YouTube's ad problem just got worse: Users now seeing 90-second unskippable ads!
https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-90-second-unskippable-ads-3655694/Open linkView original on lemmy.nz985
Comments370https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-90-second-unskippable-ads-3655694/Open linkView original on lemmy.nz
Smart TVs are really just somebody else's computer that you paid for to watch ads on.
This. There is a reason why dumb displays of a similar size are much more expensive. Because the manufacturer can't feed you ads and sell your data ...
I don't understand the need for those. My smart tv is functioning exactly as a computer monitor. It is connected via a display connection to my computer, and nothing else. It does show a brief warning that it is unconnected to the internet whenever I turn it on, but it disappears after 10 seconds or so.
Yeah, but that's not how most people use Smart TVs. Also, they're still coming for you, next up they'll try to insert ads via HDMI. and good luck finding a Smart TV with display port.
Displayport via USB-C could start gaining momentum.
It's a possibility with chromebooks because of the google ad network, but I can't see why consoles, linux, mac, even windows tbh, has any incentive to support this. At best, they might make it an option, but there's nothing in it for them. It actively makes their content look worse, while an ad supported OS like windows already has capability to place ads anyway.
$$$
Consoles are a shrinking market. If they were offered money by TV manufacturers to cooperate with putting more ads on it, they most certainly will.
And I suspect Microsoft/Windows will too. Apple might not, though.
Yeah. Apple is plenty evil but not having ads is, generally, part of their “premium feel.” There are exceptions to this, unfortunately, especially recently.
But I definitely don’t regret doing a factory reset on my LG TV and hooking up an Apple TV.
They can't add ads if they're not connected to the ibternet
Hisense?
Yeah, and that is a very recent one from a not-that-well know company. Go figure!
Ads via HDMI shouldn't work if the TV doesn't have internet connection, by my understanding. So I do not see any problems there.
oh don't worry, they'll start participating in mesh networks with your neighbors' smart devices and getting internet access that way
or using like 4g/5g network for ads for free, sucking up all the data bandwidth from smartphone users so they can make sure we got our daily ad dosage!
ANTI-CORPORATE PROPAGANDA DETECTED. PLEASE DRINK VERIFICATION CAN.I seem to recall reafing that smart TVs have a list of default passwords they use to try and connect to the to wifi networks they find...
So they try to brute force in to our wifis? Why no one sued them?!
Ads over HDMI are being worked on.
That's awful
My husband had the Tv connected to the internet, even though we watch everthing from the xbox. I changed the wifi password a few months ago, and never reconnected the TV.
Best decision ever.
I love how roku won't let you re-order apps unless you are online. Fuck off!
TVs often do a bad job at switching on when the computer turns on, then off when it turns off/goes to sleep. Drives me spare. That was fixed in like 1995-2000 for normal monitors.
CEC has been around for years. This is probably more an issue with the PC in question rather than the TV. TVs do an excellent job at turning themselves on when CEC is enabled. 👍
PCs have almost never supported CEC. PCs use a different signalling method to indicate to the monitor that they're on/off.
Exactly. So they aren't talking with the same protocol. TVs can turn themselves on, but PCs just don't send the required signals. ✔️
LibreELEC (just enough OS for Kodi) on Raspberry Pi supports CEC. Does that count as a PC?
I use mine the same way, but many people don't. My parents would rather be logged in on the tv than connect a laptop or other pc for the same access but better results
What are the chances the 10-second warning becomes a 90-second unskippable one?
As long as it isn't internet connected, it shouldn't happen - unless it's programmed to automatically connect to any nearby unprotected WiFi to fetch updates...
And now look how high $ CRTs are, even the low end ones.
I'll never get rid of mine. You can't get a 0 ms latency TV with zero "features" anymore. And those commercial TVs dont come with remotes. I never liked how flat screens look either. Laggy and awful colors. I'm sure a $3000 oled is great but no thanks
I also despise massive TVs so another win. People with 80" TVs in their living room are just ick.
The same reason i stopped playing on Consoles since the PS2 - there was no good reason for the People to get this kind of things on the internet.
It was just good for the Business to hold the connection to you and control whatever they produced.
I got a PS3 and a PS4 so I wouldn't need to use Windows for gaming. That's not an issue anymore, though.
Steamdeck here and the last time i played on Windows was like 2015/2016 but never again after Win10 shutdown my System for an Update while i played a LoL ranked Game.. That was the last Time i used Windows for privat use. After that i formated the HDD and installed Linux Mint
I'm still very happy with this decision
I thought LoL was one of the games that require windows for kernel level anticheat?
That was a somewhat recent development, they had many years to suffer playing Leauge on Linux c:
Yes, but at least the kernel Anti Cheat belongs since 2024 i belive? There was a long Time before DXVK or Proton you can play nearly nothing on Linux but LoL worked "okayish". Nothing close to play ranked but for a casual normal game it was good enought to let me switch to Linux this times and ditch Windows at all
That is a user error.
