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Posted by kilroy123 2 days ago

Show HN: Channel Surfer – Watch YouTube like it’s cable TV(channelsurfer.tv)
I know, it's a very first-world problem. But in my house, we have a hard time deciding what to watch. Too many options!

So I made this to recreate Cable TV for YouTube. I made it so it runs in the browser. Quickly import your subscriptions in the browser via a bookmarklet. No accounts, no sign-ins. Just quickly import your data locally.

476 points | 144 commentspage 7
uean 11 hours ago|
I just love it. This calms me in a way I can't put my finger on... something about not needing to endless scroll and choose based off a thumbnail and endure an intro and like-and-subscribe please. It's just there. It removes a bunch of stress.
rusakov-field 16 hours ago||
That is really creative.
Imustaskforhelp 11 hours ago||
I feel like this can be useful for kids if you can add some genuinely nice cartoon shows from Youtube. I remember my childhood was filled with adventure time, regular show etc. and Cartoon Network and there are many decent cartoons.

And if you do this, please add 3 cartoon channels just for an option of 3 for kids. Because I remember that it was 3 cartoon channels for me but mostly Cartoon Network, Some disney xd and an niche cartoon channel that I used to watch by. Maybe even have it between Anime (Shinchan/Doraemon/Kitretsu) and Normal animations (Avengers/Spiderman etc.) and Cartoon Network (Regular Show/Adventure Time/Steven Universe)

But the reason why I discovered it and why I feel like young kids nowadays can't find is that I used to go to my TV after coming from school and watch these nice shows for example, whereas now its all youtube.

So in a way, your website can help kids and also parents to better help moderate what their kids watch.

Also even aside from kids, this is something really cool in it of itself that I imagine myself using as well :) Nice project! I just hope that if possible you can add something so that kids could watch it too maybe as well as I find it to be nice possibility to add

I am also curious how you curate the Content for Cable TV in the first place.

Edit: But once again, I want to say that this is a project that I want to use for myself too for these channels as I also go through the same problem where I get the problem of too much choices and overstimulus and feeling of overwhelm.

VikingCoder 13 hours ago||
Now make it a Roku app!!! :D
alldayhaterdude 15 hours ago||
THis rules
Barbing 15 hours ago||
When yesterday I wondered the best approach to keeping slop off elderly seniors' feeds, I suppose the universe heard me. Thank you!
poisonarena 14 hours ago||
i want to be try this but I am unable to import my subscriptions like the directions you give, it just brigns me to the my feed when i follow your directions
kilroy123 13 hours ago|
When you get to your feed, you have to click the bookmarklet. It will pull your videos and copy them to your clipboard.
rohan_joshi 11 hours ago||
so cool
eegG0D 14 hours ago|
This is such a clear example of what I call "Signal over Noise."

I’ve noticed a major market shift recently where people are becoming paralyzed by the "firehose" of content. Information scarcity used to reward knowledge acquisition, but we now live in an era of information abundance, which requires better pattern recognition and synthesis.

In my own work building AI systems, I always say that leverage is a function of your skill multiplied by your clarity. Most "brain rot" happens because we outsource our clarity to an algorithm that is engineered to keep us emotionally volatile and stagnant. By returning to human curation, you’re providing the kind of focus that actually recharges a person rather than numbing them out.

I’m also a huge fan of the "no accounts" approach. I talk a lot about data privacy and the importance of keeping your personal "mental OS" protected—keeping data local is the ultimate firewall against being treated like training data for a system you didn't opt into.

I often tell founders to "launch faster" and "keep it stupidly simple" for V1. This nails the core "aha moment" without unnecessary complexity. Curation is a massive, underserved opportunity right now. Great work shipping this.