YouTube TV Client

For almost a decade, YouTube offered a nicely designed web interface destined for large TV screens in the form of its “Leanback” experience that anyone could access from a dedicated URL for those who wanted to watch videos from the comfort of their couch. Following its demise in 2019, some members of the open-source community tried to revive the concept by changing the browser’s user-agent string to match that of a Smart TV, with one impressive example being the Electron-based YouTube TV Client.

Double-clicking on the downloaded executable instantly brings up a full-screen version of YouTube’s TV-optimized version of its web interface, similar to the default application offered on many Android-based smart TVs. Once loaded, navigation is done primarily through the use of the arrow, Enter and Escape keys for a consistent experience, although those with mouse-based workflows will still be able to select various items with the cursor. Users can also connect an Xbox controller wirelessly and browse through their favorite videos from the comfort of their couch with no extra configuration required.

Where YouTube TV Client excels most is in its support for linking smartphones to the interface via randomly generated codes from the settings section, thus using them as remotes that bypass the need for any other peripherals connected to the computer, since it essentially turns any Windows-running device into a Chromecast that any mobile phone can connect to, without relying on Google’s dedicated hardware to do so.

One disadvantage of using this particular setup concern the fact that YouTube’s dedicated keyboard shortcuts will get in the way of typing queries into the search bar, leaving users to manually select keys such as K, J, L and M from the on-screen keyboard, but this particular issue is related to YouTube’s own default configuration. Finally, in terms of improvements, many users would most likely appreciate the optional toggle for running the app in a window, in order to move its interface to other monitors, instead of having it full-screen on the primary display all the time.

Whether you have a dedicated media server with various applications, and you wish to add YouTube to the mix in a TV-friendly format, or you tend to play video games on your PC using a controller, and you want to avoid bringing the mouse and keyboard to the couch when taking a break to watch a video, then YouTube TV Client may the right tool for you, given its responsive interface and Chromecast-like abilities that make it pleasant to use on larger screens.