What is a user error?
The last console I owned was the Xbox 360. Once I started seeing non-gaming advertisements on my home screen, I lost all interest in the product line.
Sometimes I think internet connectivity was a mistake.
Commercial TVs are so worth the extra cost. Recently got a Samsung Commercial Non-Smart TV and paired it with my $20 debloated/deGoogled Onn 4K Streaming box from Walmart. Bam, got a media setup that I fully own.
What is the cost comparison?
Honestly under 60 inches not too bad
https://www.samsung.com/us/business/commercial-tvs/hotel-tv/43-inch-hotel-tv-hu6000f-uhd-4k-sku-hg43u600fnfxza/
$453.00 # 43" Samsung HU6000F Non-Smart Hospitality TV with Pro:Idiom for Set Top Box Deployments
Nice!
yeah I got a bit lazy there, at 55 inches you are at $604
When you go to 65 though its $1004 so pretty big jump.
Oddly enough going from 65 to 75 is only another ~375 USD (1377)
To me the best deal seems like 50 or 55 inches, although your room size and seating positions are likely the most important.
Also interesting if you're in the USA Best Buy does have some non-smart TVs and even a filter for it, although its mostly no-name brands or Samsung.
Thanks for fleshing out the full picture. So perhaps the largest TVs at the store are getting some pretty big subsidies, courtesy Advertising Inc.
And good tip on Best Buy. Thank you. What an informative lil comment, Leo 😎
Link to tv box? And did you have to debload/degoogle it yourself?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ONN-4K-STREAMINGBOX/16641817510?fulfillmentIntent=In-store&filters=%5B%7B%22intent%22%3A%22fulfillmentIntent%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%22In-store%22%5D%7D%5D&classType=REGULAR&from=%2Fsearch
https://old.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/12rya0t/change_launcher_debloat_the_new_onn_4k_streaming/
This really has nothing to do with Smart TVs in itself though.. It's just a problem if you choose to play YouTube videos on your TV, which seems like a pretty reasonable thing to want to do.
Youtube: "GOD PEOPLE KEEP SKIPPING ADS, WHAT CAN WE DO TO STOP THIS LOSS OF REVENUE?!"
Viewers: "Maybe have standards for length and content and moderate the platform to prevent malicious actors?"
Youtube: "I KNOW, I'LL JUST MAKE FORCED ADS LONGER AND MORE OBNOXIOUS!"
Viewers: "JUST MODERATE YOUR FUCKING PLATFORM, YOU HAVE THE MONEY AND RESOURCES TO FUCKING DO IT"
Youtube: "Users are just so selfish and entitled, trying to skip ads.."
Viewers: " Fuck it installs ublock origin
If you grew up with commercial TV, not only is the frequency of ads on youtube bad, but the placement--in the middle of a sentence or a scene--is mentally and emotionally destructive.
The worst is when you're watching something emotionally charged (pissed off or funny as fuck) they'll put an ad exactly when the video hits you
When cable TV first came out it didn’t have ads because you were paying for the service. When Sirius satellite radio came out it didn’t have ads because you were paying for the service. When Netflix streaming came…
Adding ads to YouTube was always the plan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
That was always the plan. They were just slow walking it.
Also Youtube: DONT INSTALL UBLOCK ORIGIN OR WE'LL REMOVE YOUTUBE SHORTS!!!!
Viewers:
Wait what? I have had ubo installed forever. Why is my shorts still there?!
Wait, they're willing to reward us for using UBO?
I will sit on my floor with nothing, for hours, before i watch ads.
Ive been getting back to reading myself. Media's become so overstimulating
Same I just bought a used kindle and jail broken it so now I have a huge library to go through and I have downloaded a bunch of movies and tv shows to my media server as well
Does the jailbreak allow you to use z-lib or Anna's archive as the "store"?
Directly on the device no, but I can start my Calibre server and connect to it from my Kindle wirelessly through KOreader to transfer the books
I had a book once that had a full color spread for the movie in the middle of the book. Obviously this was a skippable ad, but still, it’s inescapable.
I've been collecting old books for years. Currently slogging through Mellives collection of stories printed in 1968. Could find a copy of the book turned movie, printed before the movie?
Some of those old books had ads for cigarettes in them! Mostly the cheaper paperbacks. For some reason it wasn't as annoying, it was more of a historical artifact, an indication of the context in which the book was originally read.
yeah that's actually pretty dope lol
I've found old textbooks from the 30's with handwritten notes in them :D
history is cool
So true! Also, productive screentime has been nice. Instead of doomscrolling or mindlessly zoning out to video essays, I've been programming, doing some 3D modeling for 3D printing, working on some simple games, and reading long form articles from my own curated news feed.
Hmm somehow i havent ever gotten those kinds of ads.......... maybe because im using ublock? Must be something else, i am just the chosen one.
