77
What's the end game with YouTube? Will it eventually cut all videos and show nothing but ads?
laughs in uBlock Origin
On your TV?
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.
load more comments
(1 replies)
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.
Yeah I unsmarted my TV and just threw Mint on an old laptop. FreeTube works great on there.
load more comments
(7 replies)
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.
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.
load more comments
(4 replies)
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
Same here. They really underestimate how much more annoying ads are
load more comments
(9 replies)
Time to double down on the adblocks, then. I get it conceptually, but I still don't understand this need for infinite growth at everyone's expense.
load more comments
(1 replies)
If they just made the ads unintrusive people wouldn't bother installing adblockers. But sure make the ads longer and see what happens.
Also changed how ads are served so they wouldn't be a known security issue. Intrusive or not I will block all of them until security improves.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again.
As an IT guy I consider an adblocker an essential part of my computer security suite.
I will not reconsider until there are laws in place forcing website owners to take legal and financial responsibility for any damage sustained to my computer when visiting their site, and loading their ads.
IF the laws are changed like that, I would reconsider getting rid of my adblocker, ai still wouldn't but I would reconsider the issue.
It's like you don't care about stonks and shareholder value.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Am I bad because I pay for YouTube? I watch it so so much on different devices and also use YouTube music instead of Spotify. The paid teir hasn't undergone enshittification yet (it always does). Thats when ill stop.
Nah, nothing wrong with that. The problem isn't users, it's what the company expects from users.
I sure like it. "Free" YouTube is like using a browser without an blocker now - I forget how bad it is and I can't believe people live like that.
Being able to cancel Spotify was a nice bonus too.
Nothing wrong with that. I pay for YouTube premium. Tbh I got fed up with all the hoops on mobile so I just started paying for it and honestly, its been a good fit for me.
I watch a ton of YouTube content so paying for it to support creators and not having ads is fine with me.
I clearly need to up my adblock game. But do y'all also use PeerTube, Nebula, Curiosity Stream? Happy to vote with dollars if there's a good candidate.
I've been using grayjay lately and when it needs to play an unskipable add you just get a nice looking blank screen to look at instead.
What's the best way to avoid the ads if you can't just block them with your router anymore?
Ublock origin has been working for YouTube for me, they've had some rough patches where YouTube updated and then they had to update, but it's been smooth for the past couple years.
That works fine on my pc or phone, but it's not a viable solution for a tv.
Download the videos with yt-dlp and watch them locally. If you have a home server, you can set it up to automatically download new videos from specific playslists or channels and add them to Jellyfin.
The simple answer is to not use YT, coming from someone that uses YT. Also, if there isn't already, there will be something developed that will do the trick. It's a game of cat and mouse. If they can feed them, then there will be a way to detect them and block them. At least that's my expectation anyway.
I'm using Unhook and uO for browsers, and Freetube on PC or Newpipe on the phone.
I'm also tweaking an Android box to be able to use only Newpipe.
Why even watch YouTube anymore? I might even do something no one would think they would do: download an offline AI slop generator. Slightly better than staring at a wall.
We've got a business model that didn't even exist 25 years ago, and we're making insane money!
How can we fuck it up?
The private yt-dlp/ffmpeg/python3 webapp I made to download YouTube videos just got 10 threads wider, and YouTube is gonna pay for it
load more comments
(2 replies)
Unpopular opinion but youtube + music is good value.
But my journey here was unique.
I grew up during the era when ipods / mp3 players incentivized having personal libraries of music files. After itunes became hostile towards that I switched to Google Music which allowed you to upload music files and stream them to your devices. It was great because I had some obscure remixes and indy band albums that I'd lost the CD for years ago.Ended up paying for Google Music after a 3 month trial.
Eventually Google Music became Youtube Music and with it came Youtube Premium. Tried Spotify but it didn't have some artists that I can't remember now anyways. So I just kept paying for youtube music and not seeing ads on youtube.
load more comments
(3 replies)
Time to donate to Invidious I guess.
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
77 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
85043 readers
2681 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS