Discussion Question - How long have you been watching LTT and what's the biggest change you've seen in their videos in that time?

[mod3rnnightmar3]

I've noticed some big changes in LTT and their content in the time I've been watching since 2013, what have you noticed yourself?

[RONOTHAN##]

They no longer make videos about RC fire trucks

[mod3rnnightmar3]

8 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

They no longer make videos about RC fire trucks

ah yes, a true tragedy indeed!

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Idk, since 2018 I think

100% more beard

about all the merch that they mention now weren’t in their wildest dreams back then

[TetraSky]

Been watching for 10+ years. Joined the forum in the early days, like within half a month of the forum launching. (Linus's account dates back 1st of January 2013. I signed up on the 16 of january 2013)

 

Biggest change? The clickbait and useless titles.

Videos no longer having titles that represent what's in the video and instead have things like "I hate this..." (or whatever other crappy title like that).

Basically not saying what the video is really about. In the beginning, when NCIX was still a thing, the videos at least had the product name in the title so you'd know what it was about before having to click on it. Now you have to click, maybe check the description or skip through a bit of the video before closing the tab because you're entirely uninterested by whatever the subject matter is.

[MrSmiles]

Linus isn’t in a scrappy backroom like setting and doesn’t look 14, and onto you, next caller?

[Theguywhobea]

I can remember watching him unbox shit on a bench in the parking lot. They handled the change from unboxing to full product reviews and showcases so well though I hardly noticed it at the time though.

 

Also checked my account creation date and I guess I've been here since Jan 5th 2013, so I think that makes me a fairly senior member.

[aisle9]

Didn't there used to be another guy who did videos with Linus? "Lou" or something? I miss him. He was way better than Linus at everything. I hope he's the CEO of his own company or something, and that's why he left.

[porina]

I started watching in the house era, although I think because I was watching old content LTT already moved into the dedicated space at that point. IMO while production quality has gone up, the fun and charm has gone away. I miss Berkel annoying Taran. That was peak content. Luke's mum was also a great visitor to much content.

 

I hardly watch now. Linus was better than much of the cringe out there, but maybe YouTube has forced him to follow and it is often painful to watch since beard era. For some reason I'm still on this forum. 

[flydo]

36 minutes ago, Helpful Tech Wiard said:

Idk, since 2018 I think

100% more beard

about all the merch that they mention now weren’t in their wildest dreams back then

Well seemed like his balls finally dropped like his jaw in thumbnails. But ngl I kinda liked the "lesbian" Linus

[Chronified]

I've been following LTT since Linus was at NCIX and he segregated into his own channel, before eventually starting LanglyHome. 

I remember the kitchen videos, I remember content going live at 4am because Lukes rendering rig would crash multiple times and it would go up late.

I remember Luke+Linus going to the local coffee shop to do an upload because someone knocked out the node on their street.

I watched the Firetruck video within days of it going live. 

 

Notable changes are they no longer have their server room in a bathroom. No more file backup in the sink and switch in the tub. It's incredible to look back and see how far they've come to be honest. Linus is the true definition of "started from the bottom now we're here" lol

[Rex Hite]

I found the channel a few of years ago after doing a search for information on threadripper.

LTT doesn't feature a lot of workstation oriented stuff, and that's fine because there's not much to say about workstations. Hard to get sponsors excited about workstations which in many cases is basically a boring, graphically challenged, gaming computer anyway.

 

The merchandise thing is obnoxious, but that's what works.

 

Unboxing and content related to gaming is not for me.

 

I thought the recent Linux challenge was good content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryk]

I discovered LTT back in 2014 when I was researching the then novel ultra wide monitors.

 

I actually just looked up and watched a few videos from 6-7 years ago to contrast against their latest content. I noted many differences in their videos and find myself often not entertained anymore by the new stuff. The horrible click bait titles certainly don't help as they don't say anything about the content of the video itself.

 

Linus himself seems to have become just a meme. Besides LTT Store callouts, he is always parroting phrases like "Here we go boys" and generally appears non-genuine. He doesn't appear vested or knowledgable in the topic of the video anymore and is just there as a host to act and behave like a monkey on energy drinks. I think part of this is because Linus no longer does the majority of the leg work behind the video, so he really isn't actually presenting his own work, and it shows. The last videos where I remember seeing a genuine Linus was when he did those more freestyle presentations in his office with the test bench and wall TV.

 

As for video content, everything now is a formulaic "lets build a PC with this brand's part" or "lets react to this thing" or "lets put together this thing and pretend things are going wrong." There are no more, or very few, true ambitious or novel projects. There have been a few, but their presentation style doesn't change so they just blend in.

 

Of course their production quality has greatly improved but it doesn't match their image. I enjoyed the scrappiness of the old kitchen set days more. Now they have all the gear, and staff, and a real studio but their production still pretends they are a startup in the house. Contrast this to MKBHD whose videos have a much more serious tone which matches their production. Not saying LTT needs to change their tone to be like MKBHD, but that it's hard/impossible to fake being scrappy. 

 

All in all, I think LTT has become a machine to feed the algorithm. Look up any advice for starting a Youtube channel and it says to make videos you're enthusiastic about and the viewers will come. LTT has done the opposite and only makes videos which are metrically successful. Linus even said so himself in a recent WAN show, that each upload needs to achieve 1M+ views to simply break even. 