If you just click into the article you are absolutely blasted with statement after statement that this is only for TVs. Obviously if you have an ad blocker you wouldn't see ads. 🙂
Pihole can solve that for you :)
Or just not using shitty locked down devices like that.
I have Pi-Hole for like ten years maybe, they cannot stop the YouTube ads since, idk, at least five years, maybe more.
I've read that YT is injecting the ads directly into the video stream, i.e. the source is not ads.someshittycompany.com, but rather videos.google.com (which you cannot block for obvious reasons). The only solution to kill ads is to use addons like uBlock or client software like Freetube, Newpipe and the like that strip out the ads in some other way.
I don't know if they actually started injecting it into the video, but even before they did that, they were serving the ads from the same domain.
uBo on phone and computer, smart tube on TV. haven't seen an ad on YouTube in years.
Can confirm, I’m going on nearly a decade and Pi-hole has NEVER been able to stop YT ads because they’re served by the platform’s servers rather than outside servers.
Well, I remember it actually stopping YouTube ads, 2018 or 2019 was when it changed. Or even 2020, won’t recall.
I've had pihole set up since 2017 and it didn't block YouTube ads back then either
I have no proof for this except my memories. Perhaps we could find some links somewhere, but that would change nothing: it doesn’t work today. My guess that maybe it was different for different markets / locations. As I clearly remember a friend learned about Pi-Hole and bought an SBC just to deploy Pi-Hole. I’d been having it censoring the ads for my entire family, till it stopped doing that at some point. I still have that Pi-Hole deployed by the way, it continues blocking trackers and other shitty things online.
I wonder why browser extensions still work, while network-wide ad blocker does not.
Damn that sucks. But also every TV still allows you to just plug in a laptop over hdmi right? Just bypass all their shit.
I wish hahaha. Like the other user said, no blocking any ads served by the same servers as the stuff you’re watching. Never worked for YT, never worked for Twitch.
That’s why I use computers on every screen in my house, and a Pi-Hole for other ads!
Yes, Pihole can solve that."Normal" people don't have Piholes though. And "normal" people really do purchase televisions, and install the YouTube app and watch videos with it.Nah, Pi-Hole has never been able to block YT ads. And I’m proud of anyone and everyone I’ve ever got to switch from using shitty smart TV interfaces to cheap computers. I’m responsible for probably half the sales of the Logitech K400/plus hahaha.
Thanks for the correction!
No, I don't see them and the day I cannot block ads anymore is the day I am going to stop using YouTube. It's really not that important to life.
why wait? Give invidious a try, or see if any of the creators you follow also uploads their videos in PeerTube or odyssey or something... The creators, I do follow does that - its good.
I don't think they'd give a shit if you left, it's not like they're making any money off you.
"unskippable"
I haven't seen an ad on YouTube for years, with 2 simple browser plugins. Assuming you're on a PC:
Ublock Origin Sponsor Block
If you're using chrome, you already fucked up.
Exactly my thoughts too.
You forgot https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy
Yes. You will quit YouTube. But 99% of people won't and they make YouTube more revenue via either watching more ads or giving up and subscribing
Can somebody explain peertube for me? It sounds like it should be a federated video service, but either the federation doesn't work very well or there's nothing on it.
None of those have all the creators and people don't want to go between multiple apps.
This fight is lost. The way to win it now is legislation or blowing up data centers.
None of those well ever compare to youtube. You think all the videos are going to stay on those platforms forever? You think they well scale to youtube levels of users?
You can also contribute to PipeLine, it's a desktop client that aggregates YouTube and a few others. And it's written in Rust.
The issue with YouTube is the network effect though. Even if you can get a lot of users to use one of those multi platform clients, it's still hard to get the creators to leave. And till they stay, the users stay.
it doesn't matter, when people are fed up with that shit they will just go back to watch any other platform (tv, streaming, tiktok)
scale does not matter, these alternatives are not trying to scale like youtube because youtube is unsustainable in the first place
I finally gave up and subscribed, but only because the people I wanted to watch weren't all available elsewhere and because I was lazy
but this year I will be canceling YouTube as my last subscription
ewww, nothing but far right garbage on that site
Ublock must be blocking them. Huh, oh well.
I have noticed lately that in FF with ublock the videos have refused to play for an ad like length of time. Probably ab testing something.
I'd rather look at a loading screen than an ad.
If the video refuses to play, just reload the page. That fixes it for me.
Yeah I don't wait for it either but it does cause me click the play button a few times and watch the throbber spin for a second before I do.
I notice that I don't pay attention to videos as much any more. It's just stuff playing in the background while I game or edit an image or browse piefed or something. So if it "hangs" for a couple seconds while ublock fights the ads, it doesn't really bother me.
