories or stand out in some way. He tries to do a pretty deep dive into why something was built or operated a certain way while keeping his videos short and to the point. I also really like his enthusiasm and way of explaining things.

  • source