Clever hack! I didn't think the latency would be low enough for that, but I guess with some ad segments being upwards of a minute long these days, it's still worth it.
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.
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.
I’ve been using this a long time and it works great, possibly even better than you’d imagine it to work. You can even configure which types of segments to skip (e.g., sponsorships versus self-promotion).
I’ve been using it with Apple TV youtube app for several months and I can say it works very well. Very little configuration, and it does the job. Can’t go back. Highly recommended!
Anyone is aware of software which does the same but for podcasts? I've had built a downloader by qwen38 (https://cgit.euer.krebsco.de/makefu/podfetch) which does so via multiple programmatic approaches (keywords, sponsorblock-ml, neuralblock) but actually i think crowdsourcing the solution is the best approach here.
Crowdsourcing doesn’t work for Podcasts because most providers cut in ad segments based on your location. Those differ in length so the sponsorblock approach would not work. I slopped up a small go app that uses whisper API to transcribe and then uses Jev-compatible API to classify ad segments. Works great and costs like $0.01 per episode.
Would you mind sharing a little bit more about that jev approach? I'm building something similar and would be interested in trying it out. (Don't worry about pasting some labelled AI generated description)
I've wondered if it would be possible to crowdsource tiny -but distinct- segments of audio that bookend each ad break so clients could remove any ads inserted between those points.
FYI you should reword your headline and nomenclature. This makes it sound like you made a thing for YouTube TV (and it is not at all possible to block ads on live TV without pre-recording)
YouTube TV is a product offered by Google and it's not at all the same as YouTube.
Google's fault for their confusing branding. OP's headline is one of the two perfectly understandable parsings: (YouTube (TV Clients)) vs ((YouTube TV) Clients)
I watch a channel with a guy who runs a car negotiation business and streams it, because car dealerships are annoying to work with.
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.
I have it set up to skip on button press and usually listen to each sponsor product pitch once (at least up to the point where I know what the product is about). I've even signed up for Onshape through one of the creators that promoted it. But I'm not going to listen to the 100th repeat of an ad for a sketchy VPN or US-only meal delivery service or malware browser extension or microtransaction-infested MMO.
And the regular ads can get fucked until the platforms manage to keep the scams out.
It could at least mute the ads, which this does too. And it does have some interstitial ads that do actually come from the app that aren't baked into the stream.
Clever hack! I didn't think the latency would be low enough for that, but I guess with some ad segments being upwards of a minute long these days, it's still worth it.
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.
WARNING:
---
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.
---
This is from the GitHub page you linked
Yeah, there was an incident a bunch of months ago. Dev says new builds are clean now...
I’ve been using this a long time and it works great, possibly even better than you’d imagine it to work. You can even configure which types of segments to skip (e.g., sponsorships versus self-promotion).
I’ve been using it with Apple TV youtube app for several months and I can say it works very well. Very little configuration, and it does the job. Can’t go back. Highly recommended!
Anyone is aware of software which does the same but for podcasts? I've had built a downloader by qwen38 (https://cgit.euer.krebsco.de/makefu/podfetch) which does so via multiple programmatic approaches (keywords, sponsorblock-ml, neuralblock) but actually i think crowdsourcing the solution is the best approach here.
Downloading the podcast via a computer or vpn in a low income country will remove almost all dynamic adverts (which is most podcast advertising)
I lived in Tanzania for a few years and most podcasts wouldn't play adverts while I was there.
Crowdsourcing doesn’t work for Podcasts because most providers cut in ad segments based on your location. Those differ in length so the sponsorblock approach would not work. I slopped up a small go app that uses whisper API to transcribe and then uses Jev-compatible API to classify ad segments. Works great and costs like $0.01 per episode.
Would you mind sharing a little bit more about that jev approach? I'm building something similar and would be interested in trying it out. (Don't worry about pasting some labelled AI generated description)
I've wondered if it would be possible to crowdsource tiny -but distinct- segments of audio that bookend each ad break so clients could remove any ads inserted between those points.
Like the sibling comment, I rolled my own (local Parakeet + Gemini), but this uses the same approach and is actively developed: https://github.com/podly-pure-podcasts/podly_pure_podcasts
Would love to look at it, but GitHub gives 504.
I got the same, but the page is back up again now.
How does it find out what's playing? pairing like a phone & listening to the API?
You link it to the YouTube app as a remote controller/chrome cast. The communication between it and YouTube app happens through YouTube APIs.
putting this on the same machine as my pihole :)
how long until we can set up an Omni-Block Box?
That would be the best use case for AR.
FYI you should reword your headline and nomenclature. This makes it sound like you made a thing for YouTube TV (and it is not at all possible to block ads on live TV without pre-recording)
YouTube TV is a product offered by Google and it's not at all the same as YouTube.
Google's fault for their confusing branding. OP's headline is one of the two perfectly understandable parsings: (YouTube (TV Clients)) vs ((YouTube TV) Clients)
But that’s how the content creators get paid, at least partly.
Why would you not want them paid?
I watch a channel with a guy who runs a car negotiation business and streams it, because car dealerships are annoying to work with.
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.
> I certainly don’t want my favorite YouTubers to go broke, but their business model is not my problem.
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.
> I hate ads too, but you’re going to have to pay for the content somehow.
The person you are replying to said they already pay videographers in an other way: Nebula.
>> I certainly don’t want my favorite YouTubers to go broke, but their business model is not my problem.
If your first statement is true then your second statement is false.
I have it set up to skip on button press and usually listen to each sponsor product pitch once (at least up to the point where I know what the product is about). I've even signed up for Onshape through one of the creators that promoted it. But I'm not going to listen to the 100th repeat of an ad for a sketchy VPN or US-only meal delivery service or malware browser extension or microtransaction-infested MMO.
And the regular ads can get fucked until the platforms manage to keep the scams out.
They can find another way to earn money. Patreon, etc are much better ways. Sponsors and ads are objectively irritating.
You can get a library card.
> Sponsors and ads are objectively irritating.
So is having to give money to every person you watch on youtube, and not everyone can afford it.
It only mutes the audio.
It doesn’t mute the audio, it skips ahead.
Strange, since the whole "content creator" thing grew up while we had significantly less ads.
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.
This seems possibly abandoned, the last commit is over 3 months ago. Anyone know a fork or alternative that is more actively developed?
3 months is abandoned?
Very misleading title, this has nothing to do with the actual app called "YouTube TV" (their IPTV service, tv.youtube.com).
I was hoping there was a way to actually skip the ads on that app, but it appears unrelated.
Valid point of confusion. Can you think of better wording for the description of the service?
There would never be a way to do this on YouTube TV proper as it airs live.
It could at least mute the ads, which this does too. And it does have some interstitial ads that do actually come from the app that aren't baked into the stream.