AFAIK that is youtube delaying the video stream on purpose because you were supposed to watch ads in that time. If you wait 5-10 seconds it will start playing. For me it happens only on the first video, and autoplay is still instant afterwards. I am gladly waiting out the loading screen than watch ads. Knowing that I probably make google lose money on every view makes the wait even more bearable (I am never logged in, and anyways I always run youtube in private mode, so there's almost no profiling happening)
You could try to change the user-agent to make it a little bit faster (google slows down youtube on firefox btw) or you could try to sue google for unfairness or smth
Seriously. I’m not seeing any ads… just AirPlay YouTube to my Apple TV, and I’m good to go
Well, i wont watch ads. If it comes to it i'd rather have a program thats recording videos in real time so i can skip the ad segments later in my recording like in the good old vhs times.
This should only become a necessary solution if YouTube invents a way to inject ads directly into the video stream of the video you're watching, like old school broadcasting.
That is sort of what sponsored segments are, and what sponsorblock is quite effective at dealing with.
If they're injected on the fly at variable time points, it gets harder, but I suspect fingerprinting could work well enough.
Even better, yeah. So this solution shouldn't feel necessary unless as a last ditch effort, definitely.
uBlock Origin and revanced are still effective at blocking. Sponsorskip (available as a Firefox plugin or built into revanced) even skip sponsored segments inside videos!
Might want to check out morphe(Revanced might be dead?)
Revanced is not dead. Revanced Extended(RvX) was discontinued and rebooted with the new name Morphe. Both are two different projects and both are alive.
That was what my grandpa also did many years ago, he was living in the future! Or we're going backward.
Last time I saw a youtube ad was probably 2009. Or it might have been 2008.
Android: https://newpipe.net/
Smart TV: https://smarttubeapp.github.io/
Computer: https://ublockorigin.com/
The enshittification will continue until.. No man, it'll just continue.
I wonder how many ads Vader needed to deal with.
he was so pissy cause the inside of his helmet was just ads for pharmaceuticals he couldn't afford.
My solution is to just close youtube. There's nothing on there I want to see that badly.
Mine is Firefox + adblockers.
I like watching SciShow and Crashing Out.
My setup to make YouTube bearable:
Firefox mobile and the following extensions:
I suggest adding "fix youtube search" to get rid of the stupid suggestions you get when searching.
About half the comments here are just people saying they use Ublock origin.
If you're getting the ads you're there to watch something you wanted to watch.
And you can decide the thing you want isn't worth the cost.
But they're coming for everything. There won't be anywhere to go to get information. You'll give up everything?
I'll cross that bridge when I get there. YouTube is already near the bottom of my list for source of information and I already have more sources of entertainment than I have time, so if they manage to win their war on ad blockers, I have no problem never visiting the site again.
what Buddahriffic said. :) I ain't got that kind of time. (Caveat--am looking at little things occasionally on my phone--this must be a nightmare for people using YT TV.)
Like others, desktop I'm using Firefox with ublock origin. Android phone, Firefox with ublock origin. Android TV, SmartTube. Ad blockers have always outpaced Google in my experience though I use youtube maybe like twice a week and I don't randomly browse reccomendations. Just there for specific stuff
Enjoy it while it lasts. With Google forcing developers to register their Android apps (or they're not allowed to be installed, unless you're a developer), it puts pressure on applications like Firefox (or ublock origin) to tow-the-line.
This won't happen tomorrow or next year, but the writing is on the wall, unless people push back or the government begins to push back on Big Tech.
The removal of device owner rights has always been a slow boil.
edit: fixed typo
You can still install them, they announced the rules weeks ago.
You need to go into the phone settings and enable developer mode (this doesn't mean YOU'RE a developer)
Flip a setting to on that will allow it
See some scary prompts and acknowledge no one is asking you to do this
Reboot the phone (its intended to cut off communication with who might be scamming you). (edit: I think this reboot step specifically is a clever idea)
Wait 24 hours.
Install the app
From there you can keep the phone in the 'unlocked' state, or allow it to relock after 7 days.
I'm not saying this is good, but it IS still possible.
I understand and agree with your sentiment, but try explaining how ”developer mode" does not make you a developer to my Grandma.
It's the same b.s. optics that invented "sideloading" as some technically shady practice, when it has always been: just installing the stupid app.
Maybe your grandma who doesn't understand that, shouldn't be installing unverified apps without someone like yours guidance? That's not a hard concept if they're going as far as installing something else not from a store.
You'd still need "developer mode" to install f-droid or epic games apk.
People shouldn't be scared or intimidated out of installing non-google store fronts.
...but yes, Grandma should avoid random apks pulled from the internet.
Also, somehow preventing adblock would trigger the creation of a corporate competing product. This is a bigger threat to Google than people stealing their bandwidth.
I'm hoping by the time googles Android goes to shit, GrapheneOS is readily available on more phones or PostmarketOS. Same with Linux with KDE Plasma Bigscreen running on a minipc rather than using an android TV box
I just realised i haven't watched a single ad in like 2 years
Thanks ublock origin!
