14 DAY TRIAL // There's an updated YouTube app for Google TV which brings several big improvements. For one, there is a new Recommendations section with videos that users may like, based on their habits. Another improvement is technical, the YouTube app will now adjust video quality based on network conditions to avoid buffering pauses.
"Like a great playlist, Recommendations can introduce you to the ever-expanding creativity of YouTube creators, showing you how things like pillows, a car wash, and taxidermy are related in the most hilarious of ways," YouTube explained.
The Recommendations section is especially welcomed on Google TV. While the web is at the heart of the device, users still expect some of the comforts of watching TV and one of those is the ability to just sit back and enjoy something without you having to decide what to watch and when.
The Google TV YouTube app now enables users to search for channels. Again, channels should particularly useful on a Google TV device yet the feature was only added a couple of months ago. Now, the app makes it easier to actually find channels to subscribe to.
"YouTube videos should look crisp and beautiful on the big screen, so the video will start playing at the best available resolution based on your connection," YouTube explained.
"If you need to share some bandwidth love with other devices on your network, YouTube will automatically switch to a lower resolution to keep your video playing smoothly, rather than rebuffering," it added.
If you have a solid internet connection, you're not going to see the buffering screen on YouTube. However, connections can be unreliable so the issue may pop up when watching HD video.
Finally, surprising no one, YouTube has added the ability to +1 videos. It's just the +1 button, the same as it is on the YouTube site. Your +1 will show up in searches for your friends and on your Google+.