YouTube TV’s new scrubbing interface has officially made its way to Android TVs. Back in May, reports surfaced that YouTube TV planned to roll out an improved preview window while you fast-forward. The interface feature launched as part of a “phased launch experiment” and was made available to users on Apple TV, Roku, and Xbox. After rolling out to Roku users last week, the new interface is now available on Android TV devices like NVIDIA SHIELD.
In the new preview window, the preview image is double the size of the old one, making it easier to fast-forward and find specific scenes — and skip ads. While it is not available across all platforms yet, it has been confirmed previously that this will roll-out across their entire suite of apps.
Comparison of Thumbnail Preview
When the update first came out in May, users noticed another difference. Previously, your live feed would continue to play as you skipped ahead. With the new feature however, the stream paused until you finished scrubbing through the show.
If you notice a different quality of the thumbnail preview, that’s because it depends of what you’re watching. If the stream is live or recently recorded, the thumbnail won’t be as crisp as those from VOD or older recordings.
As the feature reaches more people, it’s safe to say that any initial glitches will get fixed. This new feature has also become quite common across services. Depending on your platform, thumbnail previews are also available on Sling TV, Philo, fuboTV, and Hulu Live TV.