When you see the long ad, just close the fuckin' browser window. Immediately. And then use something else.
They'll only get the point and change if you stop giving them your eyeballs for shit you don't wanna see.
Youtube has ads? But seriously, this is hurting the honest user.
Me using SmartTube and PipePipe/Tubular:
lol wut?
Don’t forget Unwatched if you’re on iOS platforms!
Thank you for this! I did not know this was an option.
Seems like youtube forces sign-in using Unwatched on iOS? An alternative is Vinegar which replaces the video player in Safari, and skips the ads, mostly and usually (until youtube updates some things then vinegar needs to catch up).
Why would you even use them when revanced is there now
SmartTube is pretty good on AndroidTV: SponsorBlock, DeArrow, no ads, etc.
At least while we're still able to sideload... 😔
FTFY. Being restricted to a manufacturer's 'approved' list of apps is not normal, and should be called "cuckinstalling" or something similarly pathetic and offensive.
Absolutely fair correction. 👍🏻
Seconded.
Unfortunately doesn't stop Google from screwing with third-party YouTube apps now and then. Had a few instances where SmartTube would not load all the channels I'm "subscribed to", but an update fixes that instantly.
We still can sideload even after the side loading changes, although in quite annoying fashion, but will still be possible.
This is a fair point. But I thought there was some uncertainty surrounding signed binaries, Play force-scanning APKs (regardless of source), and such?
Why are these companies wanting to pay to infuriate me? If I want to watch something and I’m suddenly interrupted by a 90 second unskippable intrusion I’m not going to have a positive relationship with your company.
Because while you and I will just not use their product, many people just accept it and go with the flow because it’s easy.
And this is very evident whenever you're outside the lemmy / technically skilled bubble, on reddit and many other places, whenever the topic of YouTube ads / premium come up, a surprising proportion of the comments will be to the effect of "just pay for premium" and "premium is so worth it" or "yt premium is the most valuable subscription out of them all". People don't seem to care that so much of the value of premium is avoiding a problem entirely fabricated by YT.
I agree with your basic point, tho to be fair, server costs are a thing, so it's more like a problem fabricated by... capitalism? the commercialization of the internet? The centralization of resources? I guess it depends on what you think the long-term solution is.
Yeah I'm more talking about everything they do in addition to make the non-premium experience more painful. The incentive is to make it as annoying as people are willing to tolerate with dark patterns and little irritations. That kind of thing is entirely done on purpose, and I think it's gross to have to capitulate.
Most ads aren't directly tied to a sales goal. Instead they work on brand recognition. IOW, when you are at the grocery store, you think of Coke in general rather than any specific ads. And when you're looking for a new car, Ford's marketing is constantly in the back of your mind.
Combined with the tsunami of marketing everyone faces every single day, few of these ads stand out. You likely don't turn down buying Coke because of how invasive their ads are.
Agreed. More specifically, I think brand association plays a part. Even if you never drink cola of any type, the ads make you think "Coke is the kind of drink for people who (whatever)". Then when you see your friend drinking one you say "Oh you drink coke? I guess you're the kind of person who (whatever the ad campaign says)." It's really insiduous.
Unfortunatelly, that's not how most people think, otherwise there wouldn't be these ads
Ublock Origin, NewPipe, and Grayjay, haven't seen a YouTube ad in over a decade. 😌
Sometimes I get an empty video player for 5-10s before the video starts, still better than looking at an ad ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's one of YouTube's anti-adblocking measures. As far as I know, it only happens on a “cold” load (like when opening a YouTube video by going to its URI directly). You can avoid it by navigating to it from within the YT interface.
Funnily enough, the time you have to wait is still shorter than the ad you would've had to watch.
For me the videos just refuse to play for some time
I accidentally found myself outside my ad blocking bubble the other day and looking at youtube. It immediately pissed me off to have to put up with.
ikr whenever I visit my elderly aunt, she has cable TV on. I timed it once and there's like 10 minutes of ads for every 20 minutes of content.
sounds about right. half hour tv shows last about 21 minutes. hour long ones last about 42. you used to get a little more time but there was like a minute or two of wiggle room each episode. hour longs used to last 52. writing for streaming is more fun because you get the flexibility you want, but people still expect 30/60 minute shows.
It’s not just the unskippable ads but also the type of ads as well. I’ve seen some wild ones like ads to make you hard in the bedroom, but it never actually shows the treatment. I’ve seen ads for how to make “homemade” makeup to look younger, the ingredients are baking soda and honey? But I think the wildest one I’ve seen is an ad for a robot puppy but in the ad, you can clearly see it is a real puppy, but they keep saying that it is a robotic AI powered puppy.
Thank you for your sacrifice
So, slop it sounds like.
Go watch the latest Corridor Crew video. They bought the AI puppy...
I keep seeing an ad about a magical banana. -Go figure.
