I've been using YTTV for about six months. I agree with your feedback... the interface is a little clunky versus cable/satellite remotes and takes a little bit of getting used to.

The interface is also a little different depending upon what set-top streamer box you are using. (Roku vs AppleTV vs Samsung app vs ???).

A couple of things that I'd recommend:
* Create a custom channel guide. Remove channels you will never watch. Move channels that you watch a lot (for me, it's all the sports channels) up to the top of the list.
* After a few days of using the app, the "Home" screen will actually get pretty good at predicting which programs you want to watch and will show you those. For me, live football games usually sort to the top of my "Home" screen.
* Try out the "Search" feature. If there is a program that you know is on right now, you can search for it instead of scrolling through the "Live" guide. Depending upon which streaming device you are using, you might be able to speak into your remote control... which is much faster than typing.
* If there are games or programs that you know you will want to watch, add them to your "Library". You can do this on your streaming device... but also on your phone or in a web browser (from http://tv.youtube.com). For example, if you search for "Virginia Tech hokies football" and add it to your library, Hokies games will show up on the home screen and under the "Library" screen. The games will also be recorded so you can watch them after the event. YTTV DVR works differently than what you are accustomed to from Cable/SAT providers... there's no limit on DVR recording... so you may as well add everything to your library that you are interested in.