Yeah that Switzerland to Italy train ride video got me into them. They're really beautiful and calming.
But I've stopped because I can't find a way to use them anymore. They're not interesting enough to watch directly. Multitasking doesn't work unfortunately so I just end up listening to the sound of the train and not watching. It's kind of like having an air conditioning unit in your window plus occasionally squeaky distracting train horns when coming out of a tunnel.
Also the ones of the Titanic sinking in real time, although they are “only” around 2 hours 45 minutes, they have the same feels as the absurdly long ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGKpT1oGAnQ
"Across all these videos and many other silent blank ones, every viewer seems to have their own use case. The most common, by far, is to use these videos as a way to simply keep your device on. “I keep this playing overnight so that my laptop doesn’t shutdown while downloading games,” one commenter wrote. “I have to keep this open on my phone because it’s broken and will not turn back on if it turns off,” another said. "
I think the author is taking too many of those comments seriously when they're likely just Reddit style jokes trying to outmeme each other. I don't believe the explanation that someone would actually pay a video instead of changing the settings to disable turning off the screen. Serious platforms and software also prevent autosleep when downloading large games (or have an obvious switch for it)
I was in a cafe the other day that had some sort of "HD views of Italy" on a big TV on a loop. Except they didn't quite have enough bandwidth, so every now and again it would visibly buffer.
Someone I know wanted to have a movable white rectangle on the screen to cover up things (for a presentation). They had a creative solution: open a “10h white background” video and used Firefox's picture-in-picture feature. Unfortunately, the recommendation algorithm picked up on this, and started recommending a bunch of similar videos...
Yes! I just realized I can queue up a silent track so it won't matter (much) anymore that my car ignores auto-play settings! I can't tell you how frustrating it is that I just want silence in my car sometimes but invariably a stupid podcast starts playing every time.
The begining of a Star Wars The Force Awakens review - it'a not done yet, but I believe it lasts about 12-13h at this time.
He also has a response to a hbomberguy video (that's also an analysis of Dark Souls 2) that lasts something like 10h, and multiple 3+ hours reviews of games and movies.
Pretty crazy that it's entirely scripted and is carefully edited - for 10+ hours!
I really thought this going to be about the folk, making 8-24 hour long video game reviews and retrospectives, ie. the likes of Noah Caldwell Gervais, Joseph Anderson, PatricianTV, Private Sessions, Whitelight, Liam Triforce, Chris Davis, i am error, and NeverKnowsBest
Other comments appear to consider anything over a single hour unrelateably long, nevermind for scripted content...
>"Across all these videos and many other silent blank ones, every viewer seems to have their own use case. The most common, by far, is to use these videos as a way to simply keep your device on. “I keep this playing overnight so that my laptop doesn’t shutdown while downloading games,” one commenter wrote. “I have to keep this open on my phone because it’s broken and will not turn back on if it turns off,” another said.
>There are also a surprisingly large number of times when you might want your device on but the screen off. “I use this so I can have music open on another tab at night and have this open so the screen with the music on it wont shine so bright in my room,” one commenter wrote on a two-day-long video of a blank black screen. “I use this every night, put on a podcast and q this to come on next,” said another. “Unironically useful for avoiding screen burn in,” another wrote. “Big thanks <3.”"
This is a very interesting situation. Like the video of someone recording the MAX captchas with their phone instead of using the built in screen recording, my first reaction to these is "thee tech illiterate people! There is a _right_ way to do these things built into the OS!" But on reflection, if it works for them then it seems fine (I guess you could argue that it was using electricity or bandwidth). If anything it seems like a failure of the OS companies to make it clear that the OS can already do all these things.
If only there was proper UI for these things. These days, even simple things like copy paste are being made harder and harder to discover, rather than have 1 standard way of doing it that works anywhere.
If people are able to figure out how to use youtube videos to achieve what they want, they for sure would be able to do things if only the options were actually there in UI's, but options are being left out more and more to make things "slick".
Regarding audio/video/brightness: this used to be super easy with analog volume dials, and screens with on/off button where your computer wouldn't (and shouldn't imho!) know that your monitor is off. I also really wish monitors with analog brightness adjust would make a return, these types of monitors don't exist for 20 years now, but I rarely adjust brightness on monitors due to the lack of that since brightness is usually deeply hidden in the menu now (somehow monitors with extremely bad quality built-in speakers that you'd never want to actually use, have easier shortcuts for audio volume than brightness)
> Like the video of someone recording the MAX captchas with their phone instead of using the built in screen recording, my first reaction to these is "thee tech illiterate people
Take phone out, record button, stop button, share button, select twitter/youtube/instagram/..., enter title/text, done.
Now count the steps on a PC. Especially if it's some other persons PC, not logged into your youtube account.
There was a Trans-Siberian railway video, of the full journey, from Moscow to Peking I think. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1504271 Unfortunately it is not online anymore?
Tip for those who are doing this (and wasting internet bandwidth) just to prevent their locked-down work machine from going to lock/sleep:
Open a PPT, F5 to enter slideshow mode, optionally press B to blackout the screen to prevent burn-in.