We who use Firefox are very fortunate right now since it still blocks all ads and I hope that will continue forever.
I used chromium to test YouTube without it, and its just completely unusable.
Mozilla allows the installation of ad blocking extensions on Firefox, and it's already exhibited hostility towards the most talented developer of those extensions.
Then there's me using Revanced and Unlock Origin
PeerTube hasn't any ads
Does it have any content?
Joking aside, I've found like 2 PeerTube channels to follow. People, give me your recommendations. And don't just list the channel name, be nice and write a few words about what its about.
Shifter and Oh the Urbanity! are on https://video.canadiancivil.com/ . They are both fairly well-known Canadian Youtubers making videos about biking and urbanism.
Veronica Explains annnnnnd that's about it.
it's a shame that I have to keep using youtube to get good linux content as I thought there would be plenty of it on peertube. nope, can't find it.
Veronica is excellent.
Linux User Space have a thing over there, though sadly it looks like they are a bit slow to upload stuff, compared to youtube (understandable) https://tilvids.com/c/linuxuserspace_channel/videos
I have mostly German tech/gaming channels there, but I'm also open to new stuff.
Is that available for TVs?
https://smarttubeapp.github.io/
Anything for WebOS (LG TVs)?
I'd suggest:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/
Or
https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ + https://cachyos.org/ + https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine + https://github.com/supechicken/waydroid-androidtv-builds
Big no thank you to anything Nvidia. Plasma Bigscreen doesn't seem production-ready yet, by the looks of its web site. Either way, that would require me to get a PC and run its output to my TV, right? I'm unfortunately not considering that option right now.
CachyOS, Steam Machine, I already have a beast Arch Linux PC that I game on, so that's not necessary. But what about that Waydroid business? Would I flash that on to my LG TV and run that as its OS or what is that about? All of these github projects that people link to do such a terrible job of explaining what it is exactly that they offer, and what to do with them.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Waydroid emulates Android (in this case AndroidTV) on Linux, allowing you to run Android apps inside your Linux-based OS.
So... not on my TV then?
I haven't tried it, but NTH on the SmartTube telegram chat recommended https://github.com/webosbrew/youtube-webos
Would that allow me to log in to my YouTube account, watch my curated recommendations, thousands-of-items Watch Later list, watch shorts, etc, just without ads?
We definitely need to develop apps for TVs. YouTube has a great advantage because it is there by default.
For everyone using an Android based platform: Just install Smarttube. It don't show ads and has sponsorblock and dearrow integrated
https://smarttubeapp.github.io/
I just restart the video ~5 times until it starts without ads. I figure even if it takes extra effort and time if I don't know what's being advertised then I win.
Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.
I mean, agreed, but how is that relevant here?
Any posts that I come across that mentions or is connected to that site, gets my comment.
I thought it was FUCK /U/SPEZ
For me it isn't the length, but the frequency that is bothering me. It's insain, it's like every 3-5 mins depending on the video length. It's unusable atleast in my case. Only watching from devices I have adblocker on now. Not my phone.
I love revanced so much..
You might want to check out morphe..
The ads themselves got worse too, not just about skipping them.
I see toooooooooo many ads about Taichi for men over 60. Fml, now it becomes Military calisthenic for men over 40.....
Also those ads with the zombie games....
I’m getting this weird fucking modal popup for the ad it just displayed. It sticks around in the bottom left corner of the screen after the ad ends, displaying throughout the duration of the actual video and blocking out like 20% of the screen (until I explicitly close the damn modal).
Almost all of the ads I see on the home page are of type "Hot ${GROUP} in your area."
It buffer stalls like crazy now also.
The other day I was doing dishes and couldn't skip the ad, so I let the whole 90second ad run. Guess what followed? Another 90second ad.
Where?
Oh! On the web interface? n_n I don't use the web interface. It's video, so I use a video player. I see no ads, ~ if I do [like ads read out by the podcast host], I skip ahead.
That's where you went wrong. Come to the free software community. We can mend bugs (like malicious features (like ads)) with free software, being free to use, study, share & change the software.
2036: You want to watch a 15 second clip of a kitten napping, it'll cost you a hour of ads!
YouTube revanced 👌
It's like they want people to block ads holy crap. Next chance I get I'm installing invidious on my parent's roku so they can skip this garbage.
Personally I think it's time to just move on you tube is done.
But if it's roku they can add the playlet channel. Youtube without ads.
YouTube will not be done until a viable alternative is established.
Its done for me, there is nothing there I need to see.
I’m really surprised by this. YouTube is such a great source for adding skills and knowledge if you can weed through the crap.
It is admittedly more and more difficult to weed though.
Slowly though. Watching is wasting a lot of time, and nearly everyone on there stretches it out in the name of "content" and sponsers.
There are a few that don't, but realistically, that knowledge is elsewhere. It's a shame people don't self host videos as much any more. I just embed them in my web page if I absolutely need to.
