this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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laughs in uBlock Origin
Well currently they're delaying the video start by the time it would have taken the ad to play. It's still better than having to actually watch ads, but blockers are not in the best position right now.
That’s what they say but not what I’m experiencing. Either way, blank screen is better than ads
Sports fans know well. Streams that just cut to silence instead of showing ads are so much better. Commercials just enrage me.
Same here. They really underestimate how much more annoying ads are
On your TV?
Get a cheap minipc or laptop and get the same adblocking options that you get on a desktop. Best of all you can disconnect your TV from the internet if you had been relying on the TV apps to watch stuff with the spyware behavior of TVs.
I have this thing called a DisplayPort cable. So yes, uBlock origin on my TV.
Edit: I'm realizing this might be coming across really shitty, but i promise I'm just intending some tongue-in-cheek dry joking.
Smart tube is GOATED.
Probably a fair percentage of users block þeir smart TVs from connecting to þe internet.
I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm running SmartTube on an Nvidia Shield here. Works amazing.
It astonishes me that the shield is still the best of the streaming boxes after all these years.
It’s so versatile. One of the last great products Nvidia came up with before shooting up AI crack.
its still very capable, but best depends. iirc there are certain audio formats the shield doesnt support.
i personally would love a new shield using ~switch 2 soc just so i can move emulation/lower end pc onto it.
What format does the shield not support that other boxes do support?
I went to go look it up for my old setup, turns out its mainly for the older models, as the codecs are only supported on the newer revisions of the shield tv.
though with the shield tv, one of the missing things that would be nice to have would be AV1 support (as Nvidia only supported AV1 starting with Ampere based gpus)
I mean there are ways, like pihole, but I like the simple option of a really long hdmi cable that I use to plug my computer into the TV, so I never have to use any of the shitty built in TV apps.
Edit: not pihole, apparently.
pihole hasn't worked for years to block youtube ads, no?
You’re correct. Pihole works at the DNS level. Since YouTube hosts their ads on the same servers that host their videos, blocking the ads with DNS would also block the videos. Which I guess it technically works to block YT ads, but that’s a little like saying “set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.”
Honestly, I've not used it, I just know of it. From a quick search it looks like you're right tho, you'd probably need to use an external device like an android box or something.
I would love to run a long hdmi cable from my pc to my tv, but I have rabbits and they like the spicy hay
Look for an armored HDMI cable. They are wrapped in a steel jacket. Conduit is also an option.
Oh no, I feel that, we had an orange kitty who adored his electric spaghetti! We had to run cables through that tube conduit stuff everywhere >.<
Oh the orange ones are the most fun. I had a couple oranges as a kid and they were so sweet and so dumb. I loved them lol
I use an Apple TV, but I assume it’s the same as any other streaming box or appropriate smart TV.
The absolute piece-of-piss way to block all YouTube ads on it is to install a VPN like Proton, choose a relevant country (easily googleable), and there will be no ads whatsoever in YouTube.
Google doesn’t serve ads on YouTube in a handful of countries.
I have a script that takes a YT URL on my clipboard and uses yt-dlp to download it to my Jellyfin folder so I can watch on my Apple TV on The Big Telly.
Fuck adverts.
If you’ve got a VPN, just install that on your Apple TV. Google doesn’t show ads in certain countries (the list is Googleable). That was an absolute game changer for me.
There are some options on some TVs. WebOS has an app which can be sideloaded.
Actually, YouTube is cracking down on adblockers.
So while you might not feel the pain now, you will eventually.
The day I have to watch ads is the same day I stop youtube. So far ad blocks seem to work well for now and I'm more than willing to spend hours getting them working if needed.
They’ve been “cracking down on adblockers” for over a decade
Nah, if Youtube blocks adblockers then I'll just waste my time elsewhere.
Same, I low key hope they do it so I'll read more. This might be the only way. 🙃
real maybe I'll actually go through the mountains of DVDs and blu rays in our apartment
There's always a workaround..
Firefox + uBlock Origin has worked well for years.
++ SponsorBlock and you got chef's kiss
+1 combo. privacy badger, ublock origin and umatrix for fine tuning. also a youtube specific addon. seems okay
What's a YouTube specific add on?
then theres this yt related thing. don't think it does much
Are these from reliable sources? I'm always hesitant with extensions as they are given a lot of access and often seem to be from shady sources.
firefox addons. they almost all have a 'not maintained' warning. use at your own risk, as they say
Laughs in
Txt file with favorite channels as input for a yt-dlp download script schedule. Combined with a selfhosted invidious and freetube desktop app for other then favorite videos.
Honestly I am really tired of jumping trough hoops, have to make sure yt-dlp and invidious use a proxy (cloudflare warp) or google will ban your ip for being a bot.
But having to deal with the actual YouTube site or reopening my google account is worse. Its not even (but still also) the ads at this point but pure resentment against big tech.
You got that script handy?
I wont be home till quite a few hours.
But also its general boilerplate enough an ai can help you get you one according to your own preferences.
There are also a number of examples online.
This one looks pretty interesting https://github.com/panchi64/auto-ytdlp
When it reaches that point I'll stop watching YouTube. I will never feel the pain they inflict.
I feel the pain anytime I look at a video outside of my browser. So if it becomes where I can't find a workaround, then I'll just have to go elsewhere. And there will be other places. There are other places, it's just hard to get people to not go to or be on the big one. Push people hard enough, they'll leave.
Cracking down just means I don't watch the content, still not getting ads.
/me chuckles in umatrix