[Brooksie359]

I started watching Linus back in 2013 when a college friend of mine introduced him to me. Since then I would watch his videos regularly for about 4 years but around that time I found myself gravitating towards other tech youtubers content as I found LTT not as in depth which to some extent I think is intentional as not everyone has the attention span to go through an indepth review with complicated and confusing vocabulary at times. I personally don't watch LTT very often anymore but I think the reason is I am not the target audience anymore. Granted I still enjoy their reviews laptops and other devices and they still do a solid job imo. Personally I think the most important thing to note is that it isn't realistic for LTT to stay the same as everyone changes over time I know I have changed so to expect LTT to stay the same is simply unrealistic. Honestly what Linus has done with LTT is pretty incredible and he deserves alot of credit for that especially now that his operation is do big it sorta makes sense that with them putting out so much content it might not have as much charm as some use to feel. Personally I think that might be nostalgia more so than actually reality as I find this is the case for alot of things when things change people will miss the way things used to be. 

[LogicalDrm]

I've watched since 2009 I think. I started watching while looking for new case. I've watched the Friday show almost from beginning (Linus with crappy webcam was not my gist, but as soon as he got capture card, it was all good). 

 

From what I see, most people bring up sentimental things about persons. I don't get attached to such. Persons change, quite often even. 

 

The bigger changes for me are styles. Video and audio quality overall has gone to better to a point where it doesn't matter. Content has gone worse to a point where I'm not really interested about 70% of videos made. I don't like scripted content that much. Be it scripted reviews, or worse, scripted BTS and vlogs. I have stopped watching any channel with such crap. LMG has made two videos in that manner. One made me hate Riley, and other made me hate any content made by Madison. Good thing neither makes the main content I like to watch (and one no longer being employed). So maybe you guess what kind of content I do like? Non-scripted videos made with vlog-style. ShortCircuit videos are mainly good. ChannelSuperFun is mainly good. From main channel videos where core is given, but rest happens naturally are good. Like Intel Extreme Upgrade ones. There's premise, plan of action and expected results, but how things proceed through out, interactions, issues, solving problems, that still reminds of the old days when review/unboxing was just box of something, without any teleprompter read-out.

 

Commercializing was inevitable. And it is in some way part of most channels I watch. Be it with b-roll ads, baked-in merch plugs or half of content being sponsored. Not gonna be hater, thats just how business works. If you want to hate and wish for something else, there are still smaller channels doing pure content to get into.

. 

[cmndr]

On 3/17/2022 at 2:15 PM, porina said:

IMO while production quality has gone up, the fun and charm has gone away.

This is the issue that happens with A LOT of things.

It happened to videogames too.

I LOVE Chrono Trigger for example (see avatar). It had a lot of charm to it.
Newer games cost 100x as much to make and market. They also are WAY more polished and way better thought out. But the smoothed edges make things worse. Think Final Fantasy 15.

I think charm is a function of quirks. If you focus group EVERYTHING most of the quirks get ironed out and that individual segment of a game gets a little bit better. But the overall whole is worse for people who value some level of quirkiness.

[Erioch]

Biggest change - beards.

[Ripred]

Been watching since Paul did his first new egg video, biggest ltt change video quality and Linus isn't as pastey skinned or squeaky

[thrasher_565]

cant really remember the fist video but i remember noctua fans,fire truck,  and stopped watching after dyson vacuum video/ car rad thing.

the reviews didn't seem all that good any more and was hard to find what was manufacturers notes and his notes and way to much ads. the wan show is ok here and there.

 

probably the turning point was switching to non tech sponsors and gn review of ltt

[GeorgeMKane]

I've been watching since around the "tools for building a pc" video. I didn't really know about them (NCIX or Linus, I mean) before then, but I was definitely building and upgrading computers before then, with help from a relative.

 

 

Biggest change(s)? They're able to do a series like the Intel $5,000 Extreme Tech Upgrade.

Edited March 20, 2022 by GeorgeMKane

[Yoinkerman]

Scripting and planning 

[Zodiark1593]

My first video was watching the Core-i7-980x unboxing. I was in between classes in college when I happened across it.

 

 

[Chiyawa]

For me, Linus grew a beard. I still like the clean shave Linus better because he kinda look good.

 

Anyway, other than that, the content is technically having ups and downs. For starter, the contents are much well easier to follow and clean, but of course promoting LTT store dot com way too often in my opinion.

[NemesisPrime_691]

On 3/18/2022 at 2:44 PM, LogicalDrm said:

One made me hate Riley, and other made me hate any content made by Madison. Good thing neither makes the main content I like to watch (and one no longer being employed). 

Whoa whoa! What happened? Was it Riley or Madison who got the axe? My guess is Madison, because Riley is just too good of a Tech Linked host to get the boot, but why?

 

OT: I started watching around the time the whole room watercooling was a thing. I was a kid back then who had learned for the first time that water can be used to cool components. It just blew my mind what Linus was doing at the time.

 

For me, I got pulled in due to content like this. The whole room water coolng project, the moving vlog, I loved the tech vlog concept and I just miss those kind of videos.

The scripted ones are good, maybe 2 out of 7 in a week are the ones that entice me, but I loved Linus figuring stuff out on camera, along with Luke who used to chime in. Fun times.

 

These days, the vlogs also seem somewhat scripted and cut short, but I still watch those, don't know of any other tech tuber doing these anyway.