Or simply make the files available, which if you look around, a lot of them are out there, so download and watch at your pace, and delete when done.
every time a viable alternative is established google will buy it
the only real alternatives to youtube for me are probably curiousity stream and floatplane, both of which cost subscriptions i can't afford at the moment.
edit also Nebula! forgot about that one.
With Linus? You couldn't pay me to watch that.
Edit: I did grab a subscription to Nebula for a year for €25 because I like someone on there. Seemed reasonable for a whole year of everything they have, and I do like watching Legal Eagle these days.
It's run by Luke technically, but yeah it's under Linus Media Group. A lot of creators I like (such as Wade from Dank Pods) are on there.
I would never give that clown a dime.
yeahhh thats the invidious frontend i was gonna install.
got it. It is as simple as them adding the channel. It doesn't have a lot of features, but it is serviceable.
Maybe there was this one dev who joined the company 20 years ago, and has seen it deteriorate ever since. He's worked his way up to the top, and thinks the company needs to be destroyed, but they're an ad company, so the only way to do that is to kill ads.
After years of planning, he came up with the idea of making the ads so horrible, that people stop using services, or the ad blockers become ungodly powerful they can never be stopped.
Ultimately, it will be the end of Google, but it is the long play.
🤣
maybe adblock is good
Don't forget to use ublock and adguard !
They did? They can't? I haven't noticed. 🤷
At this point it would be smart to simply hook up any old pc to your tv and watch in the browser.
Did that years ago. Add Jellyfin, Navidrome and Retroarch for a perfect living room media centre/retro gaming rig.
On screen ads, unskippable preroll ads, mid roll ads and multi hour long ads that never end, ads on the sides and underneath the videos, embedded AI to push up their numbers that bloats the webpage.
Then on top of that, double sponsors, hidden sponsors, scams and shitty merch.
I used to think YouTube was the new public broadcast system but honestly that was never this garbage.
I keep my TVs dumb because of these shitshows, no network at all. Only display stuff from cable or from operator's box, but even the latter is seldom used.
Do yourself a favor and never turn on WiFi on your smart TV, get an android streaming box, and install projectivy launcher on it. Then you can sideload smartube the adfree YouTube client with downvotes, dearrow and sponsorblock built in.
Alternatively, a docked Steam Decl with the Grayjay flatpak works pretty well. You can even add it to Steam for easy access through game mode
PeerTube has entered the chat
The thing about peertube is.. It's actually a tough one to run for non-profit. I run an mbin instance and it's fairly easy to afford the hardware to host that and securely back it up.
But for peertube, you need storage, and realistically you also need backup for all that storage. That can be pretty costly unless you self host. In which case even with fibre your home connection will be hammered.
Video content eats storage like nothing else.
And now storage is being eaten by data centres in their quest to force yet more AI slop on people in order to keep the bubble going just a little longer before the inevitable collapse.
Yes, I am wishing I bought a spare drive or two for my home array. When one fails it's going to get costly now.
Well, thankfully, since on peer tube, your video is shared between all the peers currently watching. If your video gets super popular, your connection isn't actually hammered all that badly due to the fact that other peers are also supplying bits of the video for people.
As for the storage though, that's a very good point.
2H video @ 1080p/60fps = 6.3gigs
Is that available for TVs?
The day ad block stops working is the day I stop using sites with ads
quality of content that I've been seeing on YouTube in my feed has decreased or I have gotten bored. but either way I have made a point to stop visiting that website as much as possible
I need to get back into reading. my ability to maintain focus has deteriorated so severely in recent years that I can't even play a stupid video game anymore
Use a vpn with exit node in albania. No ada and no forced sign in.
I mean, I'm not.
Im seeing more ads getting through ublock origin.
What’s crazy is when you actually want to watch an ad (like a game or movie trailer, or a review of a product you’re considering buying), and you have to watch an ad to watch the ad. You’d think videos advertising a commercial product would pay a fee to cover the ads.
What is adblock? Can someone explain it to me like I'm five?
Family member spends all day every day recording and editing videos for youtube. Never finds an audience. Never gets promoted. The service is too busy pushing AI slop. All that video storage for the long tail of content with almost no views must cost a fortune. Meanwhile big quality youtubers seem to not be growing for some time like they have hit a ceiling. I think Youtube has been in decline for some time. Instead of fix it, which would require investment and ideas, I think they pull the usual bad US MBA style management practice and attempt to maximise revenues on the way down until they finally kill it.
i'm seriously amazed by many people's ability to ignore and withstand those annoying ads lmao. even a tiny banner on some website is enough to trigger me to create a new ublock filter...
Who’s these users? I have an ad blocker. It does the job.
I have not bothered with YouTube since ads and the stupidity at volume kicked in. So glad I am not trapped into it. Video content has a place but it’s bloated and predatory thanks to clickbait and monetisation. For that reason the good content gets lost/shunned on my behalf.