I made a small "screensaver" PPT that consumes very minimal resources (black screen with a small bouncing logotext), saved it a as a PPSX (so it launches in slideshow automatically and exits PPT when done), and added a shortcut to the PPSX file on my Win10 taskbar. One-click screensaver whenever I want to step away and an equally simple exit.
Many times I actually leave this running in background while I work on the laptop. This way even if I step away without doing my one-click routine (or get pulled into a phone call or start working on my other laptop), it still prevents lock/sleep.
Obviously this would be bad infosec practice at office or public place. But with WFH this keeps me healthy and sane.
When my partner used a 10+ hour pure white video as a desklight it felt like blaspheme to me. Same as turning to gpt4 to sort a small list of words. It is unholy.
Summary: these videos are used to keep devices on, queue silent content after podcast to fall asleep, provide background ambiance like fire crackling or soothing music, entertain pets, or avoid screen burn-in.
I've only watched one video longer than two hours and it took me two weeks. But I'm watching videos of more than one more often in just three sessions, as my English listening gets better and better.
Not sure if it was Rogan that created the fad, but it's getting very extended. Unfortunately, people appearing in those tend to think that it's OK to fill hours with "umm", "you know" and unintelligible ultrafast and inaudible circumlocution.
The genre of discussion videos that the likes of hbomberguy, Folding Ideas or ContraPoints produce are also often very long. Then there's stream archives, conference uploads, etc. So there's certainly been a few multi-hour videos I've watched.
In a similar theme, I was recently exposed to the masterpiece which is starwarswars.com the complete original extended trilogy of 6 films superimposed upon each other in simulcast.
It is at the same time an illustrative piece about modern cinematography, a nostalgia-inducing slideshow, and digital ADHD medication.
This channel is a treasure trove of long videos showing railway journeys in Europe, with an emphasis on the Balkans. https://www.youtube.com/@dulevoz/videos
It's only an hour, but I love this deep absurd analysis of a single Garfield comic. An hour long, set to the music of Kundun by Philip Glass. https://youtu.be/NAh9oLs67Cw
I do see the value of music to set up an environment for working, sleeping, or whatever you are doing. I'm not sure a single video is the best answer, but it at least is a plausible use case.
For all the videos that exist just as a joke, even though I have a few I truly laugh at, I find it difficult to believe anyone would actually watch the entire video. It counts as a view if you watched 30? seconds of it. So a 24 hour video with 40 million views likely just means that many people turned it on for a fraction of the time, laughed a bit, and turned it off.
[+] [-] haunter|2 years ago|reply
Washington DC - Seattle full trip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MizGoYFVdzQ
All PS2 games ever released https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixeRUJQ5yPc (and they have a video for every single major console too)
Switzerland to Italy through the Bernina pass train ride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw9qiV7XlFs
Tokyo subway Yamanote line full loop (even though it's only 1 hour long) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmuMY6fLaw
Tokyo highway trip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F-hrZKXM-k
[+] [-] prepend|2 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/DKP16d_WdZM
[+] [-] belter|2 years ago|reply
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/fireplace-for-mobile-...
https://www.yeggi.com/q/phone+fireplace/
[+] [-] mastax|2 years ago|reply
But I've stopped because I can't find a way to use them anymore. They're not interesting enough to watch directly. Multitasking doesn't work unfortunately so I just end up listening to the sound of the train and not watching. It's kind of like having an air conditioning unit in your window plus occasionally squeaky distracting train horns when coming out of a tunnel.
[+] [-] runarberg|2 years ago|reply
Also the ones of the Titanic sinking in real time, although they are “only” around 2 hours 45 minutes, they have the same feels as the absurdly long ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGKpT1oGAnQ
[+] [-] lordgrenville|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jansan|2 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/09m0B8RRiEE
Looks like a very long loop, but there a small breaks every few hours (for example at 6:02:20).
[+] [-] happymellon|2 years ago|reply
https://youtu.be/6dHETOyiE6U
The BBC has quite a few of the "all aboard" series, if you want slow TV.
[+] [-] badrabbit|2 years ago|reply
After having many spicy tacos in texas: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqrm-9Wy8iU#searching
[+] [-] gonzo41|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ant6n|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] causi|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mdrzn|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viraptor|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pjc50|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suyjuris|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] phodo|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DangitBobby|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gniv|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trollied|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sph|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FredPret|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] garof|2 years ago|reply
Part 1 https://youtu.be/G54tllj-SKI (9 hrs)
Part 2 https://youtu.be/szbGc7ymFhQ (9 hrs)
Part 3 https://youtu.be/aV7YutDr5Nw (6.5 hrs)
[+] [-] dmbche|2 years ago|reply
The begining of a Star Wars The Force Awakens review - it'a not done yet, but I believe it lasts about 12-13h at this time.
He also has a response to a hbomberguy video (that's also an analysis of Dark Souls 2) that lasts something like 10h, and multiple 3+ hours reviews of games and movies.
Pretty crazy that it's entirely scripted and is carefully edited - for 10+ hours!
And I'd argue he has solid analysis in general!
[+] [-] LanternLight83|2 years ago|reply
Other comments appear to consider anything over a single hour unrelateably long, nevermind for scripted content...
