ISponsorBlockTV: SponsorBlock client for all YouTube TV clients
github.com
github.com
For anyone who can load APKs on their TV and wants a more integrated solution, this alternative client works wonderfully https://github.com/yuliskov/smarttube
It's at the level of polish where people didn't even realize it wasn't the official client for quite a while, until I turned on SponsorBlock that is.
- Blocks YT ads, even without a YT Premium
- Presents a consistent view of a channel, rather than having to hunt around for wherever the creator hid the recent uploads
- Does not play the next video when asked not to.
This last one was a huge factor for us. My wife is a YT Premium subscriber and has a creator she finds comforting and likes to play one of their videos at bed time to fall asleep. EVEN WHEN THE SETTINGS SAY TO NOT AUTOPLAY, the official FireTV YT app will often autoplay. This leads to some loud obnoxious video waking us up at 3am. SmartTube actually stops playing when asked and we get a good night's sleep.
So we use this app in preference to the official app, even though my wife pays for YT Premium
Hard: side load YouTube lite (or similar) via AltStore (or similar). Full ad blocking, sponsorblock, QOL/premium options (hide shorts everywhere, PIP, background play, 3x speed etc).
You have to put your phone in developer mode (make sure your banking apps don’t complain) and will need a Mac to get it going. You then need to play whack-a-mole with Apple developer auth quirks. Not for everyone but worth it IMHO.
It's definitely not as nice, but I get everything I need out of it.
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My development environment was infected by unknown malicious software, as a result of which a few builds may have been affected. Once the issue was detected, I secured everything with a full disk wipe, restored a clean setup, and now all builds are scanned with VirusTotal. The F-Droid version will also be verified before release.
Public keys may have been compromised, which is why I am sharing this issue. You can download the new version and the new public key below, and instructions for restoring backups are provided.
No extra actions are required since the app uses one-time connection codes. These codes have very limited permissions (for example, they cannot change your password). Still, you can revoke them if you want full peace of mind.
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This is from the GitHub page you linked
I don't mind watching one sponsored block per video. I really don't..if the created adds three sponsored blocks I don't watch to watch them anyways.
But this morning I have 5 advert breaks in the first half of a video by Ahoy on the call of duty series. Each one had that nightmare 90+ skip button.
It's so unbelievably insane that they run ads which could be longer than the video..I simply don't understand it. And I assume the creators don't say yes make sure ads run for 3 times as long as my video by default.
I installed Sponsor block this morning by chance it only skips parts of the video that have been marked as sponsored segments I.e. not the dynamic ads YouTube ads.
Why do I think in getting such brutal ads btw? Well I daned to cancel YouTube Premium after nearly a year and either YouTube has become intolerable since or they're punishing me.
I lived in Tanzania for a few years and most podcasts wouldn't play adverts while I was there.
I went as far as to write a YouTube downloading app, that uses ytdlp, but presents the downloaded mp3s in a feed that can be picked up by antennapod.
A great adjunct, it turns out, is proxying DNS requests to YouTube through Albania. Way less pain than using a VPN to do the same thing. Paired with ISponsorBlockTV to skip in-video ads, I see nothing.
Only if the AppleTV YouTube client didn’t suck.
YouTube TV is a product offered by Google and it's not at all the same as YouTube.
I've gone ahead and changed the line to be "YouTube for TV app"
how long until we can set up an Omni-Block Box?
Why would you not want them paid?
Car dealerships and salespeople often offer similar objections to his business as well as customers who want a good deal.
They’ll say things like “we’re losing money on this car” or “a business needs to make a profit.”
And his objection to that is always the same: the customer doesn’t care about that, and it’s not their problem. If your business model delivers something that people see value in, you’re more likely to be able to make a profit. Customers obviously don’t see much value in the car dealerships.
I certainly don’t want my favorite YouTubers to go broke, but their business model is not my problem. The fact is that I refuse to watch ads. I don’t see value in watching an ad. In some cases I’m willing to pay for that privilege, like how I can get sponsor-free viewing from many YouTube channels on Nebula.
But, sorry, if I’m allowed to skip forward in a video to skip an ad, I’m going to do it. And if I’m not allowed to skip around in a video platform to the part of the video I want to watch, I’m probably not going to be using that video platform.
The reality is that most YouTube sponsors already know that a certain percentage of viewers will skip their sponsor segment, even manually without a tool like this, or using YouTube Premium’s included Skip Ahead feature, just like a TV advertiser knows that a certain percentage of viewers will change the channel during ads, mute the TV, or go to the bathroom during an ad segment.
I have a friend who refuses to buy premium versions of popular streaming services like Disney+ and actually prefers to have the advertising. They even said “my kids will see ads” almost like they want their kids to experience the childhood they did. It’s a bit of a strange philosophy to me but I kind of see where they’re coming from: advertisements are something of a cultural experience, like how you can play back a super soaker advertisement for me and I’ll get some intense nostalgic feelings.
It will be your problem, however small, if they can’t make a living and stop producing it.
There was a bike shop near me that people used as a showroom for online purchases. Now we don’t have a bike repair shop nearby anymore.
I hate ads too, but you’re going to have to pay for the content somehow.
But this logic is flawed. Suffering through an ad does not "pay for" anything. The only way you can pay for content via advertising is to buy a product or service you wouldn't have bought otherwise (and probably don't need), or to buy product A instead of product B (when product A might in fact be better). Advertising means (1) psychological manipulation and (2) mindless consumption with all its attendant negative externalities. This is what pays for content in the advertising business model. Hence the aversion so many have to it. Hence why invocations of morality in its defense always fall flat.
Advertising itself does not pay for anything.
My point though is that it’s not completely without consequence.
The person you are replying to said they already pay videographers in an other way: Nebula.
If your first statement is true then your second statement is false.
I wish that nobody ever had to experience financial hardship, but that wish isn’t a commitment from me to financially support their profession.
And the regular ads can get fucked until the platforms manage to keep the scams out.
I think there's too much chasing big success. People see giant creators who made millions and so chase every potential growth opportunity or monetization technique, a lot of them could probably settle into a stable one person operation making good enough money.
So maybe the issue aren't the few tech guys blocking those ads but greedy investors wanting more and MORE.
Such tools are a direct result of this greed.
So is having to give money to every person you watch on youtube, and not everyone can afford it.
I was hoping there was a way to actually skip the ads on that app, but it appears unrelated.