Easy, I'll just switch to... Oh, right, it's a monopoly, who would have thought they'd offer a shitty service for "free"?
Pihole+ublock+privacy badger = win
Adblockers have been mentioned a hundred times, as they should.
Annual reminder to donate to Invidious too. YouTube has done some serious work to try and block most of the instances.
Lets all just collectively refuse to engage with or buy a product from any company that runs a 90 second unskippable add on youtube.
Going for infinite growth in a worth in which 'inflation' is not properly recognized as a result of the rich stealing from the rest, results inevitably in services worsening until they kill themselves.
If the ads starts running too long I just hit the back button or close the window and go look for something else to watch.
I used that trick 10 years ago when ads were optional or 5-10 seconds long. After they crossed the line with forced ads i blocked them and never looked back.
I use the YouTube TV app.
If I see ad breaks that are longer than ~20 seconds, I just back out and try again (if I'm just starting to watch a video) or go to history and resume (if in progress). YouTube can try to show another godawful long ad, but I'll just back out again and again until they stop being stupid.
Protip: Number may go bigger, but I'm not changing this behaviour.
I hope the advertisers demand meticulous statistics, and are asking YouTube why so many users balked after 1 second.
Actually over the Easter holidays, my tablet was having horrible time with YouTube (the Android app is absolute garbage and doesn't like old devices, and by old I mean 5 years) and sometimes ads made the YouTube app go suck mud and the tablet needed to be rebooted (!!!) before it worked again. So I watched YouTube on my laptop instead. With uBlock. Silence. Beautiful silence.
Ha! I do this too! You can hit back and then OK three times in rapid succession to break out of the ad too.
good way to make sure I never buy your product.
Open Vivaldi on Tablet, enable Tracker, Manage Sources, Enable EastList, no ads.
For TV - SmartTube Next
For android - Youtube With Morphe Patches.
And, life is beautiful again!
That’s crazy. I’m seeing as long as 15 seconds ads and considering no longer wasting my time on YouTube
Duckduckplayer ftw
On mobile I’ve noticed there’s a button have to click to remove the ad. It’s maddening. I click the button to skip. So they added layers of ads. You gotta click skip twice to get to the video. Now there’s shit covering up my interface that I have to remove. So much shit.
I already deleted the app from my phone once they introduced modal overlay ads that you have to dismiss
When a video opens for me now there is a AD before it shows any content.
Yeah, Though I don't see ADs myself as I use Ad blockers, my friends do and they told me how bad it is. It was bad before with 60 second ADs, and now, its worse.
There's another thing I don't see people talking about. In the YouTube app itself, they have hovering "Products" link, that covers a portion of a video (might just be shorts) and there doesn't appear to be any way to remove it. I currently have YouTube Premium and it shows up.
Yea I put in the effort and set up my pinchflat quadlet again. Fuck this.
at this point, I consider that 26 eur i'm paying monthly simply my US Tech Bro tax.
Honestly, considering the YouTube algo and platform, what are people even watching on there in 2026 that is worth it?
So much of it is a person looking into a camera with a microphone having one sided pre-written opinion debates.
Even educational and conference talk videos don’t seem worth the duration.
alt-left arrow, alt-right arrow
Do they? Tsk.
The problem is if those take off how do they make money or cover their cost? Sure federated whatever someone still has to pay the bandwidth. And video streaming is a hell of a lot more demanding then text.
LOL
YouTube premium is so overpriced for a single user. Family however, dam that shits a deal when you take advantage of it.
Vanillo (Not open source sadly) and PeerTube are the best options we have right now
I don't see any ads. Grayjay goes brrr!
I love Grayjay, but had plenty issues lately. Feels like a cat and mouse game with YouTube often.
Whats youtube gonna do when everybody is using adblock and they run out of money
I like paying for services rather than using free services that sell my data and brainwash me with ads. Adblock is fine, but how are they supposed to make money? Should the service be free?
$10 a month and no ads.
$10 a month is absolutely ridiculous.
Well, if the product is free, they're gonna rip you off in some other way. You're also welcome to use vanced and ublock, both works, but premium make sure the channel you watched get paid more. Of course you can also subscribe to their patreon but...it cost way more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeCP-0nuziE&t=271s
Yeah, yet another subscription to the pile.
All this subscribing...
Or way less via Apple In-app subscription in a different country. Those won‘t be locked out like the ones created from within YT itself.
You could donate that money and still have no ads. Google doesn't need it
That's too much trouble for the 20 or so creators I watch. I primarily comsume media via YouTube so its much more economical than having cable was and I still was pushed ads. Most of the comments seem to disassociate the consuming from the compensating creators. It has gotta happen somehow and 10$ a month is easy.
SmartTube, NewPipe/Tubular/PipePipe, FreeTube, and other FOSS YouTube apps say "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
It's your fault.
YouTube is proprietary and Google can do whatever they want.