[+] [-] coremoff|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nstart|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jccalhoun|2 years ago|reply
>There are also a surprisingly large number of times when you might want your device on but the screen off. “I use this so I can have music open on another tab at night and have this open so the screen with the music on it wont shine so bright in my room,” one commenter wrote on a two-day-long video of a blank black screen. “I use this every night, put on a podcast and q this to come on next,” said another. “Unironically useful for avoiding screen burn in,” another wrote. “Big thanks <3.”"
This is a very interesting situation. Like the video of someone recording the MAX captchas with their phone instead of using the built in screen recording, my first reaction to these is "thee tech illiterate people! There is a _right_ way to do these things built into the OS!" But on reflection, if it works for them then it seems fine (I guess you could argue that it was using electricity or bandwidth). If anything it seems like a failure of the OS companies to make it clear that the OS can already do all these things.
[+] [-] Aardwolf|2 years ago|reply
If people are able to figure out how to use youtube videos to achieve what they want, they for sure would be able to do things if only the options were actually there in UI's, but options are being left out more and more to make things "slick".
Regarding audio/video/brightness: this used to be super easy with analog volume dials, and screens with on/off button where your computer wouldn't (and shouldn't imho!) know that your monitor is off. I also really wish monitors with analog brightness adjust would make a return, these types of monitors don't exist for 20 years now, but I rarely adjust brightness on monitors due to the lack of that since brightness is usually deeply hidden in the menu now (somehow monitors with extremely bad quality built-in speakers that you'd never want to actually use, have easier shortcuts for audio volume than brightness)
[+] [-] ajsnigrutin|2 years ago|reply
Take phone out, record button, stop button, share button, select twitter/youtube/instagram/..., enter title/text, done.
Now count the steps on a PC. Especially if it's some other persons PC, not logged into your youtube account.
[+] [-] jorvi|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chiph|2 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRk-DQUUlz8
10 hours of American Airlines hold music (as one commenter there said - likely recorded from a real call):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6V9m98pv0I
[+] [-] cellularmitosis|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] albertzeyer|2 years ago|reply
There are also quite a few railway videos from Norway, e.g. Bergen to Oslo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xisVS_DKpJg
And many more long railway videos.
Or the the great moose migration: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31150996
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_television
Also related:
Apollo 11 in Real Time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20193118
[+] [-] albert_e|2 years ago|reply
Open a PPT, F5 to enter slideshow mode, optionally press B to blackout the screen to prevent burn-in.
I made a small "screensaver" PPT that consumes very minimal resources (black screen with a small bouncing logotext), saved it a as a PPSX (so it launches in slideshow automatically and exits PPT when done), and added a shortcut to the PPSX file on my Win10 taskbar. One-click screensaver whenever I want to step away and an equally simple exit.
Many times I actually leave this running in background while I work on the laptop. This way even if I step away without doing my one-click routine (or get pulled into a phone call or start working on my other laptop), it still prevents lock/sleep.
Obviously this would be bad infosec practice at office or public place. But with WFH this keeps me healthy and sane.
[+] [-] astura|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pluijzer|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paulrouget|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sznio|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] narag|2 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeH7qKZr0WI
I've only watched one video longer than two hours and it took me two weeks. But I'm watching videos of more than one more often in just three sessions, as my English listening gets better and better.
Not sure if it was Rogan that created the fad, but it's getting very extended. Unfortunately, people appearing in those tend to think that it's OK to fill hours with "umm", "you know" and unintelligible ultrafast and inaudible circumlocution.
[+] [-] Macha|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cellularmitosis|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mellosouls|2 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/@RailCowGirl/videos
[+] [-] elif|2 years ago|reply
It is at the same time an illustrative piece about modern cinematography, a nostalgia-inducing slideshow, and digital ADHD medication.
Not recommended for those who suffer epilepsy.
[+] [-] astura|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] easeout|2 years ago|reply
Vibing through 30 years of computer graphics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAHJVa4Gkm4
This ridiculous Dark Souls challenge run https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUbBsMTgkTRmab1L3snCQ...
Abelson & Sussman's SICP class lectures https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE18841CABEA24090
And a shorter one I just want more people to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFog6dTid0Y
Sweet dreams!
[+] [-] Beat-O|2 years ago|reply
Some examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sqrL8KZki8 Bijelo Polje - Beograd 7h
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4ghSBQL4U Ljubljana - Koper (freight) 2:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0oevqWL_34 Čapljina - Mostar - Bradina -- The Neretva river canyon and Mountain pass Bradina 2h
[+] [-] AndrewOMartin|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adzm|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codingdave|2 years ago|reply
I do see the value of music to set up an environment for working, sleeping, or whatever you are doing. I'm not sure a single video is the best answer, but it at least is a plausible use case.
For all the videos that exist just as a joke, even though I have a few I truly laugh at, I find it difficult to believe anyone would actually watch the entire video. It counts as a view if you watched 30? seconds of it. So a 24 hour video with 40 million views likely just means that many people turned it on for a fraction of the time, laughed a bit, and turned it off.